The FIA International Court of Appeal will meet in Paris on Tuesday September 13th, to rule on two appeals - brought by the Alfa Romeo Racing Team - over racing incidents that took place at Spa.

The two appeals were immediately lodged by the Automobile Club d’Italia and Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana after the last two FIA World Touring Car Championship races - held at Spa on 30th July - on behalf of Alfa Romeo Racing.

The hearing will see protests made against two decisions handed down by the Stewards at Spa. Alfa Romeo want the first decision (TC08) which saw a clash between Gabriele Tarquini and Antonio García at the Bus Stop chicane in race 2 - which also involved BMW driver Dirk Müller - treated as a normal racing incident, while the second decision (TC04) concerns a three second penalty handed down to Stefano d'Aste after he missed the final chicane of the closing lap of race two - attempting to avoid an incident - but in the process he passed Fabrizio Giovanardi and crossed the finish line in first place.

MAXIMUM WEIGHT PENALTY FOR GIOVANARDI IN GERMANY

Dirk Müller, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Andy Priaulx, the first three classified in the FIA WTCC Drivers’ Championship, will all be carry the 60kg maximum handicap weight in the next rounds at Oschersleben. All their rivals will be considerably lighter though, starting with Antonio García who has lost 15 extra kilos after Spa and will have a 40-kg handicap on board.
 

Half a dozen of the top drivers – including all three of Giovanardi's Alfa Romeo team mates - James Thompson, Gabriele Tarquini and Augusto Farfus will carry weight penalties as well while SEAT's Rickard Rydell and Peter Terting as well as BMW's Jörg Müller, will also carry handicaps ranging between 25 and 15kg. The full list of the handicapped cars has grown by a further two after Spa. The latest additions are Stefano D’Aste (20 kg) and Tom Coronel (5 kg), who finished second and third overall respectively in the second Belgian race. It is the first time that an Independent driver has joined the handicap weight list.

MORE COMPETITION FOR ALFA ROMEO AS SEAT WILL DEBUT THEIR NEW CAR IN GERMANY

Meanwhile Alfa Romeo's competition will stiffen further during the next rounds of the inaugural FIA WTCC at Oscersleben in Germany next weekend - a circuit that traditionally favours the BMW runners - as SEAT Sport will debut their new 'Super 2000' León Cupra. Premiered in May at the Barcelona Motor Show, the Spanish carmaker - a part of the VW/Audi Group - has decided to bring just one of the new cars to Oschersleben. Jordi Gené - who had more testing time than his team-mates at the wheel of the León - will drive it in the maiden race, while Rickard Rydell and Peter Terting will race the Toledo Cupra once again, although they too will also switch to the new car before the end of the season.