The FIA International Court of Appeal met in Paris on Thursday, January 11, 2007, to examine an appeal lodged by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) against the decision of the Belgian National Court of Appeal of 24 October 2006 concerning kart N°50, competitor CRG S.p.A., driver Jonathan Thonon regarding an event run at Mariembourg (Belgium) on 3 September 2006 and counting towards the 2006 CIK-FIA World Cup Super ICC.

The Panel of the Stewards of the Meeting of the event inflicted a penalty of 10 seconds on the competitor because the kart moved before the starting signal, in breach of Article 2.20-K of the CIK-FIA General Prescriptions.  The competitor CRG S.p.A. lodged an appeal before the Belgian National Court of Appeal which decided to quash the decision of the Panel of the Stewards.  The FIA decided to lodge an appeal before the FIA International Court of Appeal.

Having heard the explanations of all parties and having examined the various documents and video evidence, the Court quashed the decision of the Belgian National Court of Appeal and imposed a 10-second sanction on the competitor on the grounds that the kart had indeed moved before the the starting signal.

The International Court of Appeal was presided over by Mr José MACEDO e CUNHA (Portugal), elected President, and composed of Mr Xavier CONESA (Spain), Mr Christian GROSJEAN (Switzerland) and Mr Anthony SCRIVENER (Great Britain).

The full text of the International Court of Appeal’s decision is available, on request, from the secretariat of the FIA International Court of Appeal in Paris.