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Victory 7 Receive Yellow Card
Posted On: 05 Sep 2007 - 12:40
Victory 7 was handed a yellow card for interference with the starting procedure during the Romanian Grand Prix on Sunday. The decision to hand the yellow card to the Dubai team was taken late on Sunday after extensive deliberations between the WPPA jury.

The letter signed by WPPA Chief Commissioner Rory Power has pulled up the Victory 7 pairing of Nader Bin Hendi and Talib Al Sayed for "interference with the start procedure". The decision has been arrived at after reviewing the video of the race.

Victory 77, eventual winners of the inaugural Romanian Grand Prix was also given a strong warning for dangerous driving, while Shaikh Hassan Bin Jaber Al Thani and Matteo Nicolini of Qatar 96 have also received a similar warning.

The young combination of Pal Nilsen and Tom Barry-Cotter in the second Spirit of Norway boat was also given a warning by the WPPA jury.

As per rules governing Class One racing, two yellow cards automatically result in a red card. If teams receive the red card they receive a one race ban.

Also in the news is that the WPPA has thrown out the appeal lodged by the Qatar Team against the yellow cards issued to Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Luca Nicolini, Qatar 95, for their part in the first corner incident at the Scandinavian Grand involving boat 90, Jotun. The WPPA issued a statement which stated that 'the WPPA Appeal Committee has decided that the appeal is dismissed for the reason that Qatar 95 has done a dangerous action which resulted in an accident to Jotun, boat 90'.

The actions taken by the WPPA have clearly infuriated, team manager Matteo Nicolini. "It is our opinion that both actions taken by the WPPA, the issuing of the yellow card and the dismissal of our appeal, are wrong, and clearly shows that they want to control us with their subjective interpretation of the rule book," commented Nicolini, adding. "They also based their initial decision to issue the cards after viewing footage days after the race - but without receiving a protest from any team. They seem to be both judge and jury."

"In the hearing they defended their decision to issue the cards on the grounds that a severe change in direction is a dangerous action - yet later at the briefing for the Romanian Grand Prix, declared that boats are entitled to make a change in direction without incurring any penalty. This is a ridiculous situation - at the last race it was unacceptable at this race it is OK. This is not the correct way to act." he continued.

The actions of some boats has caused Steve Curtis to say "Some people out there are driving like idiots and ignoring the rules."



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