Team HARD. Racing endured a mixed weekend last time out at Snetterton, as the seventh event of the 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship unfolded.
Check out what each of the team's five drivers had to say about the weekend below...
Bobby Thompson, Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero, said: “A mixed weekend, but one that we can take some positives from. We scored two points-finishes which is good, although overall it was a weekend of what could have been. We could have stayed with the pack in front of us but unfortunately, we got held up behind some slower cars which halted our progress.
“Taking the intense heat into account, we are happy that the fundamentals of the car and the balance of the chassis are working well, and we are maximising what we can at the moment.
“Overall, we got pushed back in race one which really didn’t help our weekend, but we’ve learnt from it and come away relatively damage-free. We’ve also scored some points, so onto the next one!”
Aron Taylor-Smith, Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing, said: “The weekend showed some of the potential that we have in the Cupra Leon considering it was our best team qualifying of the season and my personal best for a while.
“The results don’t show the progress that was made, we’ve learnt a lot with some new inputs coming into the team which have enhanced the car.
“On race day I hoped to achieve more, but at the same time it was difficult to make up a huge amount of ground considering the conditions. Also, it was a shame to miss the start of race three with a component failure on our way to the grid.
“We have just over a week until the next event at Thruxton and we’ve some new ideas that we will bring to the car to progress it further. We’ve made good gains with the car so far this season, and we will be hoping to continue unlocking the cars qualifying potential.”
Nic Hamilton, Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing, said: “Unfortunately not the best of Sundays, as a team we were hoping for better results at Snetterton. We showed a lot of promise and generally this car is improving. I’ve got my servo brake that still needs adjusting. It’s the first time we’ve run a servo brake on a touring car, and we know we’re going to have a few issues at different circuits, because different circuits have different characteristics.
“Race one was unfortunate for us, we were trying new brake pads which unfortunately didn’t last the race distance but that’s the whole point of testing. In race two I had a collision with one of my team-mates which you never want to happen! Will made a move on me, I tried to avoid him but unfortunately we made contact and suffered some damage. Then we were unable to start race three due to an incident on the way to the grid.
“So, a weekend to forget! I think we struggled as a team which we need to all work on and improve as we go to Thruxton in little over a week’s time. Obviously we’ve been there this year for Season Launch and the third event of the campaign already. I achieved my best qualifying position and my best qualifying lap in a touring car there at the start of the year so I’m really excited to go back and hopefully get some better results.”
Rick Parfitt, Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing, said: “Following on from Knockhill, we continued to make huge progress, culminating in mega race pace in race two.
“Sadly like other teams, the heat caused us some issues resulting in a blown engine ending our weekend prematurely, but yet again lots of positives to take away and people are starting to see our true pace.”
Will Powell, Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero, said: “We hoped for more from this weekend but for various reasons, it didn’t come together. Conditions were hard for everyone in the heat. There are positives to take as always so we will regroup and go again at Thruxton and try to end the season on a high.”
