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Sibsport Looking To Bounce Back At Oulton |
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Tuesday, 19 June 2007 |
New Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship team sibsport are positive they can have a strong weekend at Oulton Park, Cheshire – the venue for rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the season which take place on June 24th.
Despite setting a strong pace last time out at his local circuit of Croft, Simon Blanckley would ultimately come away with one finish out of three races. However, the Durham driver is happy about the way the weekend went overall, especially the pace he showed during the races. “We proved we can mix it with the bigger teams, which was good to see. Our pace has improved so much over the season. At Rockingham, which had similar lap times to those at Croft, we were slightly over 2 seconds off the leaders. Then, two meetings later at Croft, our fastest lap was just over a 1 second away from the fastest race lap. That’s a big step in motorsport, especially as we haven’t got the best budget it the pit lane. The whole team is working so hard and it’s because of this that we have grown into a regular contender for outright championship points – it proves we have been developing throughout the season so far, which was my original aim for the team.”
Although Oulton Park was the venue where Blanckley had a violent
accident whilst running near the front in his ex-BTCC Honda Accord
‘Super Tourer’ during his 2006 LMA Euro Saloons championship campaign,
he still enjoys the circuit and feels its tight and flowing nature will
make for some interesting action for the fans. “Although I’ve never
driven on the full Island circuit, I know that Oulton is a track where
you have to keep your concentration up, because if you don’t, it will
bite back. I remember watching on television some really classic races
from Oulton throughout the years, so I hope to experience another one
from behind the wheel.
“Like Croft I’ve heard that the locals come out in force for the Oulton
BTCC races each year, so it should be a great atmosphere. Having seen
it now from a driver’s perspective, you can’t get much more passionate
than BTCC fans!,” concludes Blanckley.
With half the season now elapsed, the series now heads at full steam towards the final event in October at Thruxton.
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