Rea stripped of Nurburgring podium

WORLD Supersport racer Gino Rea has been stripped of of second place at last weekend's Nurburgring round due to a technical infringement with his Intermoto Honda.

Following a strip-down of Rea’s machine, the result was nulled due to an alleged technical infringement concerning the idle control valve. This is a part widely used in both the World and British Supersport Championships and is generally viewed to have no beneficial effect on overall engine performance.

The decision saw Intermoto receiving many messages of support from other squads within the paddock and the Czech Republic-based team are now considering legal action to contest the verdict, say the team.

“The team and I are as shocked as everyone else with this decision for something which other squads have been using for years,” commented Rea afterwards. “Obviously I’m not happy with the decision. This will be a major upset to all teams in FIM-regulated paddocks as the part will have to be removed.

“Apart from the disqualification, it has been a good weekend from what started off very negatively. In the race, I made a good start and got behind Eugene Laverty. I had a big moment on the first lap which allowed him to get away slightly but I was able to reel him back in. I didn’t expect to be able to stick with him the whole race but when he went to gap me with a few laps to go, I was able to go with him and put my fastest lap in. There were a few places where I was faster but I couldn’t get a good enough drive off the corners to get close enough for a pass. I squared the final corner off to get a good drive on the final lap but couldn’t quite get past him for the win, although it was pretty close, just five-hundredths of a second off!”

The next round of the World Supersport Championship takes place at Imola, Italy, on September 26th.