Robert Gilmour was excluded for ‘driving in a manner incompatible with general safety’ in the opening TCR UK race at Oulton Park, even though the DPE Motorsport driver didn’t finish the race.
Gilmour was attempting to pass Maximum Motorsport’s Carl Swift on the run up to the high-speed Island bend when he moved over on the CUPRA driver, clipping Swift and sending both drivers into the barriers.
The Alfa Romeo sustained significant damage in the shunt, and the Scot was disqualified even though he was out of the race on the spot.
“I’d seen Jessica [Bäckman] got a much better exit than Carl, and I got a very good exit as well,” said Gilmour of the incident. “I think Carl made a mistake, so I thought that I’d stay on the inside as well as you would.
“I got a very good exit as well and so I got shoving the Golf to get past as well. As soon as I came to the corner I was nudged – I was doing 120 mph up there and it was a massive shunt.”
TouringCars.Net understands that, despite the heavy damage, the car is not written off and it will be sent back to Romeo Ferraris workshop in Italy, where it will be re-shelled and rebuilt.
The team are hopeful that the car will still be on the grid at the next round at Croft in one months’ time.