Fortec misfortune as Scheld disqualified.

An early stop for wet tyres helped Scheld to pick his way through the rain-induced carnage of pirouetting cars and collisions to take a surprising second place. After not qualifying for the first three rounds of the championship, this was a welcome result for the German and his Fortec team.

The celebrations were, however, shortlived as an errant piece of tape was discovered on the nose cone of Scheld's Lola. A mid-race skirmish necessitated a trip to the pits for a new nose cone and under the pressure of the stop, a small piece of race tape was left on the front wing end plate.

Fortec boss Richard Dutton said: "In the hectic pit stop we failed to note that the race tape had not been removed. It gave absolutely no advantage."

Despite the fact that no performance advantage was gained, the offending tape was deemed to be in breach of the regulations by the stewards, Scheld was subsequently disqualified.

The disqualification moved Fortec team-mate Jamie Davies into eighth place, giving the team its highest finishing position of the season to date. Davies is standing in for the injured Mario Haberfeld, who is due to return at the Magny-Cours race.

One could sympathise with the team, and Scheld was understandably disappointed. He said: "As I turned to walk to the podium, I thought it was some debris tape, which I pulled off. Little did I know this tiny piece of tape could lead to such a cruel decision."

Scheld and Davies will hope to both maintain their momentum at Monaco and avoid any similar misdemeanours. Fortec will not be appealing against the decision.