Highcroft lodges appeal

Highcroft Racing has lodged an appeal against the penalty that cost them victory in Saturday's American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach. Scott Sharp had taken the lead from De Ferran Motorsports' Simon Pagenaud in the first stint and was leading when he came in to hand the Highcroft Acura over to David Brabham.

But the car was held for an additional 20 seconds by the IMSA observer in the pit, who observed that the crew member holding the fire extinguisher was not wearing the correct helmet.

"You hate to lose one this way especially when nobody did anything wrong," said Scott Sharp. "We got a bogus penalty and when we later heard that the equipment was fine and the fire extinguisher guy has been wearing the same helmet for the past couple of years. That is really a shame because the car was running great and I think we could have won this one."

"We were subsequently told that we shouldn't have received the penalty, but it had already been served," said team boss Duncan Dayton. "They actually held us for 24 seconds. We had no choice but to protest the decision and it is pending review."