O'Young's Macau dreams crushed after early crash

An accident in race one crushed Darryl O'Young's hopes of lifting the Independents Trophy title at the FIA World Touring Car Championship yesterday.

O'Young was in seventh place after eight laps in race one when he was first hit from behind by Dutchman Tom Coronel at Lisboa Bend, the scene of plenty of crashes over the years and one of Macau's most well-known landmarks. Moments later Swiss driver Fredy Barth lost control of his SEAT Leon TDI, mounted the chicane and rammed into O'Young.

'It was a horrible weekend. Macau is always a gamble. I was already in a good position to win the championship,' said O'Young. 'I only had to get to the finish line and I was going to drive my own race, but before I could do that I was hit from behind and I spun against the wall and then I was hit again. It was really bad luck. We could have won the championship.'

Both Barth and O'Young were forced to retire. Meanwhile, O'Young's closest competitor for the Independents' Trophy, Sergio Hernandez, managed 12th position to pick up enough points to win the title.

More bad luck befell O'Young in the second race after he was involved in a 12-car pile-up. Racing from near the back of the grid, he was struck from behind and in front, leaving his rear tyre severely damaged.

'I was hit by the car that was stopped in front of me and the car behind me hit me. The team did a great effort to get my car out for the second race. They put in an excellent effort,' said O'Young.