Photo: TCR World Tour

Santiago Urrutia disqualified from final El Pinar race

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Santiago Urrutia’s home race at El Pinar in Uruguay has gone from bad to worse as the Cyan Racing driver has been disqualified from the second race due to incorrect use of the anti-lag system.

The Uruguayan driver finished the race in third place but was demoted to fourth following an incident with Esteban Guerrieri in the opening stages of the race.

The stewards then disqualified the Lynk & Co driver several hours after the race following a review of video material.

The penalty has been given as Urrutia switched on the anti-lag system manually when the engine was running during the second race, something which is not allowed, while the usage of the system during the race is allowed.

The reasoning from the stewards read:

“Article 6.4 – “Engine control unit” – of the 2024 FIA TCR World Tour Technical Regulations specifies that “Anti-Lag System is allowed. The system may be switched on manually when engine is not running and switched off manually at any time”. The Stewards having heard from the FIA Technical Delegate, the Data Delegate, and the team representative of Car 112, and having examined video evidence, determine that the driver of Car 112 switched on manually the Anti-Lag System when the engine was running during Race 2, breaching Article 6.4 of the 2024 FIA TCR World Tour Technical Regulations. Therefore, the penalty of disqualification is applied.”

Urrutia issued a statement following the penalty, claiming that it was due to “miscommunication”:

“The disqualification was unfortunate, but due to a genuine miscommunication and that’s racing sometimes. We will come back strong in the next race at Zhuzhou,” said Urrutia.

The penalty means that championship leader Norbert Michelisz moves up to fourth, Mikel Azcona fifth and Dusan Borkovic sixth.

All cars of the FIA TCR World Tour are fitted with an anti-lag system, but there was no other penalties applied after this race connected to the system.

The disqualification is Urrutia’s third this year, with the Uruguayan driver dropping down to eighth place in the drivers’ championship, 84 points from leading driver Norbert Michelisz.