Kox Responds to Scuderia Praha Suspension

Photo: Vision Sport Agency/SRO

Peter Kox has responded to Creventic’s decision to suspend Scuderia Praha from the next 24H Series round in Mugello due to a series of incidents, culminating with last weekend’s Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai.

The veteran Dutch driver, who teamed with Matteo Maulcelli, Matteo Cressoni and Jiri Pisarik in the squad’s Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, claims the organizer’s statement to ban the car following an incident by Cressoni is a “direct insult” to teams and drivers.

“My teammate acknowledged that it was his fault and the stewards penalized the team with a 10-place grid penalty for the next race at Mugello,” Kox wrote in a statement on his Web site.

“However 10 minutes for the finish [of the race] they called the team manager to tell him that the team will not be allowed to start at the next round at Mugello.

“Quote: “Due to avoidable collisions during this and several races of 24H Series, No. 11 Scuderia Praha cannot join from next round on.”

“A chance to get into a dialog was not possible as the race was about to finish and there was no time to discuss, however there was time to immediately put it on twitter and website.”

Kox believes the penalty was too harsh, citing the series’ vision in embracing gentlemen drivers, and said having 100 cars on track is a recipe for disaster.

“I have done eight 24-hour and three 12-hour races in the Creventic series alone… and got hit (not the other way around) twice.

“If you allow 100 cars, in different classes, on a 5.39km track you don’t need to be Einstein to realize that it is very [crowded] and that incidents will happen.

“And I honestly believe that everybody out there is doing their best to stay out of trouble and try to have a clean race, that is in everybody’s interest.

“100 cars is a massive number for the race organizers and also there is, for sure from my side some compliance, that not every decision flag or punishment will be correct.”

Read Kox’s full open letter to Creventic Here.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John