Ford have pronounced themselves unhappy with the sportsmanship shown over the Grand Finale weekend of the V8 Supercar Championship at Phillip Island, claiming they and Craig Lowndes had their title taken away from them unfairly.
Referring to the accident between title protagonists Lowndes and Rick Kelly who were neck and neck going into the final race of the season, Ford Racing manager Ray Price insists that they are disappointed to have lost the championship in such contentious circumstances.
Indeed, despite stewards deeming Kelly's drive-through penalty for tipping Lowndes out the title reckoning as sufficient, Triple Eight and Ford are already challenging that decision meaning Kelly is only champion provisionally for the moment.
"It's a disappointing way to finish what has been one of the best years on the track for Ford," said Price. "We can't be disappointed that we lost the championship. But we can feel disappointed that it was taken away.”
However, beyond the high-profile clash, Price also flagged up the penalties involving Mark Skaife in the first race of the weekend and Garth Tander in the second, both for unsportsmanlike driving in trying to hold off Lowndes, seemingly to allow Holden counterpart Kelly to catch his rival up.
Although both drivers merely insisted they were holding on to position, both received drive-through penalties as a consequence of being told prior to the weekend not to interfere with the championship battle.
"In terms of fair play over the three races this weekend I'm not convinced that we saw that. The fact that we had bad sportsmanship flags for Garth Tander and Mark Skaife for blocking, as well as a black flag for Tander for the same offence is a clear indication of this.
"Ford could not be any prouder of the efforts of Craig Lowndes and the entire Triple Eight Race Engineering operation. They have competed hard and fair throughout the entire season. The fact is that Lowndes won four rounds and Triple Eight won five all up this year, including victory at Bathurst.
"Despite what we have seen this weekend, Ford will continue to encourage hard but fair racing."
