Johnny O’Connell has been stripped of his victory in Sunday’s Pirelli World Challenge season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, following his last-lap incident with Patrick Long.
PWC officials announced Sunday evening that a post-race penalty of 2.1 seconds was added to O’Connell’s time due to avoidable contact with Long’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, while battling for the race lead.
The penalty drops O’Connell to fifth in the race, and gives newly crowned GT Drivers’ Champion Alvaro Parente the win.
O’Connell has also been demoted to fourth in the GT Championship, behind Cadillac Racing teammate Michael Cooper.
“The penalty was accessed to Johnny O’Connell for avoidable contact entering turn five on the final lap of today’s GT/GTA/GT Cup Round 20,” said PWC President and CEO Greg Gill.
“The stewards looked at various angles of the incident and determined that Johnny had two wheels off the track and came back onto the track, making contact with Patrick.
“This contact knocked Patrick off the track in turn five. And the penalty was determined this evening after hours of review.”
It marked the second lost race for O’Connell this year following a post-race penalty, with the four-time series champion losing his Long Beach win due to an overboost infraction, which ironically also went to Parente.
RESULTS: Race 2 (Revised)