Oh my god, <br />I hope your not an actual administrator of this site, <br />this thread is pathetic.<br /><br />Firstly, with the comments about the Ford Motor Company and FPV, to <br />think they have anything to do with the decisions FPR and the rest of the Prodrive team make is just ludicrous. They are a seperate entity, and do nothing other then sponsor the team. Are you going to stop buying Castrol oil now because they also sponsor the CAT car?<br /><br />The door was broken, it was a safety issue, which everybody knew (including HRT). The Team Manager went down to the officials to discuss the situation, who decided to let the car stay out on track while closely monitoring the situation and deciding on the appropriate action. A few teams complained about it, and after a few laps, an official complaint was made by FPR. HRT #1 was black flagged because of the pace car bunching the cars together, and therefore posing a threat to surrounding competitors. David Besnards car (another FPR car) had a similiar thing happen to it a few weeks ago, and weren't allowed to continue in the race until it was fixed. The standard of the rulings had been set, and thats it.<br /><br />If anyones to blame here, its the officials, and HRT themselves. Not Ford, Not FPV, Not your local Dealer, and not the fans. Theres nothing to get "personal" about here. If anything, the officials should have bought Skaife in as soon as it happened, not waited 15 laps. The car was in a clear breach of the safety regulations. Perhaps it was Grech's fault for persuading the officials to "monitor the situation", instead of black flagging straight away. There is no argument against the ruling, only the timing of it.<br /><br />Saying this, HRT knew it was a 50/50 situation whether they would be black flagged or not, and had a perfect opportunity to come in and fix it on their own accord, and at minimum loss of time and track position during the last safety car period. They took the gamble, and on this occasion, they lost out. The same thing happened at Sandown with HRT's failing electrical system. Again they were in breach of the safety rules with no rain lights being displayed while wet weather tyres are on. They took the 50/50 gamble, and it paid off (with only a $7000 fine after the event).<br /><br />Don't think for a minute that if the situation was reversed, HRT wouldn't have made an official complaint. Infact, any team out on the track would have done the same thing.<br /><br />I must have missed the section in your post's about Steven Richards punt of John Bowe, or Tanders, all without a penalty? This also destroyed a chance of a good finish with the OzEmail car. What about Perkins safety car impersonation for about 20 laps, allowing Murphy to get away to a 20 - 30 second lead?<br /><br />Bathurst is always full of controversy, but to go on about it like you have been, is just, as I said before, pathetic.