Showing posts with label Robb Holland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robb Holland. Show all posts

Thursday, July 31, 2014

BTCC: Holland cautiously optimistic about Snetterton after productive summer testing

  Thursday, July 31, 2014      

Rotek Racing Press Release

Robb ‘Hollywood’ Holland and his Rotek Racing team are hoping for a seismic shift in fortunes as the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) bursts back into life on the Snetterton ‘300’ circuit (2-3 August).

A lack of pre-season testing led to a tumultuous and troubled beginning to Rotek Racing’s BTCC foray, but this only served to heighten the Nürburgring and Silverstone-based team’s desire to overcome its new-car teething problems and the opposition.

A determined effort to fettle and refine the striking Audi S3 saloon over the six-week mid-season break culminated with a highly productive test at Pembrey in Wales, where Rotek Racing clarified the source of its problems and embarked down a road that it hopes will yield results in the concluding half of the 2014 season.

Snetterton has the honour of hosting Rounds 16, 17 and 18 of the Dunlop-backed BTCC and its 2.99mile ‘300’ configuration is one Holland is extremely familiar with, having made his BTCC bow at the East Anglian venue in 2012.


Situated in the Norfolk countryside, Snetterton, which has been on the BTCC package for over 50 years, encompasses a number of flat out straights and a tight, technical infield section that draws inspiration from some of motorsport’s most iconic corners, such as Monza’s Parabolica and Montréal’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve Hairpin.

Heading to Snetterton having clocked up countless testing miles and with prior knowledge and experience of the circuit gives Holland cause for optimism, although the Oakley Motorsports-backed American remains cautious about Rotek Racing’s prospects.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that we have finally clocked up some testing miles at Pembrey last week and to have spent some time on the shake rig and I’ll be interested to see how it all shapes up at Snetterton,” said Holland. “I’m cautiously optimistic that we have made some gains based on my feel in the car and the fact we picked up a bunch of time over the course of the test with some simple, yet fundamental alterations.


“We have a much better understanding of how the car works and a direction to go in for the rest of the season, but we can only hope that Snetterton will be a turning point for the team. This is the first track I’ve competed on before and that prior knowledge and experience, plus the gains made in testing should result in an improvement. I don’t have any specific targets because we haven’t had anybody to compare ourselves to and I’ve been in the business long enough to know that, no matter how much you want it to, things don’t always correlate or translate from one circuit to another.”

Qualifying for Round 16 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) takes place at 15.20 on Saturday (2 August) and will be streamed live on thewww.itv.com/btcc web page.

This precedes Round 16 itself at 12.02, Round 17 at 14.35 and Round 18 at 16.57 on Sunday (3 August), all of which will be beamed live and in high definition on ITV4 and ITV4HD.

For more on Rotek Racing, visit the official www.rotekracing.com website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page or follow @rotekracing on Twitter.

Photo credit: BTCC


Sunday, June 29, 2014

BTCC: Hopeful Holland prepares to test thoroughly during BTCC's mid-season break

  Sunday, June 29, 2014      

Rotek Racing Press Release

A disappointing weekend in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Croft Circuit (28-29 June) hasn’t quashed Robb Holland’s unwavering optimism heading into what he predicts will be a fruitful six-week mid-season break for Rotek Racing.

An encouraging start to the year has been followed by a series of galling new-car teething problems and the Nürburgring and Silverstone-based Rotek Racing team continues to grapple with its Audi S3 saloon while struggling to understand how to optimise it performance.

Having only experienced the North Yorkshire circuit on a simulator, Holland tentatively negotiated Croft Circuit’s varied confines during free practice on Saturday and had his progress thwarted by indifferent weather conditions and the odd red-flag stoppage.

From 28th on the grid, Holland’s frustration continued in Round 13, the first of Sunday’s three races, as his Oakley Motorsports Audi S3 saloon was hobbled during a traditionally chaotic opening lap.

The start was delayed and the race distance shortened to 14 laps as a result of a suspected technical issue with Croft’s lighting gantry, but the action got underway at the second time of asking, a spectacular series of incidents kicking off as the field converged on Clervaux and Hawthorns for the first time.


A collision between former title-winner Matt Neal and current Champion Andrew Jordan preceded another involving Adam Morgan and Rob Austin, while both Nick Foster and Jack Goff were also punted across the fairway and into the Croft infield.

