Associated looking good in 2011
The Associated on road team made a dream to start to their 2011 campaign with a victory and TQ for the TC6 at round two of the Schumacher BTCC.
Round two of this season?s Schumacher BTCC was held at the West London venue and Associated were looking good in the sunny but windy conditions. With the exception of Zak Smith the entire team (and a few guests) were on hand for some pre national testing.
Re-surfacing at West London has left most teams with redundant data from previous meetings so testing for this season has taken on a whole new level of importance as teams try and get some knowledge of the new surface. The layout is the same as before, but as the tarmac has not yet been weathered-in, the surface seems inconsistent from run to run. With the strong winds, and constantly changing track temperature, it made for plenty of work for the team over the weekend.
The Associated Touring Car Team.
First to find a sweet spot in qualifying was Olly Jefferies. Olly set FTD in the modified class, albeit a little slower than he had previously gone in testing, but it was enough to put the TC6 on pole for the modified A final. Joining Olly in the A final was Alan Bickerstaff and Associated new recruit Johnny Aird.
The Serpent team are awaiting the arrival of their new touring car for 2011 and as they wait team driver Chris Kerswell has opted to get his early season running done with a TC6. Chris?s first outing with the car saw him qualifying seventh splitting Alan and Johnny in the modified A final. Chris was delighted with the way the TC6 perfomed after such a small amount of pre-event running with the car.
In pro stock Chris Slater made it into the A on a day when the wind was causing problems for a lot of the drivers. Chris qualified in ninth but two strong finals saw him finish fifth in the A final.
Back in the modified class Olly took a clean sweep of both A finals with Alan taking an excellent third for the team, making the trip over from Ireland well worth it. The TC6 starts the 2011 national series off the back of some strong results and this performance just adds to the cars fast growing winning reputation.
Alan and Olly with a 1st & 3rd (left). Keith gets in to the swing of things(right).
Making a comeback to touring cars was CML employee and RC all rounder Keith Robertson. Keith was welcomed in to the fold and enjoyed a good day qualifying fourth in the B final.
It was a great day for the Junior Academy drivers with all four drivers finishing on the podium of their respective finals. This was the first proper tarmac event for the entire team and it was good to see the established drivers getting stuck in and helping the academy drivers. We expect this aspect of the Academy to develop through the season and become an integral part of the team set up. The Academy drivers already seem to be benefiting from the help and guidance of their more illustrious mentors and all four seemed to have grasped the potential this incentive has to offer.
The academy drivers finished in the top 3 of their finals (left). Guest driver Chris Kerswell (right).
Elsewhere in pro stock Tom Jefferies picked up a third in the pro stock B final while Kyle Gardner continues to string some great results together, this time finishing just ahead of Tom in second. The modified C final saw a win for Steve Lander as Steve and his Novak powered TC6 re-adjusts to the faster speeds of modified after a few seasons campaigning in pro stock.
The first round of the BRCA touring car nationals is at West London in two weeks time. Hopefully the team can take their fine form in to this event and make it a good start to their national campaign.
The Associated Touring Car Team.
First to find a sweet spot in qualifying was Olly Jefferies. Olly set FTD in the modified class, albeit a little slower than he had previously gone in testing, but it was enough to put the TC6 on pole for the modified A final. Joining Olly in the A final was Alan Bickerstaff and Associated new recruit Johnny Aird.
The Serpent team are awaiting the arrival of their new touring car for 2011 and as they wait team driver Chris Kerswell has opted to get his early season running done with a TC6. Chris?s first outing with the car saw him qualifying seventh splitting Alan and Johnny in the modified A final. Chris was delighted with the way the TC6 perfomed after such a small amount of pre-event running with the car.
In pro stock Chris Slater made it into the A on a day when the wind was causing problems for a lot of the drivers. Chris qualified in ninth but two strong finals saw him finish fifth in the A final.
Back in the modified class Olly took a clean sweep of both A finals with Alan taking an excellent third for the team, making the trip over from Ireland well worth it. The TC6 starts the 2011 national series off the back of some strong results and this performance just adds to the cars fast growing winning reputation.
Alan and Olly with a 1st & 3rd (left). Keith gets in to the swing of things(right).
Making a comeback to touring cars was CML employee and RC all rounder Keith Robertson. Keith was welcomed in to the fold and enjoyed a good day qualifying fourth in the B final.
It was a great day for the Junior Academy drivers with all four drivers finishing on the podium of their respective finals. This was the first proper tarmac event for the entire team and it was good to see the established drivers getting stuck in and helping the academy drivers. We expect this aspect of the Academy to develop through the season and become an integral part of the team set up. The Academy drivers already seem to be benefiting from the help and guidance of their more illustrious mentors and all four seemed to have grasped the potential this incentive has to offer.
The academy drivers finished in the top 3 of their finals (left). Guest driver Chris Kerswell (right).
Elsewhere in pro stock Tom Jefferies picked up a third in the pro stock B final while Kyle Gardner continues to string some great results together, this time finishing just ahead of Tom in second. The modified C final saw a win for Steve Lander as Steve and his Novak powered TC6 re-adjusts to the faster speeds of modified after a few seasons campaigning in pro stock.
The first round of the BRCA touring car nationals is at West London in two weeks time. Hopefully the team can take their fine form in to this event and make it a good start to their national campaign.
