Last Wednesday and Thursday (17th and 18th February) Thruxton saw its pitlane and paddock filled with racing cars for the first time this season as it’s annual pre-season test session was held.
Opportunities to test at the Hampshire circuit are rare and with it being the fastest road circuit in the country, testing is a good idea. Fifty three cars were booked in for the test with the majority coming from the BTCC and its support races.
There were seven BTCC cars present. Four of these were Honda Civics; One of the works cars, the two from Eurotech and the Speedworks car. Plus there were two Ford Focus, Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek Motorbase car and the other, Alex Martin’s from Dextra Racing. Last but not least was a single BMW 1 series from WSR
Jack Goff Intially drove his BMW but he was joined by team mates Collard and Tordoff on day two to share the car. Collard’s youngest son Jordan was also on track in a Ginetta Junior.
Gordon Shedden was the sole driver of the works car that was in a striking test livery so the team could keep their 2016 livery a secret until launch day. The 2016 car has a new version of their Neil Brown built engine. The Honda team used the circuit scrutineering garage as a base during the test meaning they could keep the car away from prying eyes when it wasn’t on track, Matt Simpson joined them in there with his Speedworks machine.
All the teams reported having a successful test with the Eurotech duo appearing to be fastest on unofficial timing with Jeff Smith ahead of Martin Depper. Andrew Jordan was the only driver to have a significant off which ended his running on Thursday. It wasn’t clear what had caused it but it caused damage to the front of his Ford Focus. Despite this Jordan was happy with how the test had gone;
“It’s been good,” said the man who annexed pole position at Thruxton every year between 2012 and 2014 and still holds the BTCC qualifying lap record. “We’ve done enough running and got somewhere near with the baseline set-up for the wet. It’s the first time we’ve tried out the new suspension kit in those conditions actually. Despite a minor issue that cut Thursday short for us, it was another very promising day and our pace was there or thereabouts throughout. I always love driving here. Thruxton is so quick and probably my favourite circuit. You’ve got to be brave but you’ve also got to have a bit of finesse; you’re almost dancing with the car.”
There was a single female driver present with the highly rated German, Carrie Schreiner testing an MSA Formula car with Double R racing. It has not yet been announced if she will be racing in the championship but she seemed to have a successful test.
Thruxton managing director, Bill Coombs was happy with the test from a circuit point of view.
“Our February test is invariably a great way to herald the beginning of a new motor sport season, we’ve had a lot of cars out on-track, and they’ve been able to benefit from both dry and wet conditions so they’ve got plenty of useful running in. Although it was only testing, there was certainly a competitive element to proceedings – which augurs well for a fiercely-fought and phenomenally entertaining BTCC race meeting here in May. It’s shaping up to be a thriller!”
Bill took to the track himself during the day in a couple of historic single seaters.
On the day of the test, Handy Motorsport, who did not attend, announced that they will now only be running a single car in the BTCC and not the two they initially planned. It was revealed that the second car would have been for Rob Austin’s 2015 team mate Hunter Abbott. Abbott revealed that despite the efforts of the team and himself, they haven’t been able to raise the required budget meaning he won’t be competing with them for 2016.
The BTCC race weekend is the 7th and 8th May and advance tickets are available from www.thruxtonracing.co.uk where you can obtain a discount on the gate prices. Before this, the Support races will have another exclusive test session on the 7th April.By Marc Waller
