BMW question severity of Macau GT World Cup winner Engel's penalty for Vanthoor clash

Vanthoor was eliminated after being nudged into the wall by Engel early on, but a five-second penalty didn't prevent the Mercedes driver from winning

BMW driver Dries Vanthoor has questioned the severity of the five-second penalty given to eventual FIA GT World Cup winner Maro Engel after the pair collided in Macau.

Vanthoor had already slipped to third behind Antonio Fuoco's Ferrari in the early stages of the race and was attempting to keep Engel's Mercedes at bay when the latter clipped the BMW M4 through the Solitude Esses.

The Belgian was sent into the barriers and retirement with suspension damage, while Engel profited from a collision between Raffaele Marciello and Antonio Fuoco to triumph by 11s.

The 5s penalty imposed on Engel towards the end of the race therefore had no impact on the result, leading BMW Motorsport boss Andreas Roos to say the incident "was not appropriately penalised".

A "disappointed" Vanthoor added: "If you push another car off, you should not be able to win the race. 

"For me, it is a no-go what happened today – but it is what it is, it happened."

Engel apologised for the incident in the post-race press conference and said he had attempted the pass in a tight part of the track because the BMW's superior straight-line performance restricted his options elsewhere.

"It’s unfortunate – definitely not on purpose," Engel told Autosport of the clash. 

"I went for a move down the inside and he reacted and pulled over and we just slightly made contact. 

"It was a small touch but it unsettled him enough to keep sliding and tag the wall. No bad intentions there, I was just trying to make a move."

Engel revealed he had encountered radio problems on his Team GMR Mercedes throughout the weekend and couldn't be sure that the penalty he had been given during the race was five seconds.

"I was just flat out the last two laps trying to build as much gap as possible," he added. "So it was a big relief crossing the line and knowing we’d done it."

It was Engel's fourth GT victory around the streets of Macau and he described it as a "crazy weekend".

"When I saw it was raining – actually I heard it last night, it woke me up, that’s how hard it was raining! – I felt this was our opportunity," Engel said. 

"We saw in the dry we didn’t really have the chance to compete with the BMW and the Ferrari so I’m just over the moon and very, very proud to take this win."