The drivers were optimistic about the new race format, yet Peugeot had little chance to find out, on lap 5 Steve Soper pitted with smoke pouring from his engine. A problem caused by a spin off the track due to his throttle being stuck open meant Steve was out of the race and out of the points. As Steve came into the pit lane the team had to work frantically to ensure the engine did not catch fire.

Things were going no better for Dan Eaves, as a recurring problem with his tyres caused further set back for his Peugeot on lap 12 as a blown tyre caused an unscheduled pit stop for a tyre change, after completing only 2 laps the unbelievable accrued and Dan was struggling to drive the car round the track with yet again another blown tyre, but was able to finish the race and secure a point before rejoining the team for a damage check.

After a race full of problems VLR Team Director Vic Lee said 'What happened with Steve was an unfortunate problem with the throttle mechanism but the car will be in full working order for the feature race. We are very worried about the situation with the tyres; we do not want a repeat incident of the Thruxton test day where Steve crashed at high speed due to the same problem.

Dan Eaves also commented 'It is very frustrating; the Coupe is definitely quicker, yet the car and the tyres aren't working together, making it difficult to really push the car when you've always got the possibility of the same thing happening again. Hopefully things will go better for me and the team in the feature race.'

A TOTAL BLOW OUT FOR PEUGEOT

The cars first appearance on the track earlier that day for the Sprint Race saw a disappointing start for Peugeot Sport, after positive reports on the cars new improved performance from VLR Team Director Vic Lee.

After a flying start, the increased speed of the Peugeot's was instantly noticed; the brightly coloured Coupes never lost sight of the leading pack of Vauxhall's, although they are still not in a situation to challenge. Soper and Eaves provided some crowd-pleasing racing and they charged through Club Corner nose to tail for the first 10 laps.

Then trouble hit, the crowd watched as Steve Soper crawled into the pit lane, it was clear for all to see that Steve had a blown left front tyre, the same that caused tyres his tremendous smash some two week previous. Dan completed only one more lap before team boss Vic Lee called him in for safety reasons.

Vic Lee said ' After Steve's tyre blew for the third time we were just not prepared to risk the public's safety, the drivers or the cars by continuing to run on inferior tyres. We are obviously very disappointed, as the problems we are continually incurring seem to be out of our hands.'

Steve Soper said 'Its hard to concentrate on driving well when you have to constantly worry about the state of the tyres, I also advised Dan that if he felt anything through his steering to Pit as soon as he could.'

Peugeot Sport who are some three months behind in testing time, will need to go back to the drawing board to see if they can improve their current situation. Thurxton is known for being hard on tyres but there is obviously an underlying problem that may emulate from the heavy weight of the 406 Coupe compared to the Vauxhall Astra's.

Rounds 5 & 6 will be held at Oulton Park on the 19th and 20th May where hopefully Peugeot's luck will be in for a change!