Peugeot Sport team VLR have again spent a gruelling couple of weeks leading up to the much-awaited Silverstone night race, for round 7 and 8 of the MSA British Touring Car Championship. Vic Lee and his team visited the Norfolk based circuit of Snetterton on Friday the 25th May, for an unofficial test of the 406 Coupe, that has undergone a run of bad luck these past couple of rounds.

Snetterton, known as a high-speed circuit due to its flat terrain and long straights, would give the Peugeot's a chance to let off some steam and really push the car to its limit. The car had many different set-ups though out the day, and constant changes to the suspension on both cars was tried and tested time and time again.

Vic Lee, Team Principal said: 'We are testing various geometry changes on the car in an attempt to improve our slow corner exit speed, which has been a major problem for us.'

The cars completed a good number of laps, with Steve Soper on 68 laps and Dan Eaves giving the car a good run for its money with a total of 84 laps. The afternoon showed a slight improvement in the times, due to suspension changes that were made. Times were respectable, but a little off the teams pre-targeted 1.12 seconds for the day.

On a whole the cars performed well producing 100% reliability, and travelled back to Coventry with little more than a dent on the front wing of Steve Sopers number 44 Peugeot.

The team used the day to really learn more about the car and what was happening under the bonnet, something which the team have had little chance to accomplish with their limited testing programme. The designers were given a chance to gather some much needed data, in an effort to find areas that could benefit from modification.

The resounding feeling of the day was frustration over times, but hopeful for advancement in connection with the data gathered.

Vic Lee said: 'We will be hoping that Silverstone produces a good run for us, and we're hoping the Northampton track will work in our favour, we shall be working over time on the car this week leading up to Silverstone.'

Dan Eaves said: 'The day was obviously quite frustrating from my point of view, although we did manage to put in some good track time, and really run the car to find what's going wrong and where. The actual speed of the car did not really change, but it was good to get some maximum track time.'

Silverstone's international circuit will play host to the www.theAA.com BTCC rounds 7 & 8, qualifying will take place on the 14.45 on the Saturday afternoon, with the Sprint race commencing at 19.35, followed by the feature race later in the evening at 22.10.