Berlin - Audi has been fined 200 000 euros (R2.98m) and its motorsport chief has been banned from the DTM (German Touring Cars) garages until the end of the season after he urged his driver Timo Scheider to cause a collision, the German motor sports federation court ruled on Wednesday.
Scheider, who has to sit out the series' next race in Russia starting in two days, was ordered by Wolfgang Ullrich during the race in Spielberg to push a rival driving a Mercedes out of the way which he did, forcing two vehicles out of the race.
“Timo push him out,” Ullrich is heard saying. The motorsport chief has also been banned from using the team radio and Audi lose the 62 points gained in that race, the court said.
“The judges ruled that Wolfgang Ullrich, in his position as Audi motorsport chief in the last round of the DTM race in Spielberg,... ordered Audi driver Timo Scheider to get into a collision with another driver,” the court said in a statement.
“As this behaviour damages the public image of the motorsport it was appropriate that the punishment was harsh.”
The series, which this season includes nine stops, originated in Germany but has now expanded to other countries as well and has seen several former Formula One drivers compete.
Reuters