Darryl O’Young and STR part ways

Darryl O’Young will not take part in the final three rounds of the WTCC with Special Tuning Racing due to budget reasons. The Hong Kong driver had signed up until the final three rounds with the team.

After two years racing with the Silverstone-based bamboo-engineering squad, O’Young moved to STR this year as the team entered the championship with the new SEAT Sport 1.6 turbo engine, but with just 17 points in the championship and a best finish of seventh, the season hasn’t gone as planned for the 32-year-old.

“We have enjoyed working with Darryl this season, however we have had a lot of ups and downs,” said STR’s Technical Director Gary Robertshaw. “I am confident that the team have delivered a very good package for Darryl but through no fault of the team we have not achieved the results we were hoping for.”

“Everyone at STR has worked hard this season and this will only focus the team even more, therefore now we need to look forward to working with another driver to partner Boardman, and have a very strong end to the season.”

“We have had a lot of interest from drivers to finish the season with us, we have to now ensure we deliver on the potential the team has. Certainly, in the USA both of our drivers had very good pace, and the focus in Japan to have both of our cars qualifying inside the top ten and delivering our target of an independent win.”