Reid and Ford lose Croft appeal
Ford and Anthony Reid have lost their appeal to overturn the Scot's disqualification from the British Touring Car Championship feature race at Croft in July
Reid finished third, but was thrown out when post-race scrutineering revealed a discrepancy in his Mondeo's ECU, the car's electronic brain. Although the legality of the ECU's software was never in question, a download revealed that it did not include randomly-generated coding to fill its spare capacity - a requirement to prevent illegal, volatile software being included within the ECU.
Today's (Tuesday's) meeting at the MSA, UK motorsport's governing body, upheld the original decision of the stewards at Croft. Ford forfeited its appeal fee and was made to pay £1000 costs.
The decision leaves Reid trailing championship-leader Alain Menu by six points. But with dropped scores about to come into play and Reid most affected by the system, in which a driver drops his four worst scores, his 10 lost Croft points could be crucial to the outcome of the title fight.
Championship organiser TOCA has the right to review the case and inflict further penalties if it deems it appropriate, including deducting points, but this is thought unlikely to happen.
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