Subarus quit Thruxton BTCC over fire risk
The British Touring Car Championship meeting at Thruxton has been rocked by the complete withdrawal of the Team BMR Subaru cars.
None of the four Levorgs will take part in rounds seven, eight and nine of the series in Hampshire, over fears of a repeat of the fire that erupted on James Cole’s car during the previous meeting at Donington Park.
The team issued the following statement on Sunday morning, around an hour before the start of the first race;
“It is with great disappointment that Silverline Subaru BMR Racing are withdrawing from rounds 7, 8 and 9 today at Thruxton on safety grounds.
James Cole’s Levorg erupted at Donington after the fuel rail issue.
Following an incident with James Cole at Donington where there was a failure of the high pressure fuel rail there was a re-designed and re-manufactured component fitted to all cars for the Thruxton event. Following a review of the new design post qualifying, the new part has shown signs of fatigue that could lead to a similar failure. We have investigated all avenues available to us overnight and this morning, however the engineering team have taken the decision to withdraw the cars as none of the solutions available are able to be durability tested prior to competing on circuit.
We are obviously disappointed with the outcome, however in this situation the risk to the drivers, other competitors and circuit officials is not acceptable, so the correct decision is to retire the cars for the remainder of the...
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