Uruguayan racer Mauricio Lambiris will not make his World Touring Car Championship début this weekend after all, with the deal called off at the last minute almost as quickly as it was announced.
Lambiris announced the news on Twitter, citing the lack of preparedness from the Zengő Motorsport team, who will instead be running just the one Honda Civic for Dániel Nagy.
Lambiris’ deal was only announced on Friday night, as he was a last-minute replacement for the ill Ferenc Ficza.
“I’m sad to inform that I will not take part in the WTCC round,” wrote Lambiris on Twitter.
“After a major effort from many people to be able to be in the race, the team informed me that the car is not in condition to run.
“I’m very disappointed with the team, I thought they were more serious. It is a shame that, after so much effort, I’m not able to race.”
In response to Lambiris’ withdrawal, Zengő Motorsport Team Principal Zoltán Zengő explained that the team were already operating at a reduced size due to the expectation that they would only run one car this weekend, due to Ficza’s illness. Complications with the car of Dániel Nagy have stretched the Hungarian personnel even more.
“This is a world championship and the car has to be 100 per cent ready,” said Zengő. “With only six people in Argentina the priority is the car of Dániel Nagy and this is what we explained to the manager of Mauricio from the start.
“After the Vila Real race, the car of Ficza was put in the container, taken here and put in the garage but the time to check the gearbox, the differential, the driveshaft, everything is too short and there has also been the problem with the engine of Nagy’s car, which the team has been working on late last night and early this morning.”