PCWRC: Tango team excluded from series [updated].

Tango Rally Team trio Gabriel Pozzo, Marcos Ligato and Sebastian Beltran have been excluded from the entire 2006 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship after their cars were found to contravene the regulations on Rally Australia.

Having inspected each of the team's Mitsubishi Lancers, the FIA technical delegate informed the event stewards that the turbo inlet air restrictor on each car was illegal, having been mounted in such a way that extra air was allowed into the engine, boosting its power.

"After due deliberation, the stewards conclude that the [Tango] cars... do not conform to FIA Appendix J Art. 254 Paragraph 6.1 as all the air necessary for feeding the engine does not pass through the restrictor," read a statement issued by the stewards

The three crews were summoned by the stewards, shown the illegal fitment and had explained to them the 'rather ingenious method' that the team had found to remove and replace the restrictor. Each of the competitors 'apologised to the stewards and stated they were not technical people and were ashamed that this had happened'.

Beltran had finished fourth in the PCWRC at the weekend, while Pozzo brought his car home in ninth. Ligato did not finish in Australia, although he had been comfortably leading the PCWRC category until having to retire halfway through the final day with an engine problem.

The discovery of the rogue restrictor system, however, left the stewards with little option but to disqualify all three crews from the event and, with little proof that the incident was a one-off, also took the decision to 'withdraw all championship points accumulated in the 2006 PCWRC championship' and 'suspend them for all remaining PCWRC events' this year.

All three crews have the right to appeal against the exclusion, suspension and loss of points, so it remains to be seen how the incident will affect the PCWRC standings. Pozzo and Ligato were left in eighth and ninth positions after the event - and before their points were stripped - while Beltran was back in 17th spot. None of them, however, can have a say in how the title is decided, with only Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fumio Nutahara in with a shout of the crown on next month's Rally New Zealand.