During the second free practice session of the day here at Silverstone on the final race weekend of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season, many drivers failed to adhere to the track limits during the forty minute session as race officials look to clamp down on the offending drivers over the weekend.

A multitude of drivers failed to stick to the tarmac and on many occasions the black & white and black flags were brandished to many drivers throughout the session. Any driver given the black & white flag is given a warning for a particular rule infringement. In the case of free practice two many drivers were running wide at Copse corner in order to gain an advantage and carry more speed out of the corner. If a driver persistently breaks the rules then they will be given the black flag and will be ordered to come into the pits and serve a penalty. In the case of qualifying the drivers infringing time will be wiped and cleared from the score board.

Notably Dave Newsham, Gordon Shedden and Tom Boardman all received black flags during the session which saw them finish as 2nd, 3rd and 5th fastest which puts a question mark over whether or not those times would have been allowed if they were to be set during qualifying.

Drivers will have to be on their best behaviour as they head into the all important 30-minute qualifying session which gets underway at 1455 later today.

Photo Credit: Mick O’Rourke

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.