FIA rejects Ferrari's appeal on the results of 6 Hours of Spa

The appeal filed by Ferrari against the results of the 6 Hours of Spa in the World Endurance Championship in May was rejected by the FIA International Court of Appeal. After a hearing in Geneva, the court upheld the decision of the stewards to dismiss the protest from the Ferrari AF Corse team, which challenged the restart of the race after the originally scheduled time.

The controversy arose when the race was stopped with a red flag due to barrier repairs, and the organizers decided to restart the event beyond the scheduled six-hour time. Ferrari, whose #50 and #51 cars were leading before the red flag, argued that this extension altered the final outcome of the race, as the #12 Jota Porsche and the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport surpassed the Ferraris in the final classification.

The court upheld the validity of the stewards' decision, stating that Ferrari filed its protest outside the time limit set by the FIA International Sporting Code, making it “final and binding.” Additionally, the court noted that Ferrari's argument was solely based on a breach of regulation related to decision #71, which was not enough to modify the provisional classification.

Although the court considered that the stewards made an error by directly rejecting the protest, it established that the Sporting Code allows for challenges to provisional results. Nevertheless, Ferrari’s appeal was completely dismissed due to a lack of additional arguments.

Ferrari justified its protest as an attempt to clarify the rules that allowed for the extension of the race time at Spa. The Italian team argued that the decision set a precedent in the category, extending the event beyond its scheduled duration. In the end, Ferrari finished third and fourth, while the #12 Jota Porsche claimed the victory.