Borkovic excluded, Echevarría demoted and Citroën and Lada fined

Campos Racing’s Dusan Borkovic has been excluded from the second race at Termas de Río Hondo after his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 car failed the ride height check in post-race scrutineering. The Serbian driver had finished eighth after a strong charge through the field, following a tough first race where he had suffered a puncture and was forced to retire.

Borkovic had started from 14th position, and worked his way up to eighth in the race, passing the Proteam Honda of Mehdi Bennani in the closing stages, but with his car failing the ride height check after the race, the Serbian has been initially excluded from the race, but the Spanish team have announced their intention to appeal the stewards’ ruling.

Should the stewards decision stand, Bennani will be promoted to eighth, with Lada’s James Thompson classified in ninth, his best result of the season, and with ROAL’s Tom Coronel picking up the final point with tenth, which would be the only point scored for the Dutchman in a trying weekend in Argentina.

The stewards also gave a one place penalty to newcomer Camilo Echevarría for an unfair manoeuvre on the Campos SEAT driver John Filippi, which drops the Engstler Motorsport driver to 17th and last, and to the final podium spot in the TC2T class for older cars.

The only other driving infringement penalty of the weekend was given to Münnich Motorsport’s Gianni Morbidelli during the second race. The Italian was punished for a move early in race two, serving a drive-through penalty after he spun the Lada of James Thompson around and gained a position, which saw him finish in 14th, the last classified TC1 class driver.

The stewards also fined both Citroën Racing and LADA Sport Lukoil 500 EUR each for a safety regulation infringement, with members of the teams climbing over the pit wall to celebrate the results in race two of their drivers José María López and Rob Huff respectively, with López securing a pair of victories at his home race, and Huff scoring Lada’s first podium finish in the WTCC.