Pescarolo handed back Estoril victory

Portugal's motorsport governing body has ruled in favour of the French team by overturning the disqualification of its Peugeot-powered Courage C60 for a blue-flag infringement.

Le Mans legend Henri Pescarolo appealed against his car's exclusion from the results after French driver Boris Derichebourg was adjudged to have repeatedly ignored blue flags while battling for first place with the Johansson Motorsport Audi R8 of Tom Coronel ñ which lay one lap ahead.

The duo eventually tangled when Coronel passed the Courage, only for Derichebourg to accidentally hit the Gulf-backed Audi from behind on the straight and cause it to fly into the barriers at high speed. The Courage was undamaged, and Derichebourg continued to the flag to win alongside co-drivers Jean-Christophe Boullion and Laurent Redon. They were then later excluded.

Pescarolo welcomed the decision to reverse the race stewards' ruling, which had negated the team's first ever win. Two weeks later they won the FIA Sportscar Championship round at Magny-Cours, and have now doubled their tally.

"Having two wins to our credit now is a great way to payback all our sponsors and backers, especially Peugeot," said Pescarolo.

Despite the reversal of the result, ELMS drivers' champion Stefan Johansson remains uncatchable in the points standings with the Vallelunga race on September 2 still to come ñ which the Gulf car will miss to instead attend the Laguna Seca ALMS round.