By Tarek Ramchani
Rob Austin Racing, the only Audi team in Biritish Touring Car Championship, faced a very hard Donington Park round last time out, with disappointing results in the end. Both WIX Racing backed Audi A4 NGTC cars lacked top speed compared to rivals cars from Honda, MG, BMW and Toyota.
As seen at Brands Hatch, and even at Donington Park, the Audi A4 is very good in handling and cornering, one of the best chassis on the grid. The next round of the series will be at Thruxton, clearly the fastest circuit of the BTCC calendar. Rob Austin Racing recently went to Silverstone to test the Audi car, whilst preparing for that demanding - and penalizing - event. The team focused on gaining extra power to be more competitive in a straight line.
Team owner Rob Austin talked to btcc.net about these tests: "It was a reasonably productive day. We were working on our ducting to try and reduce charger temperatures as well as develop our set up for the unique long fast corners of Thruxton. Field Motorsport are also working tirelessly to give us some more power and bridge the power gap to the other teams." (Quote sourced from btcc.net)
Will Bratt: "We made some good progress with the turbo cooling and handling, and we’ve got some engine work planned between now and the next race. Hopefully they will find us some extra speed, as Thruxton will really show up any disparity in power against the other drivers." (Quote sourced from btcc.net)
Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography
