The SCCA Court of Appeals has overturned the Saturday, February 8, 2020 disqualification of No. 39 Spec Miata driven by Danny Steyn at Circuit of the Americas, reinstating his third-place finishing position.

In post-race technical inspection, the car’s intake manifold was deemed to have been potentially modified, based on comparison parts available, and the components were retained by SCCA Technical Staff. Following the event, new information became available indicating that, while visually different from the comparison parts, the intake manifold was an unmodified, stock Mazda replacement part. Mazda Motorsports confirmed there are variations in the manufacturing on the Mazda Miata NB intake manifolds.

With this new information, the event Race Director filed an appeal against his original action to disqualify the finish. The Court of Appeals deemed the appeal well founded and overturned the penalty in its entirety. The full appeal judgment is available here.

SCCA apologizes to Steyn, his team, suppliers and supporters for this unfortunate circumstance. SCCA’s goal is to officiate races in a fair and consistent manner. Based on the information available at the event, the scrutineers, stewards and staff acted appropriately. However, whenever new information such as this becomes available, we will utilize whatever means available to right a wrong.