Special Tuning Racing to miss Salzburg and Moscow

British team Special Tuning Racing will miss the next two rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship as they continue to work to resolve issues which have plagued them since their heavy crash at Marrakech two months’ ago.

The team and driver Tom Boardman will be absent from the grid as their SEAT León WTCC is worked on back at base at Forton, after a difficult start to their 2013 campaign.

Boardman crashed out at high-speed during the morning warm-up at Marrakech, writing off the team’s SEAT Sport 1.6 litre turbo engine.

The team went through two more engines at the next round at the Slovakiaring with an unknown issue, approaching the races as a test weekend, and struggled for pace at the following round in Hungary in the car which was reshelled after Morocco.

“This is not a decision we have taken lightly,” said Team Principal John Boardman, “but after a couple of difficult and frustrating weekends trying to fix the car in racing conditions, I think the best course of action is to make sure the car is properly sorted and back to where we had it at the start of the season. We have the necessary tools to get the job done, and the best place to do this is back at base.”

The team will therefore aim to be on the grid for the Portuguese round of the Championship at Porto at the end of June, before the cars are sent away to take part in the fly-away portion of the calendar.