Speedway, Ind. ~ At the conclusion of last weekend’s American Rally Association National Championship event, Show-Me Rally, it was determined that the second place overall car of Barry McKenna, car number 2, had failed post-race technical inspection.
At issue for car number 2 was a violation of ARA RTR 4.1.11, regarding Turbochargers and Exhaust Gasses. This resulted in a 7:59 time penalty, lowering McKenna’s finishing placement from second to fourth overall.
Upon review of the protest, it has been determined that penalty will be reversed, giving the time penalty back to McKenna and placing car number 2 back into second overall for the rally.
Prior to the Southern Ohio Forest Rally in July, the ARA received a request to clarify its interpretation of RTR 4.1.11 and its specific use by other competitors. At that time, the ARA clarified RTR 4.1.11 to the team(s) in question, allowing them proper time to come into compliance of the rule prior to the Ojibwe Forests Rally in August.
At that time, it was the intention of the ARA to issue a bulletin to all affected competitors clarifying the rule and allowing all teams to come into compliance. The McKenna Motorsports protest made clear that ARA had not issued a bulletin clarifying rule and, therefore, the rule interpretation was still unclear.
Since the ARA did not issue an official bulletin, thus not giving the same accommodations to all class competitors as it had prior to Ojibwe, it ruled in favor of the protest to reinstate car number 2 to its actual finish position at Show-Me Rally.
The ARA will issue a bulletin regarding the clarification of RTR 4.1.11 to all competitors of the affected classes.