Rob Austin Racing Press Release
Worcestershire team Rob Austin Racing’s 2015 Dunlop British Touring Car season continues this weekend (Sat 18/Sun 19 April) at Donington Park in Leicestershire and team principal and driver Rob Austin (Evesham) is determined he and team-mate Hunter Abbott (Maidenhead) can crack what has proved to be something of a bogey circuit for the squad in recent years.
Rob and Hunter came away from the season’s opening three races at Brands Hatch with points on the board but both believe there should have been more. They are hopeful the warmer weather that has surfaced in recent days will continue at Donington as this could benefit their rear-wheel-drive Exocet AlcoSense Audi A4s.
“The cold weather really put paid to our chances at Brands,” comments Rob. “We really struggled to get heat into them and also made a wrong decision to run the softer compound tyre in the first race – we should have waited until later in the day.
“I’m hoping the mini heat wave we’re experiencing can keep going until about 6.00pm on Sunday at Donington. Then we’ll at least have a better chance in terms of tyre performance with our car but to capitalise on that we need to make sure we’ve found a good set-up that works around Donington.
“I’ve always gone well at Donington in anything else I’ve raced there but for some reason it’s always worked against the Audi. It’s a similar situation at Thruxton which follows Donington in May. These are two bogey circuits coming up for us therefore – no pressure then on my ace engineer Matt Taylor to deliver the goods!”
Hunter adds: “The heat is on – or at least that’s what we’re hoping! The warmer the weather the better for us, without a doubt. If we can get the Audis working around Donington – and I’m wary of how it isn’t the best circuit on the calendar for us – then we just might be able to show better than we did at Brands Hatch where I don’t believe our results reflected just what we were capable of.
“After dicing with and getting the better of a three-time world touring car champion like Andy Priaulx, it was disappointing to have an eighth place result slip through my fingers with a broken power steering in the closing laps. On saying that I was very pleased with how I raced across all three races at the start of my second season in the BTCC which is like nothing else I’ve done before.
“I’m very geed up for Donington and like Rob definitely hoping to be in or around the top ten in all three races. But like I say we need it hot – scorchio!”
Photo credit: Rob Austin Racing
