Eduardo ‘Dudu’ Barrichello has expressed his frustration after the Michelin GT Challenge held last Sunday, questioning the severity of a pit road penalty that cost his team, Heart of Racing, a chance at victory. The incident occurred in the final minutes of the race when co-driver Tom Gamble had contact in the battle for the category lead in GTD.
Only six minutes remained before the end of the competition at Virginia International Raceway when the number 27 car entered an intense fight with Philip Ellis of Winward Racing. Ellis made a risky move in turn 3 to briefly take the lead, but collided with Gamble, causing an accident between the two vehicles.
Despite Gamble yielding the position to Ellis shortly after, the IMSA race director imposed a penalty, relegating the car to a fourth-place finish. Barrichello, reflecting on the final minutes of the race, commented on the elevated ‘wear’ of the tires and how this made vehicle control difficult. ‘I think Tom understood that his maneuver was not the best, so he yielded the position, trying to play clean. However, we then received a penalty that I believe is too harsh,’ Barrichello stated.
The consequence of this ruling was a significant loss in the championship standings, as Barrichello, now third in the GTD points, is 56 points behind the new leaders, Ellis and Russell Ward. The situation marks a significant setback for the team, which after a promising start to the season, has failed to podium in the last five races.
‘It’s clear that we are going through a tough time,’ Barrichello concluded. ‘We’ve struggled to regain the pace we had at the beginning of the season, where we achieved some podiums. Right now, the fact that we haven’t even been able to achieve a third place is very frustrating, and we hope to bounce back at the next event.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
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