Red Bull Ring Saturday Notebook

***Sébastien Loeb Racing has been fined €40,000 ($54,000) for withdrawing the No. 24 Oreca Nissan and the No. 51 Audi R8 LMS ultra from the Red Bull Ring without force majeure. The team was given a €20,000 ($27,000) fine per car, with €5,000 ($6,700) to be paid within 48 hours and €15,000 ($20,000) suspended until the end of the 2014 season, in case of the same infringement in the remaining rounds.

***Larbre Competition, also a full season entrant, was given an identical fine for missing the Imola round. Since Jack Leconte’s team has withdrawn from the European Le Mans Series, they have been in breach of article 39.c of the 2014 Sporting Regulations again.

***At Imola and also at the Red Bull Ring the stewards fined and reprimanded a number of drivers for improving sector times, while under yellow. Nelson Panciatici and Marco Cioci were reported for improving under yellow today and not respecting the yellow flags. Both drivers were given a reprimand and will be excluded from the meeting should something similar happen tomorrow. In Panciatici’s case the stewards suspended the penalty until the end of the season in case of a similar infringement.

***Pegasus Racing brought its two Morgan Nissans to Austria, but has only entered one. The French team is looking at options to enter the second car in the final round(s) of the season, with a full season two-car entry planned for 2015.

***ART Grand Prix is ‘cautious but confident’ ahead of tomorrow’s race. After the race in Austria, the team will pack and drive straight to Spa-Francorchamps, where its two McLarens are set to race in the Total 24 Hours of Spa next weekend.

***There was a rather cheeky Twitter update by Judd earlier today after finishing first and second in the first practice session. Beating the Nissan-powered LMP2 cars the @JuddPower account showed a rather familiar hashtag. “JUDD POWER front row lockout in FP1 at Red Bull Ring ELMS. Long way to go but a good start. #eatsleepRACErepeat”

***Qualifying for the third round of the ELMS season is set to start at 9.30am local time. The Four Hours of Red Bull Ring will start at 2.00pm.

(Laurent Mercier contributed to this article)