Team Parker Wins Rockingham as Spirit of Race Penalized

Photo: British GT

Spirit of Race has lost is British GT Championship win at Rockingham, with Team Parker Racing promoted to the top spot three hours after the race.

A 26-second penalty was awarded to the Ferrari 488 GT3 for avoidable contact with the Parker Bentley Continental GT3, and not for passing the safety car as expected. 

Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron provisionally took the victory in bizarre circumstances, having been waved around the safety car late in the race, giving Griffin a 30-second advantage as the green flag flew.

The confusion came because Cameron had been awarded a five-second time penalty for track limits infringement.

The penalty was recognized on the timing screen, leading to a strange situation under the safety car which listed the Ferrari 488 GT3 sixth even though Griffin was leading the field on track.

With the safety car having to pick up the leading car, Griffin was waved around as Seb Morris, in the No. 31 Team Parker Bentley, assumed position directly behind the safety car.

Following the race, Spirit of Race was given a 26-second penalty demoting it to second, with the Bentley listed 0.948 seconds in the lead on the final classification.

Track limits proved to be a common issue at the Northamptonshire circuit, with several teams including TF Sport, Century Motorsport and Tolman Motorsport also receiving five-second penalties.

Despite taking a maximum 37.5 points at Rockingham, Morris and Parfitt are still behind Barwell Motorsport’s Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen in the points standings, with a 8.5-point deficit.

RESULTS: Rockingham (Amended)

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.