AF Corse’s protest lodged against the Balance of Performance adjustments at the Bahrain rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship have been rejected by the stewards.
The Ferrari squad had filed protest against the decision on Friday, but the protests have been thrown out due to the conclusion that Article 20 of the WEC technical regulations is the only legally binding rule.
AF Corse has alleged that the two Balance of Performance adjustments (one before the Bahrain 6H and one before the Bahrain 8H) had been ‘wrongfully set’.
To support its claims, it had provided two pieces of evidence. The first being a press release published by the FIA WEC Communications Department in April 2017, of which the stewards said that it could not be treated as binding regulation.
The second piece was an email exchange between Technical Delegates of the FIA/ACO and the manufacturer discussing and clarifying Article 20, which was also rejected.
The stewards decision on the protest reads: “Article 20 of WEC Technical Regulation clearly states the WEC Committee is permitted to carry out any modifications which it may deem necessary at the absolute discretion of the WEC committee.”
“Nothing in this case permits the stewards to review the legality either of Article 20 of WEC Technical Regulations which is binding for the competitor as for the stewards, or the legality of the WEC committee decisions protested which have been taken in accordance with Article 20 of the WEC technical regulations.”
It further states that “the decisions of the WEC Committee are taken in the last resort and thus cannot be appealed.”
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