Massive blow for the Land team: The traditional outfit from Germany, which returned to Porsche from Audi in the DTM this year, has been disqualified after a strong fourth-place finish by rookie Bastian Buus in Saturday’s race at Zandvoort! The reason for the decision is that the No. 29 Porsche 911 GT3 R was found to be underweight.
The technical scrutineers discovered the discrepancy during the post-race inspection. According to their findings, the car should have tipped the scales at a minimum of 1,332 kilograms but only weighed 1,328.5 kilograms. Even accounting for the two-kilogram tolerance, the car was still 1.5 kilograms under the limit.
The team has declined to comment on the disqualification. For the 22-year-old Dane, this is a bitter setback, as it costs him his best DTM result to date – especially after he proved stronger at Zandvoort than both drivers from the top Porsche squad Manthey, just as he had on Sunday at Spielberg.
Result is definitive: Land-Porsche weighed three times
By being underweight, the team violated Article 26.1 of the Sporting Regulations. This article clarifies that the required minimum weight of a vehicle – without the driver and fuel – is composed of the minimum weight according to the Balance of Performance (BoP), driver ballast, and onboard camera weight.
This explains why the team significantly exceeded the Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo’s base BoP weight of 1,315 kilograms and was still disqualified. The result is definitive: the car was placed on the scales three times during scrutineering to be absolutely certain.
After a strong fourth place on the grid, Buus had spent the entire race battling Winward Mercedes driver Jules Gounon for P4 – and eventually came out on top. The fact that the Frenchman now moves up a spot might be seen by him as poetic justice, as he was far from happy with his rival’s behavior.
Gounon complains about Buus: “Outside the regulations”
“For me it was not really fair what happened on track,” Gounon said after the race. “I was two times side-by-side with Bastian Buus, two times I had contact, two times I had to lift when the move was done for me.”
Asked if he considered Buus’s moves unfair, Gounon replied: “Well, it’s not unfair. It’s outside the regulations. In the regulations, when you are side-by-side, you always need to leave a space. The space was not left for me, so at the end the race director took his decision.”
While race director Sven Stoppe did not react to Gounon’s radio message after the first maneuver, where the Mercedes driver demanded the position be returned, Buus was handed a reprimand for forcing another car off track after the second incident.
Buus himself described the duel as a “very good fight,” noting that it is difficult to pass on the outside at Zandvoort.
“So, from my point of view, a very good fight,” said Buus. “We had a small contact before we reached the exit, and I think his car bounced a bit off to the left. At the time, there was plenty of space, so yeah. I got a warning, which is maybe fair enough, but it’s racing.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
