National Court
Sitting on 20th October 2026 David Munro( Chair), David Scott, Kevin Witton
Case No. J2026-39
APPEAL – APPELLANT: TOWNSEND RACING
1. The appellants, Townsend Racing powered by Fox Motorsport, were the entrants of an Aston Martin GT4 car, competition number 40 in the Donington Park round of the British GT Championship on 6th September 2026.
2. Article 49 of the British GT Championship regulations prohibits any contact with a vehicle in perc fermé, with the exception of specified officials and technicians. Post race, the applicant’ s car was in a garage deemed to be a Parc Fermé area and a sign had been placed on its roof indicating that it was in Parc Fermé. A Mr Woollen entered the garage / Parc Fermé area, looked into and then opened and closed the door of the applicant’ s car, allegedly to check that the ignition had been switched off. A judge of fact reported Mr Woollen’ s actions to the Stewards of the Meeting. The Stewards found there to have been a breach of the Article and in consequence imposed a disqualification from the results of the race, as Article 49 mandates.
3. It is against that decision that the entrant now appeals under NCR Ch. 2, App. 5.3( a) on the basis that a gross miscarriage of justice has occurred.
4. The main thrust of the appeal is that Mr Woollen had no connection with the entrant’ s team and was, in fact, an employee of Aston Martin Racing( AMR) who had acted without the knowledge or consent of the team.
5. The entrants also asserted that the organisers had failed to comply with Article 49( 3) which requires that the Parc Fermé shall be sufficiently large and secure so that no unauthorised person can gain access to it, arguing that the pit garage used by the team was insufficiently secure.
6. The essential facts were not in dispute. The entrants had left the car in the pit garage at the end of the race and the entire team, about 6 persons in all, had gone to the podium. They had left an acrylic sign on the roof of the car which read“ Parc Fermé DO NOT TOUCH”. Mr Woollen, a technical advisor employed by Aston Martin Racing to provide technical support to the five Aston Martin teams who competed in the race, was in the pit garage when they left.
7. He had opened the door of the car to see if the ignition was on. He then shut the door. He was seen to do this by a Judge of Fact.
8. He was lawfully in Parc Fermé as he had been issued with a pass by the promotors, SRO, which enabled him to access all areas other than race control. He had attended the Stewards Hearing and explained that he had walked through the garage to see what a marshal was doing at the front of car 40 and had opened the car door without thinking. He acted without the knowledge of the team.
9. He attended the National Court and had provided a witness statement. His evidence was that neither he, nor AMR, had any contractual agreement with the appellant’ s team to provide either technical or engineering support. He had acted independently and was not instructed by the team. His role at the event was to liaise with and offer technical advice to all AMR teams as required. He had moved up and down the pit lane throughout the weekend visiting teams. He had acted on his own account and without the knowledge of the appellants.
10. The issue to be decided by the Court was whether or not the appellant team were responsible for his actions. Motorsport UK argued that as the entrant they bore the prime responsibility for compliance with the regulations by all persons connected with an entry( NCR Ch. 6 App. 1Art. 2.3), further they asserted that as NCR Ch. 6 App. 1 Art 2.6 states that any person in possession of an Official Event pass or other means of identification issued by the Organiser shall be deemed to be assisting the entrant to which the means of identification has been issued.
11. Motorsport UK further relied on NCR Ch. 6 App. 1 Art 1.4 which states that the entrant is responsible for all the acts and omissions on the part of their drivers, mechanics, passengers all other persons connected in any capacity with their entry.
42 Revolution Magazine