Jordan loses third car for Canada

In Monaco it was Toyota's Ralf Schumacher who got penalised for a tyre discrepancy and now at the Nürburgring Jordan has been pulled up by the FIA for the third car using too many sets of tyres in the Friday practices. It seems that Franck Montagny, on loan from Renault for the weekend, used six sets of tyres during practice rather than the permitted four.

Jordan said it had been an error: "This was an honest mistake by the Team and we realise now it was against the current regulations," commented sporting director Trevor Carlin. "No unfair advantage was sought and we believe none has been gained. We apologise to the FIA for this error in judgement."

The penalty for Jordan is not being permitted to run the third car on Friday at the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks time. It's a blow for the team and for Montagny, who had hoped for further time in the yellow car cockpit.

Regular Friday driver Robert Doornbos was sidelined for the European GP to make way for Montagny but although Montagny claimed this weekend was a one-off, it's possible Jordan may use him again. Doornbos may have been back in the third driver role in Canada but that is now a moot point.

It's rumoured that Jordan is thinking of putting Montagny in one of the race seats for his home race, the French GP, but Franck has so far skirted questions about his future involvement with the team. If that was to happen, either Tiago Monteiro or Narain Karthikeyan would have to take a back seat. However, it's all speculation at the moment.