World Touring Car Championship rookies Aur’lien Panis, Yann Ehrlacher and Ryo Michigami have all been hit with penalties sending them to the back of the grid for Sunday’s races in Morocco.
RC Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher had originally qualified in an impressive tenth for his WTCC début, having got his independent RC Motorsport LADA into Q2 at the first time of asking.
However the young Frenchman has been hit with the cancellation of all of his qualifying times after having failed to stop for weighing after Q1, which is a breach of Article 75 of the Sporting Regulations.
Ehrlacher had been set to start Sunday’s Opening Race from the reverse-grid pole position, but the penalty means he will start 14th for both races, with Tom Coronel now promoted to the pole for the first race.
Honda’s Ryo Michigami, who is in just his second WTCC weekend, also fell foul of the same offence and drops to 13th on the grid, having originally put his Civic in ninth for the Main Race.
Zengő Motorsport’s Aurélien Panis, meanwhile, was fond to have an underweight car after qualifying, with a weight of just 1,103 kg. Having his qualifying times cancelled makes no difference to the Frenchman’s starting position, however, as he had qualified last anyway.
The Opening Race takes place at 16:35 BST (17:35 CEST) on Sunday, with the Main Race following at 17:45 BST (18:45 CEST).