PK Carsport loses appeal and heads for the civil law court. FIA disregards the evidence put forward.

On the 8th July the Corvette C5-R of the PK Carsport team won the FIA-GT race at Oschersleben. Several hours after the end of the event Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin were disqualified for non-conformity, according to the FIA, of their fuel cell.

Via the RACB the team lodged an appeal contesting this decision. Four documents were produced in evidence, issued by four independent bodies. Today the appeal was handled by the FIA and confirmed that PK Carsport were not in their right, resulting in Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin losing not only their victory but also their leader's position in the world championship.

Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen both immediately reacted to this decision.

"This is unbelievable, outrageous and scandalous. We are quite simply being scoffed at by the FIA. We had a very strong defence (proofs in attachment) but these were not taken into account. We stand firm, we are not fraudsters but we are disadvantaged through the fact that we are a small Belgian team. There's obviously far more lurking behind this decision. It is a downright disgrace. "Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen commented.

These are the various proofs given as evidence by PK Carsport.

- A document issued by SGS, a Belgian organisation officially recognised by the FIA regarding all possible problems or conflicts concerning fuels, oils etc.
- An email issued by Total Elf, the official supplier of fuel in the FIA championship.
- A document emanating from the University of Leuven.
- A document issued by Pratt & Miller who confirm that the fuel cell is still the same original cell, referring to the cell's original numbers. This cell had been approved by the FIA at various previous measuring sessions, and there had never been a problem.

"At the time of the measurement the fuel temperature was 34 degrees centigrade, whereas the measuring equipment used is set at 20 degrees centigrade. As such the fuel was 14 degrees too warm. Fuel expands as it warms up. Three independent bodies, all references in their own field and of which one is even recognised by the FIA, proved that we were in our right. Each one provided the necessary documents as proof but nothing was done with these. Even Pratt & Miller, the car's builder offered up the necessary proof. Pratt & Miller would never put their reputation on the line merely to oblige us. These are correct people and have issued the necessary proof. But the FIA didn't do anything with these proofs"Kumpen and Longin continued.

"We could even have claimed that there were procedure errors, but we didn't want to go down that route. We contacted our legal advisor. We're not going to give in to this decision and are taking our case to the civil law court. This can and will lead to unexpected consequences. A competitor wins? Ok, a complaint is lodged. In fact we're only talking about a small insignificant team. The proofs? Oh, we just wipe those off the table. After all we are the strongest, let the weaker ones fight it out amongst themselves.... "