M-Sport Ltd reported to FIA after JWRC exhaust issues
M-Sport Ltd is to be reported to the FIA, the sports' governing body, in light of the discovery at the finish of the Acropolis Rally of Greece that the exhaust manifolds on all six JWRC finishers were illegal.
As a result of the non-conformity, all six runners - namely Jose Suarez, Pontus Tidemand, Sander Parn, Michael Burri, Niko-Pekka Nieminen and Martin Koci - have been excluded from the event classifications, except for the Junior WRC classification and the JWRC stage winners' classification.
A statement from the stewards read:
Having received a report from Luca Gibello, Assistant to the FIA Technical Delegate, that car Nos 105 and 100 were checked in post event scrutineering and found to have an exhaust manifold that was not in conformity with the homologation papers.
The Stewards then asked the Assistant to the FIA Tech Delegate to check the remaining Junior WRC cars - Nos 102, 103, 107 and 108 - which were also found to have an exhaust manifold that was not in conformity with the homologation papers.
The Stewards summoned the FIA Official Junior Car Supplier, M-Sport Ltd. The M-Sport representative, Mr Maciej Woda, confirmed that he was acting on behalf of the entrants of cars Nos 100, 102, 103, 105, 107 and 108. He stated that he was not aware how this non-conformity could have happened and that the only explanation could be that these exhaust manifolds were from a new batch. He continued by saying that M-Sport do not quality control these parts and rely on the supplier to produce parts to the homologation form specification.
After due deliberation, the Stewards
DECIDE
-To report M-Sport Ltd to the FIA for possible further action
-In application of 2013 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations Article 27.2.1 as well as Article 260.328 of the 2013 FIA International Sporting Code Appendix J, to exclude car Nos 100, 102, 103, 105, 107 and 108 from all event classifications EXCEPT the Junior WRC classification and the Junior WRC stage winners classification, thereby retaining their respective 2013 Junior WRC points.
The Entrants are reminded of their right to appeal.
Robert Reid (Chairman)
Uwe Schmidt
Pavlos Arnaoutis
Stewards of the Meeting
