Seb Morris Appeals Silverstone 500 Disqualification

By Paul Evans

Seb Morris produced a sensational performance during round five of the British GT Championship, the Silverstone 500, with a superb charge through the field to finish on the podium.

However, his third place hangs in the balance after his JRM-run Bentley Continental GT3 was found to be underweight (without fuel on board) and was disqualified from the results. The team is now awaiting the outcome of an appeal against the decision, which will have a huge bearing on its 2019 title bid.

Wrexham-born Morris and team-mate Rick Parfitt Jnr overcame a tough qualifying session to rise through from 11th on the grid in the race. They also had to overturn a frustrating mid-race penalty, linked to a pit-stop procedure, to scythe back through the field and finish on the podium.

Morris took the chequered flag at the end of three hours of intense action just 0.6 seconds shy of the runner-up position, and also with the fastest lap of the race with a time of 2mins 02.014secs, but post-race scrutineering then delivered the hammer blow of disqualification.

“We’re all unbelievably disappointed and JRM immediately lodged an appeal so we’re waiting to see what the outcome of that will be,” said Morris. “In terms of the race performance, I was very happy with my pace and to come through from a tough qualifying and a mid-race penalty to take third was a fantastic effort.”

“We have not breached any regulations intentionally and we’ll be putting our case together for the appeal and are hopeful that the decision will be fair,” added JRM Technical Director Elliot Dason-Barber. “The cause of the disqualification didn’t affect the performance of the car so we can be incredibly proud of the team to start 11th on the grid, crossing the line P3 and getting fastest lap too.”