Downton FV team principal Bradley Downton has confirmed triple World Champion Nathaniel Powers ignored an order to let team mate Klaas van Snelheid back through after inheriting the lead thanks to an undercut. The duo controlled the race, regularly swapping the lead during the opening stint before Powers made the first pit stop of the leading quartet from second place on lap 31. van Snelheid pitted just one lap later, but the undercut proved so effective that Powers took the lead by 3 seconds.
"We boxed Nathaniel first to cover off the threat of the undercut from the Mathershaw Porsche cars and to protect the 1-2, as we expected it to be strong and they were very close. We didn't expect it to be as strong as it was however and him jumping Klaas was not something we expected." "Understandably, Klaas felt very hard done by and was rather animated on the radio. We had agreed prior as a team - with both drivers - that we did not want the race to be decided this way, and that in this event we would swap the positions back once we had a suitable gap behind, and then let them battle. This is always the way of the team when the drivers are on the same strategy and close together on track." "As such, once Klaas had five seconds back to the Mathershaw Porsche's, we radioed Nathaniel and asked for him to cede the position to Klaas, but he ignored the order. Obviously this was complicated when Klaas then lost time getting caught out behind Yakumi (Takahashi) spinning, but it was definitely achievable without losing the 1-2." van Snelheid was visibly furious after the race, with no interaction between him and Powers in what has - until now - been a rather friendly and open relationship. "Luckily, we've not encountered an issue like this before (between drivers)," Downton continued. "But when you have two top quality drivers in a great car gunning for the top spot season after season, I suppose it was always going to come eventually. We will sit down with them both away from the race track and discuss this."
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