Second engine change for Tom Boardman at Slovakia

Special Tuning Racing will be forced to change engines again after their replacement engine failed in free practice two at the Slovakiaring.

The team are running with a new engine this weekend after their last engine was irreparably damaged when Boardman crashed out with brake failure at Marrakech three weeks ago.

The team were set to suffer a five place grid penalty for the change in tomorrow’s first race, but the team are likely to suffer a further penalty for the additional change, as they will now be running their third engine of the year when the regulations allow only one engine per season as of 2011.

Force majeure wasn’t applied to Boardman’s crash in Marrakech as it was a single car incident and not damage caused by another car. Today’s failure is also unlikely to receive any leeway from the stewards.

How any penalty will be applied will need to be determined, as there’s limited time left to complete the engine change ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying at 15:30 CET, which if Boardman is unable to take part will mean he will be starting from the back of the grid.