Video – War of words between SEAT Dealer Team and STCC

The first corner incident of the first STCC race of the weekend at Knutstorp has started a war of words between the SEAT Dealer Team Brovallen Design and the STCC organisation.

SEAT driver Roger Eriksson was awarded with a drive through penalty for the incident which eliminated eight cars, a decision the team was outraged by.

“The race directors are incompetent. The STCC has forced us to buy onboard cameras and then they are not used in order to make correct judgements,” said team manager Tobias Johansson.

Eriksson claims that he never touched Mattias Andersson’s Alfa Romeo in the first corner chaos.

“I did not touch any of the cars. I am certain of that and there was not a scratch on my car afterwards. I have no problems in admitting mistakes and if I had been the cause of the crash, I would have said so,” said Eriksson.

The SEAT team claims that their video from the mandatory onboard camera shows that Eriksson was not to blame.

“If the onboard cameras are not being used to make correct judgements, we can just as well throw them out. When there is a doubtful situation like this, it is better to wait and hand out a time penalty after the race if it would have been clear that it was Roger’s fault. The STCC ruined the entire weekend for Roger and the team because of this,” said Johansson.

The STCC organisers responded to the criticism later during the evening of the race.

“Our decision stands after having looked at the onboard footage,” said race director Mikael Andersson, who also pointed out in the press release that he is appointed race director by the Swedish Motorsport Federation SBF and not by the STCC organisation.

STCC press manager Joakim Tärnström was critical of the way the SEAT team had expressed them selves of the event.

“The STCC as an organisation make no sporting decision of this type, the race directors are appointed together with the SBF and consist of stewards licensed for this assignment. The press release, with the phraseology used, created a false impression of STCC’s role in the event,” said Tärnström.

The STCC organisers released a compilation of onboard and exterior cameras of the incident, shown below.