Thresh title celebrations on ice after rival’s appeal

HUNTINGDON driver Des Thresh faces an anxious wait before he can celebrate winning the 2010 BMW Kumho Tyres Championship after a late appeal from championship rival Stephan Lanfermeijer.

The 46-year-old, who had already sewn up the Class B title going into Sunday’s final rounds at Thruxton, thought he had also secured the overall crown when the chequered flag came down.

But jubilation quickly turned to astonishment for Thresh with his title rival, Lanfermeijer, appealing on a technicality – regarding the number of Class B cars competing in the crucial second race.

Should that appeal be upheld, Thresh will only be awarded half points, relegating him to second place behind Lanfermeijer.

Speaking to The Hunts Post on Tuesday, Thresh said: “We’re waiting to hear a conclusion on it and I’m told it’s going to be in the next few days.

“It’s up in the air at the moment but I feel like I have clearly won it and I have done what I had to do.”

The issue in question is whether or not five Class B cars were classified in race two, the minimum number required by the rules for Thresh to be awarded full points.

The confusion comes after an incident three laps in, when the race had to be stopped, but Thresh is adamant all is in order.

He explained: “An incident involving another Class B car after three laps of the second race meant there was a red flag and that we had to re-start the race.

“There’s a rule that says if the incident happens on the first lap, the race is declared null and void and it starts again completely.

“But if it’s after two laps or more – and we were – the rules state the re-start happens from your race positions before the incident and not the original grid positions.

“For some reason, the people at the circuit hadn’t grasped that and thought we’d started again as if it had been null and void.

“Consequently, they were saying they couldn’t class the fifth Class B car – belonging to Mark Astall – on the grid. And for that reason, I’d only get half points and wouldn’t be champion.”

Despite that, Thresh is confident common sense will prevail and he will be awarded the title over the next few days.

He said: “We’ve got video evidence and, when they look at that, they will see we did three laps before the incident.

“The re-start was a continuation of the race so the car was listed as the fifth car.

“The only way the car wouldn’t have been classified is if the race had been null and void before the re-start – which it wasn’t.”

The matter is currently being dealt with by the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) who, when contacted by the Hunts Post on Tuesday, had no comment to make.