|
BELL AIMS TO REPAY TEAM AT
THRUXTON
Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell will aim to reward
his Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk team for the hard work put in over the past
fortnight as the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship heads to Thruxton this
weekend (17/18 May) for the fourth round of the
year.
The
Tech-Speed run team was left with work to do following the last round at
Donington
Park after both Martyn and
team-mate Erkut Kizilirmak were involved in accidents on race day that left two
damaged Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatches returning to the team’s base in Leamington
Spa.
Despite being forced to miss the second and third races
in the East Midlands, Martyn heads to Thruxton
– the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar – buoyed by his strongest run of the
year so far in the opening race at Donington, where he ran just outside the
points scoring positions for long periods before eventually finishing in
14th place.
Having come to terms with the move to front-wheel drive
after spending his entire four-wheeled career in rear-wheel drive, Martyn goes
into the weekend confident of another good run in the ex-works Astra and will be
chasing his first top ten finish of the 2008 campaign as he looks to reward the
team for its hard work preparing for the event.
“I’m
so confident in the Astra now in the dry, so I’m hoping that there won’t be any
rain this weekend,” he said. “The drivers deserve some fine weather and the
crowds who come along to watch certainly do, so hopefully the rain will stay
away. We showed at Donington that we can be competitive in the dry and I want to
continue that this weekend.
“I’ve
now got to grips with front-wheel drive a lot more and I feel that Thruxton will
be more rewarding for me to drive in the Astra than it was in the BMW. I had to
balance the throttle through Church in the BMW so it didn’t get out of shape, so
I’m looking forward to being able to take it flat out! The only thing that is a
bit of an unknown quantity for me is that the circuit is hard on tyres and I’m
not sure how the Astra will manage its tyres over the race distance – so that is
something I’ll work on during practice. I’ll also work with Erkut during
practice on slip-streaming as it’s vital at Thruxton. Hopefully we can perfect
that, and then work together in qualifying to help each other start as far up
the grid as possible.
“Erkut and I are both aware of the hard work the team
has had to put in since Donington to get the cars ready for the weekend after
the incidents we both had. Credit has to go to them for the work they have done,
as it is hard on the teams when there is only a short break between races. There
is only one way we can really reward them for their efforts – by going out there
and bringing home some results.”
|
