Power Maxed boss says BTCC should consider driver bans

Abbott was an innocent victim in huge shunts in race two and race three, the latter leading to his Chevrolet Cruze rolling and knocking over a TV tower, with ITV cameraman Phil White miraculously escaping serious injury.

The incidents were met with a strong response from Weaver in the wake of the weekend, adding his name to a growing list of team bosses who were critical of driving standards.

Weaver said: "First and foremost, I'm relieved that nobody has been seriously hurt. All of us who work in motorsport understand that there are risks.

"However, this doesn't make it easier when a member of the BTCC family is injured. Having said that, it was only luck that prevented a death this weekend.

"I firmly believe that drivers with consistent infractions and penalty points should be dealt with much more severely, and we should consider bans for drivers who show poor driving standards."

AmD Tuning team boss Shaun Hollamby was also left unimpressed by Sunday's on-track antics, after his driver Ollie Jackson was also involved in a major incident.

Jackson was held to blame for the race-stopping crash in the second encounter, where he tangled with Welch Motorsport's Dan Welch, but both team and driver have strongly disputed this.

Hollamby said: "There is too much ‘running people off the track’ in the BTCC and if that has become the norm, then these sort of accidents will continue to happen. Giving room to other cars on track almost seems to be going out of fashion.

“In race three, there was nothing Ollie could have done to avoid the incident ahead and it was a real kick in the teeth after the work that had gone in to getting the car repaired – not just for us but for others on the grid as well.

"These things historically happen on the start-finish straight at Snetterton, but drivers need have better awareness of cars around them to prevent these accidents from taking place.

"Maybe this type of driving will only be dealt with severely when someone gets hurt, but I very much hope I’m wrong.

“Thankfully the cameraman, and the drivers, had no permanent injuries from what was a particularly nasty incident, and we wish him a speedy recovery."

The comments follow a scathing assessment of the action from Triple Eight Racing's Ian Harrison, who questioned whether a number of drivers were capable of racing in the BTCC and suggested altering the licence requirements to enter the series.

Ian Gallagher / TouringCarTimes