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Northern Ireland’s Andrew Herron continued his pre-season SEAT Cupra
Championship test programme at two of the UK’s most popular circuits this week –
Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire and nearby Donington Park in
Leicestershire.
During Thursday’s outing at Rockingham, the 19-year-old JHR Developments
driver enjoyed a fault-free run and took some big strides up the learning curve
as he continues to adjust from the 205bhp Renault Clio Cup he raced in 2007 to
the monstrous 300bhp SEAT Leon Cupra he is to campaign throughout the coming
season.
“Rockingham went really well, I got to the point where I felt very
comfortable and we thought about going on new tyres to push for quicker times”,
said the Dromore based sensation, “We wanted to work on keeping the consistency
in lap times though on older tyres so we continued with what we had for the rest
of the day.”
Hoping for a similarly promising outing at Donington Park’s National
Circuit yesterday, Friday, 8th February, the session unfortunately proved to be
one of Andrew’s most difficult days since graduating to car racing at the
beginning of last year; the nadir being a nasty 115mph accident at McLeans
Corner.
Resulting from an as-yet unexplained brake failure, the teenage star went
straight on at the corner and into the barrier on the outside of the turn at
unabated speed. Thankfully, with the exception of a sore arm, Andrew walked away
unscathed as his SEAT stood up well to the size of the impact.
He commented: “The Friday test was one of the hardest days of my career in
cars. In a SEAT you’re doing about 115mph at McLeans and as I went to change
down from fifth to fourth gear I had no brakes at all. Heading straight on over
the gravel, I did manage to get the car turned slightly and then smashed into
the barrier really hard.
“The car bounced about 12 feet clear after the impact. We saw a replay of
the accident in Race Control and it looked like I was airborne before hitting
the barrier. Luckily it only seems to be cosmetic damage to the car. My arm hurt
quite a bit and I’m sure I’ll be sore for a couple of days but otherwise I’m
fine.”
Andrew’s next pre-season test outing will come on Friday, 15th February, at
Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire – the venue for rounds 13 and 14 of the
2008 SEAT Cupra Championship season.
“I couldn’t get my head back into yesterday’s test after the accident but
I’m happy with the progress we’re making”, added Andrew, “We’re under no
illusions about the year ahead, it’s not going to be easy but we’re confident
our hard work will bring good results.”
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