British F3: Nakajima cleared of Thruxton infringement

Daisuke Nakajima was wrongly penalised during the second British F3 race at Thurxton on Sunday for overtaking under yellow flags.

The Japanese born racer was mistaken for a rival and handed a drive-through penalty for passing Jay Bridger's Litespeed entry at the Club chicane while yellow flags were being waved as track marshals retrieved the crashed cars of Max Snegirev and Adderley Fong, and the barriers repaired.
 

Nakajima’s Raikkonen Robertson Racing team questioned the decision during the race and consulted with Litespeed. This confirmed that the 21-year-old had overtaken Bridger at the start of the race.
 

Litespeed later produced on-board footage to prove Nakajima was ahead of Bridger at the time of the alleged incident.
 

Malcolm Swetnam, Team Manger of Double R, urged series organizers to consider changing the drive through penalty punishment.

“The Race Director can only react to information received,” he said. “He received a report that the offence had been committed from out on track, but as it turns out the evidence is pretty clear that this was not the case.

"Perhaps the whole drive through scenario needs looking at for the future. Daisuke was understandably distraught after the race and was almost certainly denied a top eight finish.”

Catch British F3 action on Motors TV throughout 2010.

 

Josh Modaberi