NELSON driver Jonny Lang claims he has been robbed of the British GT Championship title.

And the 26-year-old, who races a Porsche 993 for the Trackspeed team, has taken the matter to the Motorsport Council in London in a last-ditch bid to bring the GTC Class silverware back to East Lancashire.

Lang's main Championship contender Ryan Hooker was handed an eight-second penalty in the penultimate race at Brands Hatch after an incident between co-drivers Phil Keen and Matt Allison. That left the Nelson flier five points clear with just one race to go.

But before the grand finale at Silverstone an appeal hearing was held and, after reviewing video evidence, it was decided the incident was a racing accident and Hooker had his points reinstated.

That has resulted in a further appeal from Lang, who has been left seething.

He blasted: "The appeal turned into something it shouldn't have in my opinion and they got back their original finish. We have appealed against that purely because of the way in which it was carried out.

"It was done behind closed doors, which we weren't a party to, and it leaves it wide open for something untoward to happen.

"It's disapp-ointing that the Champion-ship has to end in this fashion. We felt we did enough throu-ghout the year to win it and really to have the points stolen from us because of underhand dealings is unfortunate."

With the appeals lodged and politics put to one side it was time for the drivers to do their talking on the track.

And with Lang and Hooker level on points it was another race to remember.

Lang and co-driver Allison were looking like taking the chequered flag, despite an earlier penalty for speeding out of the pit lane. A spin from Hooker appeared to give them the win, but fate was to conspire against them and a second stop go penalty for starting the engine before the tyres were on the ground in the pit lane ultimately cost them.

Lang, who is in his first season at this level, said: "It was drama and everyone was on tenterhooks but that final stop go really cost us."

Now he must sit and wait for a new appeal date.

He said: "Whatever happens we feel we've done enough this year for people to sit up and take notice.

"We've been offered tests for European racing and the people in the pits know we're good enough. Unfortunately if our appeal is unsuccessful, we can't put that Championship win on our CV, which would have looked good for potential sponsors."