Gearbox failure led to shock Q1 exit says Marcus Annervi

Rent-a-Wreck’s Marcus Annervi believes his surprise Q1 exit from qualifying at Anderstorp was a legacy from a mechanical failure sustained in the second test.

Having posted the third fastest lap-time in the first test, Annervi’s Honda Civic suffered a gearbox failure in the second session approaching Turn Four.

The positioning of the car with half an hour of the session remaining meant track workers could not return the stricken Honda back to the pits for repairs.

Annervi’s first lap-time in Q1 was subsequently disallowed due to his car’s ride-height being too low. Combined with a delay in the weigh-bridge Annervi says, this is what ultimately cost him a place in Q2.

“We had a pretty severe gearbox failure in the second test session,” Annervi told TouringCarTimes.

“We knew we had to change it but we only got the car back after the session finished, so we didn’t really have any time to measure the ride-height before qualifying. That meant it was too low, and my time got deleted,” he added.

Heavy traffic late on in the first segment denied the Renault Clio Cup champion a clean run in the dying stages, meaning he will start all three of Sunday’s races from 19th.

“It’s frustrating because we know we have a good car this weekend. We haven’t experience any engine troubles which is great,” Annervi said.

“For sure it will be fun to race through the field, and I’m looking forward to it because the car is fast and I really enjoy this circuit.”