Despite the deadline being Friday, the Grasser team did not lodge an FIA appeal against the confirmed disqualification: What the FIA rules say and what happens next
A week ago, the Grasser team failed in its attempt before the DMSB (German Motor Sport Federation) Court of Appeal to overturn Mirko Bortolotti’s disqualification following his victory at Oschersleben in the wheel bearing affair. But shouldn’t the Lamborghini team actually have lodged the announced appeal against the ruling no later than seven days afterwards – that is, by around 5 pm on Friday – if the team wishes to take the matter to the FIA as the court of last resort?
This is precisely what is now causing confusion, as it is unclear whether the deadline refers to the oral verdict or the written verdict, which has not yet been published. The FIA’s legal framework for 2026 states, in the case of appeals against decisions by a national sports tribunal: “The appeal must be lodged within seven days of notification of the decision of the national sports tribunal.”
The English word “notification” is used for “Mitteilung”, which can also be translated as “announcement” or “notice”. An “announcement” could also refer to the oral verdict, whilst a “notice” would be better understood as a written communication.
Grasser: “We must wait for the judgement first”
The Grasser team, represented by Thomas Fleischer, a lawyer with experience in motorsport, apparently assumes that the written judgement is what is meant. “We must wait for the judgement first”, “An appeal may be lodged within seven days of receiving the judgement.”
If the Grasser team is mistaken on this point, they would already have missed the deadline. However, this is unlikely, as the FIA’s legal framework for 2026 also states: “The time limit for lodging an appeal against a decision shall not commence until the decision has been communicated in full, including its grounds and operative part.”
Why a written judgement is unlikely to be issued before the season finale
The judgement is not expected to be delivered by post before the season finale at Hockenheim, which takes place in a week’s time. “It is not unusual for this to take 14 days,” says a DMSB spokesperson in response to an enquiry from Motorsport-Total.com. “In ordinary courts, it takes much longer,” he adds.
14 days after the judgement would be 9 October – that is, the Saturday of the season finale at Hockenheim. After that, the Grasser team would still have seven days. Should it actually come to that, Grasser would only have to decide after the title showdown whether to lodge a further appeal against the ruling with the FIA.
Theoretically, this could also affect whether Grasser actually goes ahead with this course of action as announced: for if the hearing has an impact on whether the DTM has a champion after the finale or whether the decision is to be regarded as provisional, the Austrian could, in theory, decide to withdraw in the interests of the sport.
Further uncertainty looms
It is extremely unlikely that such an unsatisfactory situation will arise, but it cannot be ruled out: Thomas Preining leads the overall standings by 23 points ahead of Maro Engel and 24 ahead of Marco Wittmann, with 56 points still up for grabs. Without the disqualification, Wittmann would be 23 points behind and Engel 24.
The title race would therefore have to be extremely close for this worst-case scenario to materialise. In that case – should Grasser actually appeal against the DMSB’s ruling – a genuine stalemate would loom, as it could take weeks or even months before a hearing is held at the FIA.
