TOURING CARS: Speedworks to sit out Croft round (From Northwich Guardian)

Speedworks Motorsport pull out of next Touring Cars round at Croft

12:30pm Monday 13th June 2011 in Motorsport By Andrew Simpson

SPEEDWORKS Motorsport has ruled out racing at this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship round in favour of finding a fix for its car’s steering problem.

The Northwich team, which celebrated its best weekend to date in the series at Oulton Park last time out, will not travel to Croft with its Toyota Avensis as a result.

“It’s the right decision,” said team principal Christian Dick.

“We’ve looked at how things went at Oulton Park and, while the car felt better there, it’s still not perfect.”

It marks the second time this season that driver Tony Hughes has missed a race meeting after he sat out May’s third round at Thruxton.

Meanwhile Dick has asked specialists from GPR Motorsport, commissioned by series organisers TOCA to build the team’s Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) machine to specifications new to the competition this season, to come up with a solution.

"We prefer not to get frustrated at not being able to make any big steps forward at Croft."

Speedworks team principal Christian Dick.

He added: “I’d prefer to wait for a 100% fix and I’m hopeful that will happen in the next couple of weeks.

“That would put us in a good position ready for the next round at Snetterton [in August] as we’ll be able to do plenty of testing beforehand.

“We have to be sensible too with how we spend our budget, which is why we prefer not to get frustrated at not being able to make any big steps forward at Croft.

“Everybody is in a positive frame of mind after our home round and we want to protect that.”

Hughes piloted the Avensis to a hat-trick of finishes at the Little Budworth circuit, including a season-best 14th position in race two, to double the outfit’s points tally in the Independents Team Trophy.

Speedworks will turn its attention instead to the British GT Championship’s third round at Brands Hatch this weekend, where drivers Piers and Ron Johnson return to action in the Corvette Z06R.

A single, two-hours race takes place on Sunday afternoon.