During technical scrutineering following the second race in Thailand, Tiago Monteiro's Civic WTCC failed on the check for ground clearance. The left hand side of the car was found to be below the minimum 60mm ground clearance allowed by the FIA and, as a result, the car was excluded from the results of race two.

The Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team have since lodged an appeal in order to demonstrate its good faith. The reason for the lower ground clearance was due to an incident in race one, which caused significant damage to the Civic WTCC. As a result of the impact, the fixing point of the splitter on the front left hand side was weakened. The team carried out all necessary checks to ensure the conformity of the car to be ready for the second race.As there was not a lot of time between races, the team did an excellent job of fixing the damage and making the car as safe as possible.

"After my disqualification from yesterday's second race in Thailand, based on our good faith and the proof we have showing that the problem happened due to contact and had no technical advantage, on the contrary!" Tiago says. "Honda decided to appeal the disqualification. We believe we have a strong case, but in tribunal you never know. Let's keep the fingers crossed because it was a deserved win with no technical advantage whatsoever and an important one for the championships."

The appeal will be heard at the FIA International Court of Appeal in the upcoming weeks.