BMW, Ford Given Post-Race Time Penalties

Ford and BMW both had cars lose positions in GTE-Pro after receiving post-race time penalties in Sunday’s Six Hours of Shanghai.

The No. 67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell was given a 53-second penalty that dropped from ninth to tenth in class for pitting at the wrong time during a safety car period.

It was then involved in the incident that resulted in a 23-second penalty for the No. 81 BMW M8 GTE that relegated the MTEK-run car from sixth to ninth.

Martin Tomczyk hit the rear of Tincknell’s car at the end of the final lap, sending the Ford into a wild spin.

The decision against the BMW promoted the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GTE to sixth, behind the sister AF Corse-run car.

It meant that Ford and BMW shared out the bottom four FIA World Endurance Championship points-scoring places, on a low-scoring weekend for both manufacturers.

Podium finishers Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre extended their GT world championship lead to 43-points over Ford’s sister crew of Olivier Pla and Stefan Muecke, who finished down in seventh after starting from pole.

GTE-Pro victory in Shanghai went to the Aston Martin Racing duo of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen, who scored their first series win in more than a year.