Tough first round for Darryl O’Young and STR

Special Tuning Racing had a disastrous first weekend through no fault of their own at the first round of the WTCC at Monza, with no engine available for Tom Boardman, and Darryl O’Young suffering two engine failures with the last one seeing the car burst into flames in the warm up.

“The luck isn’t there,” said O’Young to TouringCarTimes. “To have not only the one problem in qualifying but to have it happen again on the next engine, that’s almost unheard of, because it was a brand new installation.”

“It’s tough because I think we had the potential to be quick here, it’s tough but it’s a long season.”

O’Young is in his third year in the WTCC but races with a new team this year with the British-squad Special Tuning Racing. On how he’s gelling with team on their first weekend O’Young added:
“It’s been great, I get along with everyone really well, they’re a good team, they worked hard and that’s why it’s a bitter mood for all of us, not just from our team but SEAT Sport. The combination of everybody working hard to get here and to have a weekend like this, it’s something we want to forget.”

The team were forced to run just one car at Monza as there were insufficient parts to run the second car for Tom Boardman. With O’Young suffereing two engine failures plus problems for Pepe Oriola and Aleksei Dudukalo’s SEATs during the race, there’s a concern over how many engines will be available for Valencia.

“There’s definitely a supply issue,” said O’Young. “And I’m not sure if it helps after what happened this weekend with a couple of engines going and a couple of engine changes, but I think there’s a plan in place and I should be on the grid and so should Tom (Boardman).”