Independent Alfa Romeo team takes valuable data from opening BTCC round
A-Tech Motorsport drivers David Pinkney and Richard Marsh say they have taken many positives from today’s opening round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after getting to grips with their brand-new Alfa Romeo 156 racing cars for the first time under race conditions.
Having only taken delivery of their 2007-specification machines shortly before the opening race, both Pinkney and Marsh faced a steep learning curve when it came to setting their cars up for the 1.2-mile Brands Hatch ‘Indy’ circuit.
Both men complained of too much understeer and problems stopping their cars during yesterday’s qualifying session and it took some time to dial out those handling difficulties.
Pinkney faired slightly better than his team-mate at the end of the day’s three championship races, bringing his car home in 14th place at the end of the final race. The pace that the Harpenden ace showed for much of the weekend would have translated in to three solid results had it not been for a couple of other drivers damaging his car as they attempted optimistic overtaking manoeuvres,
Marsh meanwhile, notched his best finish of the weekend when he came home 17th out of 24 in the second race. He failed to finish the first race after skidding off the track under braking at Druids Bend, before coming home in 18th place at the end of the day’s final race. |
Despite enduring a tough weekend, both drivers believe they have made great strides when it comes to understanding and setting up their cars and have already turned their attentions to preparing for the second BTCC round at Rockingham Motor Speedway on April 21/22.
Pinkney said: “I had a great deal less understeer by the end of the weekend and we were definitely faster by the end of the last race, which is very positive. I think we have learned a lot this weekend and now have a much better understanding of where we need to go with the car for the
next round.”
Marsh said A-Tech team principal, Julian Griffin, and one of the team’s experienced engineers would be flying off to Alfa Romeo’s factory in Italy later this week to work on race settings for the next round of the series.
“This weekend was never going to be easy because Dave and I hadn’t tested the cars before we got to Brands Hatch but I think we have made a real step
forwards I terms of understanding how the car works and what we have to do to make it go faster,” he explained.
“A couple of the guys are going to fly to Italy tomorrow to sit down with some of the engineers at N Technology (the preparation outfit that builds the factory Alfa Romeos that are used in the FIA World Touring Car Championship) to try and get to the bottom of some of the telemetry that we’ve gathered here.
“There are a still a lot of things to do to get the cars working for Rockingham but I know we’re well on our way. The guys in the team are working really hard and I know we’ll see the true potential of these cars very shortly.” |
