Lynk & Co Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher will take a three-place grid penalty for the next race of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Mid-Ohio for his part in the incident with title rival Norbert Michelisz in Race 2 in Marrakech.
The two drivers came together as the field bunched up at Turn 1 at the start, with Michelisz’s BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Elantra car knocked sideways in the contact that would struggle on to finish in 11th position with damage.
The Stewards investigated and concluded Ehrlacher was at fault for the collision, but as he would later retire from the race with an engine problem, instead of a time penalty the French driver will have to serve the grid drop at the next race.
Ehrlacher blamed commotion up ahead for the incident, saying: “Someone blocked Norbi and then he had to brake suddenly to avoid this guy, and by the time I jumped on the brakes, I touched him a little bit, it’s a bit unfortunate.”
Michelisz however saw the incident was entirely Ehrlacher’s fault. “I was very disappointed, I had a very good start, gained two positions and was on the inside. I barked, and then Yann missed his braking and hit me really hard from behind. I went sideways and collected another car, breaking the front-right suspension. It was Yann’s braking that caused the incident, not the other car ahead, we checked it on the onboard.”
Picture: WSC/Fastclick
