IMSA Admits it made bad calls for 2nd race in row (Update)
“It’s just mind-boggling to me that five different people looked at the video and couldn’t figure out it was the 911 RSR, not the WeatherTech car," Job told Sportscar365.
“When they take action like that, I would like to see them take more input from the team that is disputing the penalty and then take more effort to double check it," Job said.
“Even to invite the team member up there, to the tower, and let us show you why we’re ruling on this. Had that happened, we wouldn’t have the penalty."
The penalty, a stop-and-hold plus 80-second penalty for contact, was not appealable.
The No. 22 car, driven by Leh Keen, Cooper MacNeil and Philipp Frommenwiler, ultimately finished fourth in class.
IMSA apologized for the error, but it wasn’t enough for Job.
“We finished somewhere around five seconds back, out of the win," Job said. “And we got an 80-second penalty plus the drive in and out of pit lane.
“I want some satisfaction. Apologies are not enough."
03/16/14 IMSA admitted two incorrect calls were made during Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
A penalty was assessed to the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America, a stop-and-hold plus 80-second penalty, for contact deemed to have occurred between it and the No. 49 Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 at Turn 7 in the race’s eighth hour.
The problem was, the No. 49 Ferrari was contacted by a Porsche – twice – and neither time was it the No. 22 car.
Both the No. 911 and No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSRs made contact with the No. 49 Ferrari during the race. The No. 911 hit the No. 49 at Turn 5, and the No. 912 later hit the No. 49 at Turn 7.
IMSA admitted the mistakes were made with the assessing of the penalty to the No. 22, and failing to call the No. 911 for an incident as well.
The No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR was not given a penalty, IMSA admitted. That car went on to win the GT Le Mans class.
Job explained his side of the situation in an interview during the race’s live stream on IMSA.com.
“I wanted to go to the tower and request to see the video," Job explained. “They showed me the video. As they were showing, I could see the ‘oops’ coming out of there.
“The 22 was way ahead of the incident. It was one of the white (factory) RSRs that made contact with the Ferrari.
“The other comment we saw was the in-car video showed the rest. The Michelin in-car video is on the roof, which makes it hard to understand how it could be ruled that way." Sportscar365.com