Holland’s Rotek Racing Audi S3 appeared to be hobbled as it emerged from the dust and debris field and the American pitted on lap six, losing three laps to the main pack before re-emerging and continuing on his way to finish 28th.

Round 14 was another race of attrition and provided just as much incident and intrigue as the preceding BTCC encounter. It was also provided far more amusement for Holland, who was able to get stuck in to some entertaining on-track battles.

Several drivers faltered through contact and unforced errors and Holland was only too happy to pick up the pieces, climbing to 23rd position as he locked horns with the Welch Motorsport Proton Gen-2s of Daniel Welch and Ollie Jackson.

Approximately half a second split Welch and Holland on lap eight, but the latter was in a determined mood and pulled off a superb and clean overtake on the Proton racer to hold 22nd place on the ninth tour of the 2.25mile North Yorkshire circuit.


The fight enraged to the flag but Holland staunchly defended his position and took the chequered flag with Welch and a recovering Simon Belcher one lap down underneath his rear wing.

Round 15 was all too brief for Holland because, having survived the first lap fireworks, a busted wheel nut – a recurrent problem Rotek Racing suffered during the formation lap – forced the Oakley Motorsports-backed driver into retirement after a Safety Car intervention on lap four.

Summing up another character-building race weekend at the pinnacle of British motor racing, Holland said: “It has been a tough weekend for the team and we definitely didn’t have a handle on the car like we expected to, experiencing various small issues that hampered progress at Croft Circuit. For example, we bust a wheel nut during the out-lap in race three, only for it to reoccur again after the Safety Car deployment. We’ve never had that problem before, so it’s weird to say the least. The positive we can take is that we take the car home with no damage, which means we can get cracking with a thorough and comprehensive testing programme on the track, in the windtunnel and on the shake rig. These are all the things we hoped to do during the lead-up to the season so I’m looking forward to getting on with that straight away, seeing if we can make progress and get a better start to the second half of the season than we did in the first.”

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now embarks on a six-week mid-season hiatus before heading to Snetterton in the Norfolk countryside for Rounds 16, 17 and 18 of an enthralling 2014 season (2-3 August).

Photo credit: Rotek Racing


Saturday, June 28, 2014

BTCC: Holland disappointed as lack of testing hurts Rotek Racing's Croft BTCC build-up

  Saturday, June 28, 2014      

Rotek Racing Press Release

The disappointment continued for Robb Holland and Rotek Racing during an underwhelming build-up to Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Croft Circuit, another weekend mired by a severe lack of testing.

A season that started in such a positive fashion for Holland has been an uphill struggle for the Rotek Racing operation, as the Nürburgring and Silverstone-based team has had to grapple with new-car teething problems and continues to try and understand how to optimise the new-for-2014 Audi S3 saloon.

Holland tentatively tip-toed around the 2.25mile Croft Circuit in FP1 on Saturday morning, having only experienced the North Yorkshire circuit on a simulator and was 24th fastest after ten laps when his progress was stymied by a red flag stoppage and a short, sharp rain shower.

Undeterred, the American continued circulating and completed 15 laps, but the wet-dry conditions prevented him from clocking up any meaningful mileage behind the wheel of his Oakley Motorsports Audi and there was a slight sense of frustration as he went into FP2.

Dark clouds hung over Croft for the duration of the morning although the intermittent drizzle subsided for the start of the 30-minute second practice session, to the delight of Holland and his Rotek Racing team.

Sadly, consistent track and weather conditions didn’t reap as many benefits as expected and the team went into qualifying bemused as to why the configuration honed at Oulton Park three weeks ago was ineffective at Croft.

Conditions remained dry for qualifying on Saturday afternoon and it was a slow start to the 30-minute session for all the front-wheel-drive runners, who all pitted for new Dunlops after completing a single installation lap.


Holland only began setting representative times after more than ten minutes and steadily picked up the pace in a red flag-affected qualifying until climaxing in 28th position with a best lap of 1m26.926s, recorded on his tenth tour of the North Yorkshire circuit.

“Carrying mid-corner speed has been our problem since day one and that’s exactly what we’re struggling with here at Croft Circuit,” said Holland. “We came up with a solution at Oulton Park and it worked perfectly there, but we arrived here to find that it has disappeared and it’s quite baffling. The window these cars operate in is very narrow and, if something like the track surface or temperature changes, that can easily throw you out of it.

