The FIA International Court of Appeal met in Paris on Thursday, January 31, 2008, to examine an appeal lodged by the Automobile Club d’Italia/Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana (ACI/CSAI) on behalf of its licence-holder GPC Sport against a decision of the Spanish National Court of Appeal dated 28 November 2007 relating to the event run at Jerez (Spain) on 27-28 October 2007 and counting towards the 2007 Spanish GT Championship.
On 28 October 2007, the Stewards of the Meeting decided to impose a 25-second penalty on car N°5, competitor RSV Motorsport (drivers Peter Sundberg and Domingo Romero) for having overtaken another competitor while a yellow flag restriction was in place.
The competitor RSV Motorsport decided to appeal this decision to the Spanish National Court of Appeal.
At its hearing on 28 November 2007, the Spanish National Court of Appeal quashed the decision of the Stewards.
The competitor GPC Sport decided to appeal the decision of the Spanish National Court of Appeal to the International Court of Appeal.
Having heard the explanations of both parties and having examined the various documents and other evidence, the Court decided that the appeal was ill-founded as the appellant, who had an obligation to do so, did not supply proof regarding the different grounds of complaint put forward.
The International Court of Appeal was presided over by Mr Harry DUIJM (The Netherlarnds), elected President, and composed of Mr Vassilis KOUSSIS (Greece), Mr Robert LAGULHON (France) and Mr Reginald REDMOND (Ireland).
The full text of the International Court of Appeal’s decision is available on the FIA website (www.fia.com).