Our visit to Cheshire was planned to be a development of our Snetterton weekend. After a successful test on Friday we went into the weekend with success on our minds the car felt good and the team were fired up.
We woke on Saturday to a damp, not wet Oulton park. But this did not dampen our spirits. Ready for qualifying we sat with a good feeling waiting to go out. As we left the pits the car felt strange and after a single lap I had to come in to find that an engine mount had snapped and pulled out of the chassis.
Not what we had planned, but a we had time to fix before race one. Our single lap had left us 12th on the grid. So not so bad considering. The DW. Racing team did an amazing job and got the car fixed. However as we prepared for race one we had another surprise! The stewards advised us there was an issue with our data.
As a result of the mechanical failure was had a boost issue and we lost our lap and were moved to the back of the grid with a 10 second penalty. So our day had just got a lot harder. Come race one and after a lot of protesting we were ready to go.
Now at the end of the pit lane waiting to go - after what seemed like an eternity we were let go and the chase was on, or so I thought. Two corners later and our day was over. The car over boost issue came back and the engine lost all power.
We made it back to the pits at a very slow pace. That was the end of the weekend for what had promised so much was no more. After further investigation by the team the original mechanical failure had damaged the boost control value and pipes which was unforeseen until stripped down.
We now have a break due to racing commitments in Brazil and will be back for the final 3 round of TCR UK. With a positive mind we look forward too Silverstone in August and to make further progress with our Opel Astra. #tcruk #tcrbrasil #tcrglobalnews
