Both Mike and Michelle Halder will withdraw from the ADAC TCR Germany series with immediate effect, after Mike was excluded from race one at the Nürburgring on Saturday.
Halder had finished second on the road behind guest driver Norbert Michelisz, initially picking up full points as Michelisz was ineligible to score points.
However, the Honda driver was later excluded from the result, giving the points win to his sister Michelle, who finished behind the second guest entry of Andreas Bäckman, for having disarmed the fire extinguisher while in Parc Fermé after the race.
After the announcement, Michelle later posted on social media that the two were leaving the series. Mike, along with Harald Proczyk, is the most experienced driver in the series, with 59 starts to his name.
“Mike and I [will] end our involvement in ADAC TCR Germany,” wrote Michelle on Facebook. “The whole thing was triggered by the disqualification of Mike Halder, who had won the first race at the Nürburgring on points.
“The reason for the disqualification of Mike Halder was that he deactivated the fire extinguishing system in Parc Fermé when unbuckling the seat belt so that it would not accidentally trigger when unbuckling the seat belt.
“The DMSB [governing body] has rated this as a rule violation (strictly speaking correctly), as no hand may be placed on the technology of the car in the Parc Fermé.
“The commissioners have not punished this in recent years. Many drivers do this too – for safety reasons, so that the fire extinguishing system does not trigger unintentionally and thus does not cause damage to the driver or the vehicle. Safety first!
“Due to the disqualification, Mike loses all 25 points for victory. In fact, I’ve now got the 25 points. For Halders the final point among many in an endless odyssey of disappointments of recent years.”