» WTCC: Grid penalty for Villa

Scuderia Proteam’s Javier Villa has been slapped with a five-place grid penalty by the FIA stewards for the next round of the World Touring Car Championship at Donington after a sloppy round at last weekend’s Race of Portugal at Porto.

The Spaniard attempted an optimistic pass on the SEAT of Fredy Barth at the first chicane on the opening lap of Race 1, but only succeeded in tipping the Swiss driver into a spin whereupon he was collected by team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo. Both were eliminated from the race, although Barth was later able to rejoin the race after repairs were carried out on his car.

The stewards – which included V8 Supercars’ permanent race director Tim Schenken for this round – issued the BMW driver with a retrospective 30-second time penalty for his part in causing the collision, but as Villa later retired from the race, this became a grid penalty for the next round.

The Porto round featured several penalties to other BMW drivers. Villa’s team-mate Mehdi Bennani had time penalties issued in both races; for cutting a chicane in the first race, and for hitting Stefano D’Aste in Race 2, while Engstler BMW’s Kristian Poulsen was also penalised for shortcutting the circuit in Race 1.

[Image via FIA WTCC Media]