Phil Bennett and David Leslie of Team Petronas Syntium Proton pronounced themselves delighted with the improved performance of their Proton Impians at the one-day BTCC test at Snetterton on Tuesday 14 May. Phil Bennett said: "Team PSP's engineers have got to the bottom of the high-speed handling problem that plagued David and me at Thruxton. The car is transformed - as good as we knew it should be."

At Thruxton during the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2002 British Touring Car Championship, the two Team PSP drivers made the most of the power boost of their Step 2 engines to push the race cars harder than ever before. The long sweeping high-speed corners unique to Thruxton showed up a handling problem previously undiscovered that hampered the drivers' ability to position the cars accurately and limited the speed they could carry.

The team's engineers analysed the race data and revised the suspension settings in time for the Snetterton test session. David Leslie said: "It's fortunate that the next official test day after Thruxton was Snetterton as it too has similar high-speed corners where we were able to evaluate the problem and our solution. Within a few minutes of getting out on the track, both Phil and I were delighted with the improved handling. Our in-corner speeds are notably higher and the car is much easier to drive. It's reassuring that as we extend the car's performance, the Team PSP lads are meeting the next development challenge head-on and unlocking more performance to put on the track. Next stop Silverstone - I think we've made a big step forward in readiness for another high-speed circuit."

David Wong, Team Principal, Team PSP said: "We've said all along this is a season of learning for us. We're in the early stages of a development programme with a totally new race car and a totally new team so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone when we uncover some problems and make major strides forward in fixing them. The solution is to keep on making improvements throughout this racing season. This was a good test for us."