Scandal at the "Isla Tenerife" rally: Alonso's victory was canceled due to the gearbox

The 51st "Isla Tenerife Histórico 2025" rally risks becoming one of the most scandalous in the history of Tenerife motorsport. And it's not so much about the speed or the tracks. Félix Alonso, who, together with his navigator Juan Ramón Chaves, achieved the best result, found himself at the center of a controversy that still hasn't subsided among motorsport fans in the Canary Islands.

Alonso, driving a Citroen Saxo VTS, took the lead on the second of ten stages and held it until the very end. But it turned out that his car had a gearbox that was permitted from March 1, 2001, while the rules for the PRE2000 category only allow parts permitted until December 31, 2000. Because of these three months, he was disqualified. The decision of the judges, who had given the car the "green light" on Friday, awarded the victory to Javier and Iván Bouza, who thus became champions for the third time in a row. But a scandal is unavoidable.

Félix Alonso himself does not want to comment on the situation yet, only saying that he is "very disappointed by such injustice." Therefore, his navigator, Juan Ramón Chaves, takes the floor, bitterly recounting what happened.

"Right now, I want this all to be over more than anything," he confesses at the beginning of the conversation. He says that during the rally they had no information. There was no official announcement, only a comment from the organizer: "We are considering disqualification" – between the penultimate and the last stage. They only found out about it definitively during the final checks.

"They stole a dream from the children," says Chaves, referring to the fans, as well as his own children, who were waiting for them at the finish line to celebrate the victory.

According to the navigator, there were violations during the checks that affected the outcome of the competition: "The championship rules clearly state: Final technical checks are always carried out, without exception, immediately after the awards ceremony." But this time the check was carried out before the official announcement of the results. "I think it looks better for the one who was announced the winner than for us," he complains.

The navigator also recalls that they registered in the classic category, but for some reason they ended up in PRE2000 in the official list: "Someone changed the registration, I don't know who, and we still don't know," he says.

When asked if they plan to appeal, Alonso and Chaves respond that it is already "too late" and they have "no opportunity to appeal the decision." The only thing they want is to "clear their reputation," to prove that they acted honestly and that it is not their fault. "We want to show that we did everything right from the beginning," he emphasizes.

He also refuted rumors that they knew about the disqualification during the competition. "That's a lie. If we had been told on the last stage that we would be disqualified, we would not have fought to the end on every stage as we did," he notes.

The disqualification of Félix Alonso and Juan Ramón Chaves has sparked discussions that go beyond a simple technical nuance in the rules. The rules are clear, and the gearbox of their Saxo did not meet the requirements. But the biggest questions concern the role of the judges: if the car did not meet the requirements, why was it allowed to compete at all? Why was the registration changed from one category to another without explanation? It seems that this "Isla Tenerife Histórico" rally will be remembered not for Bouza's victory, but for the confusion caused by the disqualification of the Citroën Saxo VTS.