Multiple Drivers Come To the Defense Of Tower Motorsports Following DQ

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The fallout of IMSAs ruling to strip the No. 8 Tower Motorsports machine of their Rolex 24 LMP2 class win has continued into Thursday, with other top drivers in the paddock chiming in to voice their support for the team.

For starters, Tower Motorsports themselves posted a lengthy explanation to their official Instagram account vehemently disagreeing with IMSAs decision, stating "we did not intentionally violate any technical regulations."

Dropping a comment on Tower's post was GTP man Louis Deletraz, who replied with: 

We know you’re not cheaters. Tower won this race and nothing will change it. One of the best team in the paddock. Heads up!

Sebastian Bourdais posted a message of his own to his IG account echoing the same sentiment with a rocking opening line of "racing can be cruel but governing bodies can be far worse."

Replying to Bourdais, Filip Albuquerque of the No. 10 WTR voiced his support for the No. 8:

Man, i feel so sorry for you guys. Specially knowing that the 3rd broke and made you wear more the plank.
You guys are not cheaters, ignore that people, it’s people that don’t understand about racing cars.
You did everything right, it’s just bad luck. So sorry man.

Multiple other drivers also left a comment on Bourdai's post - the aforementioned Albuquerque, as well as Neel Jani, Ryan Dalziel, and Renger van der Zande. Additionally, both Stevan McAleer and Sheena Monk of the No. 021 Ferrari in GTD tossed a like on it; the No. 021 was also penalized by IMSA for a driver time infringement that moved them to the back of the class. 

Eric Filgueiras of Lone Star Racing also liked Bourdai's post. 

Hundreds of fans across all social media platforms have gotten behind Tower and believe that IMSAs governing body unjustly put the screws to the 2022 class champions. Tower contends that the discrepancy in wear-and-tear found on the skid block had more to do with the expected aftermath of a 24-hour endurance race rather than a conscious decision to skirt the rules for an advantage on track.

It's also hard to not draw a line back to the post-race penalties handed out the last two seasons - to Meyer Shank in 2023 and to Ferrari and BMW in 2024 - and not quite understand why those teams were allowed to keep their class victories yet Tower gets (unjustly?) taken to the woodshed with a zero-tolerance ruling from IMSA. It sure has the whiff of IMSA making an example out of Tower with their findings and rulings, however doing so with a situation that was less clear-cut than manipulating tire pressures through the course of a race or sandbagging for a BOP advantage. 

Where do you stand on the matter? Sound off below. 










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