“We’ve spent today chasing this solution and trying to find out where it went and, while it was a bit better in qualifying because the new tyres give you better grip and allow you to charge into the corners more, it’s tough to play catch up during these race weekends. The fact is, a lack of testing is hurting us and we need to come away from a weekend without damage to repair and clock up some miles with the car to really understand where we need to go with it and focus on moving forwards. It’s frustrating that we thought we made a step forwards, when in fact it’s status quo.”

Round 13 takes place at 12.02, Round 14 at 14.39 and Round 15 at 17.06 tomorrow (Sunday 29 June) and all three races will be beamed live and in high definition on ITV4 and ITV4HD.

For more on Rotek Racing, visit the official www.rotekracing.com website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page or follow @rotekracing on Twitter.

Photo credit: Rotek Racing


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

BTCC: Holland on maximum attack as BTCC heads North East to Croft

  Wednesday, June 25, 2014      

Rotek Racing Press Release

Fresh from the ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24 Hours, Robb ‘Hollywood’ Holland and his Rotek Racing team are on maximum attack as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) rolls into Croft Circuit in the North East of England (28-29 June).

Croft Circuit, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014, hosts Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of Britain’s premier motor racing championship.

The charming 2.25mile circuit is situated near Darlington, North Yorkshire and has featured on the BTCC calendar every year since 1997.

Its layout is made up of an intoxicating blend of fast, flowing corners like the Jim Clark Esses and Barcroft, as well as the technical Complex and final Hairpin, and compliments the sort of high-octane, bumper-to-bumper racing action that the BTCC is famed for.


Holland, meanwhile, was on for a career-best 12th place finish in a rain-soaked third race at Oulton Park three weeks ago, until a swipe from a wayward rival caused severe rear-end damage to his Oakley Motorsports-backed Audi S3 saloon that ultimately resulted in a puncture and a separate, race-ending collision with the barriers.

Understandably disappointed to have been denied a solid points finish and, through no fault of his own, conclude yet another tumultuous weekend with more crash damage, the American and his Rotek Racing operation remains on maximum attack and is targeting top 16 results as the BTCC prepares for its lengthy mid-season break.

“In all honesty, I know nothing about Croft Circuit, but I’ll go into free practice having done some simulator work in the UK and, from watching video footage, it looks to be a very interesting and exciting track,” said Holland. “The goal here is to go into the mid-season break without damage and then get some testing done. I’d be happy if I crept into the top 16 because of the setbacks we had at start of season. We always knew it would be a tough fight and the team is still on maximum attack.

“The Audi S3 saloon definitely felt better as the Oulton Park weekend progressed and I raced as high as 12th before being taken out, which gives me confidence in the changes that Rotek Racing made to the car. The alterations were counterintuitive to what we would normally do, but we decided to experiment and it seemed to work out.”


Holland added: “This weekend is no different to the previous three, in that I’ve always had to learn my way around a new circuit. In addition, the team has come away from each race meeting with crash damage to repair, after being on the receiving end of contact, which has forced the cancellation of several tests where we would normally make all the necessary adjustments to the Audi S3 saloon. Instead, we have to learn each track while fettling the car’s setup during free practice on a Saturday, using the entire race weekends as tests with the view of making the car better in the long-term.”

Qualifying for Round 13 of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) takes place from 15.45 on Saturday (28 June), while Sunday (29 June) begins with the pit lane walkabout driver autograph session.

This precedes Round 13 at 12.02, Round 14 at 14.39 and Round 15 at 17.06, all of which will be beamed live and in high definition on ITV4 and ITV4HD.

For more on Rotek Racing, visit the official www.rotekracing.com website, ‘like’ the team’s Facebook page or follow @rotekracing on Twitter.

Photo credit: Rotek Racing


Monday, June 9, 2014

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

BTCC: Robb 'Hollywood' Holland ready for BTCC bow

  Wednesday, March 26, 2014      

Rotek Racing Press Release

 Robb 'Hollywood' Holland is anxious to begin his maiden full-time Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) campaign and is brimming with excitement ahead of the 2014 season-opener on the world-famous Brands Hatch Indy circuit (29-30 March).

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Saturday, February 1, 2014

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