Snetterton will see the BTCC mid-season test day on Thursday and several drivers and teams hope to make improvements to their cars in order to progress in the remaining races of the 2010 calendar.
Whilst the BMWs of WSR don’t appear to have any upgrades planned, Andy Neate has a clear agenda in his attempts to push forward in the second half of the season:
“As for the test day my time will be spent working on tyre temperature and my overall qualifying pace. My race pace in the recent events has demonstrated I’ve been just as quick as my team mate and in quite a few instances a touch faster in the final 3rd of a race distance, however I seem to be lacking to extract the best from the tyre in qualifying trim to make the difference.”
But it’s not just his own team-mate he has set his sights on catching:
“ If I can crack this and qualify in the top 6 -10 at Snett the WSR BMW has the legs on any of the rival BMW’s on overall race pace especially in the later laps and I’m confident I can begin to start looking at consistent top 5 finishes and hopefully stand on the podium this second half of the season to come.”
Clearly if Andy can work on his qualifying times, he is very confident of making serious progress over the next few races.
Another one of the BMW drivers who sees the Snetterton Test as a springboard is Martin Depper of Forster Motorsport. Martin and the guys have been crunching the numbers in an effort to improve their fortunes:
“During the break the team has been working hard, and putting the data thus far from our outings into a format that we hope will enable us to push forward in the second half of the season. We have had the cars fully refreshed, so everything is prime.”
But Depper, just like Neate, knows that it’s not just the car that is improving:
“On the back of some good progress made by myself at croft we are looking forward to snett and the test on Thursday to do further work on our set up development. Were excited about the second half of the season and look forward to rising a few eye brows !”
Whilst Forster Motorsport and WSR look forward to the test, Team Dynamics Honda Civic won’t be at the test day. Matt Neal told BTCC Crazy that the cars were ready to race:
“The cars are prepped and ready for Snetterton, we got some parts we wanted to go through at the test, but as we’re unable to do that test, running them is gonna have to be put on hold for moment.”
Whether this will hinder the teams progress will remain to be seen, but Matt is confident in the car and his hopes for the rest of the year ahead:
“(I’ve) Enjoyed the break but looking forward to getting back on with it.”
BTCC Crazy will be trackside for the Test and you can follow all the latest news on our Live Twitter feed @BTCCCrazyLive
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