Proton squad Welch Motorsport to miss BTCC Snetterton round
The Welch Motorsport team will miss this weekend's British Touring Car Championship round at Snetterton, citing a delay in the arrival of new engine parts for its Protons
The squad had already been looking for a new team-mate for Dan Welch after Andy Wilmot parted company with the programme last month.
Reliability problems have dominated the Welch team's season so far, with a finishing rate under 50 per cent for its pair of Gen-2s.
Team boss John Welch said the intention was to return for Knockhill later in August.
"Whilst it has been a challenging season thus far we have been making extremely good progress in recent weeks and months, which Daniel's points finish at Oulton Park was a direct result of," he said.
"In our attempts to continue to move forward we made a decision to update our engines with what we saw as vital reliability-related parts.
"Unfortunately we have been let down by an overseas supplier in this regard and will not be able to complete the engine build until these components arrive.
"This is obviously a frustrating situation for all concerned, but we must thank our partners and sponsors who have all been extremely supportive towards what we believe is a bright long-term future for Welch Motorsport.
"We have explained our position to TOCA and hope to have these parts in place in time for Knockhill later this month."
The absence of Welch means the BTCC will miss out on what would have been its first full-capacity field of the season, as Motorbase's return had been set to create a 32-car grid.
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