da Costa demoted following technical infringement
Antonio Felix da Costa has lost his front row grid slot after his MS&AD Andretti machine was found to be underweight in post-qualifying scrutineering.
The Portuguese had been the star of qualifying as he unexpectedly reached Super Pole and went on to claim second on the grid, but checks by the stewards found his car to be under the 880kg limit and he was subsequently excluded from the Super Pole classification.
This marks the second time that da Costa has been disqualified from a front row position, having taken provisional pole at Long Beach in Season Two, then for an issue with his tyre pressures.
As his car was found to be within the right parameters following the group stages, only his Super Pole time has been deleted, but the change in weight to the car left Team Principal Roger Griffiths confused.
“The car is held in Parc Ferme conditions between the session and we can’t touch it, so we are perplexed,” he simply put it.
The decision promotes NIO’s Oliver Turvey to second place behind pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist, while Sebastien Buemi will start third ahead of the penalised da Costa.
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