Following an on-track collision in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch, NAPA Racing UK Team Principal Pete Osborne has been penalised for threats against Daniel Rowbottom.
The second race was red-flagged after 22 laps when two cars went off at Druids bend – initially it was the BMW of Charles Rainford which came to rest in the gravel.
However, Sam Osborne (car #77) was then knocked into the gravel at the same location after contact from Plato Racing’s Rowbottom (car #32), running a lap down, just moments after Osborne himself had run wide at Paddock Hill Bend.
Initially, no further action was taken by stewards in the aftermath of the incident. However, NAPA Racing UK appealed this decision. The subsequent decision from the stewards rejected the appeal for the following reasons.
“Having considered the video evidence and verbal submissions, the Stewards note that the only yellow signal being shown was at the point immediately before a car was in the gravel,” reported the decision of the Stewards hearing.
“The signal was clearly visible in advance to car 77 and the Stewards consider it likely that there was a brief moment when that signal was also visible to car 32 following, before (as is accepted by all present) the yellow light was obscured for car 32 by car 77.
“However, the Stewards accept that the focus of driver 32 at that moment would have been on the movement of car 77 which had left the track and rejoined ahead of him and therefore the first awareness 32 had of the yellow signal was when that signal appeared on his dash.
“At that point he was already alongside 77 when 77 moved to the right and contact was made.
“Accordingly, the Stewards consider that neither driver was wholly or predominantly responsible for the incident and that no further action is appropriate. It was acknowledged by all present that it was unfortunate that there was no earlier yellow warning of the incident.”
While the on‑track appeal was dismissed without further sporting penalties, the aftermath of the same race weekend led to a separate and more serious judicial finding.
In a Judicial Action document issued later in the evening, Clerk of the Course Ian Watson ruled that Pete Osborne had breached Motorsport UK regulations following the race.
After a hearing involving Osborne and Plato Racing Team Principal Jason Plato, Watson found that Osborne was guilty of “using abusive language or behaviour” and of breaching Motorsport UK’s “Race with Respect” code of conduct.
The Judicial report from Ian Watson stated:
“After viewing video provided by Plato Racing and having discussed this incident with both Jason Plato and Peter Osborne, it is clear that Peter Osborne went to the Plato Racing pit straight after the race finished.
“He approached Team Principal Jason Plato and verbally threatened violence against Dan Rowbottom, this came as a result of an on-track incident between the car driven by Dan Rowbottom and that of Peter Osbornes’ son Sam.”
Osborne was thus ordered to pay a fine of £1,000 with a referral being made to the Stewards / Motorsport UK for consideration of further penalties.