The lovely Cadillac ATS-V.R of Johnny O’Connell had a bit of a boost problem at Long Beach that put them out of Pirelli World Challenge’s allowed specification. A 10-second penalty was assessed after the race, reports Racer. This gave K-Pax McLaren 650S GT3 driver Alvaro Parente his first win in the series.
Two traction control-induced spikes in boost from during the race were discovered in post-race tech. Ten seconds were added to O’Connell’s finishing time, which dropped him to second place, as he only finished 1.138 seconds ahead of Parente. Coming in third was Effort Racing’s Patrick Long.
O’Connell gracefully accepted second place in his comments to Racer while also claiming that the boost spikes may not have given him much of an advantage after all:
In post-race tech they found we had a few boost spikes that were not to their liking. From what I understand these were when we were in traction control situations, so not a speed advantage at all. But rules are rules. A second place finish does not take away from the accomplishment of Cadillac Racing today. I am proud of the team.
All things considered, a few polite words in defense of the Cadillac Racing team are much preferred to last year’s podium walk-off.
Likewise, Parente told Racer that he’d have rather won the race out on track, but he’s glad to get his first win at the iconic Long Beach venue, anyway:
I have mixed emotions about winning the race this way. I would have liked to have won the race on the track. We had a near-perfect weekend with winning the pole position and racing for the win. It’s too bad that Johnny (O’Connell) was penalized because we had a great race today. But I am happy to win at a famed track like Long Beach in my first appearance. I’m happy for the KPAX team and McLaren and I look forward to racing next week at Barber (Motorsports Park).
This could be the most politely handled racing penalty I’ve seen in quite some time.
Lest we leave any racing series without a changed result or bizarre controversy this weekend, would anyone like to dispute their local autocross results? What about ChumpCar? Did you personally wrestle Robb Holland for pinks at this weekend’s Nürburgring 24 qualifier? Please, tell us now.