MULLER BACK ON TOP AT DONINGTON PARK BTCC TEST

Frenchman Yvan Muller was back on top form this afternoon at the final Green Flag MSA 2002 British Touring Car Championship test of the season at Donington Park. Having shadowed Andy Priaulx’s Honda Racing Civic Type-R in the morning session, the 2001 Runner-up claimed top spot in his Vauxhall Motorsport Astra Coupé with ten minutes to go, finding yet more pace to depose a late charge from Warren Hughes in his MG ZS by just 9/100ths of a second.

Said Muller:

“The day has been really interesting. This is the first test day for us since the beginning of the season and we’ve had a lot of work to get through. It was important to conduct a long distance run as I’m hard on the brakes and we needed to see how they’d react round here. I’m quite happy with what we’ve achieved and going for a time wasn’t important until the last ten minutes.”

Both Hughes and his MG Sport and Racing team mate Anthony Reid were pleased with the pace of their MG ZS race cars, particularly as they struggled at the Donington Park Circuit last year. Although Reid ended up only sixth quickest and 3/10ths of a second off Hughes in second, the Scotsman didn’t have the best set up on his car at the end of the session when everyone went for a time and he was also carrying 30kgs of mandatory success ballast.

Three times race winner James Thompson ended up third quickest - notwithstanding a full quota of success ballast from his win at Silverstone - having methodically worked through a development programme during the day. Another driver who didn’t feature until the end of the session was fellow Vauxhall runner Matt Neal, for Egg Sport. A gearbox problem restricted him to just two flying laps in the morning and despite not working through all the set up changes he’s hoped to try, Neal still managed to post a time good enough for fourth overall.

Honda Racing had a day of mixed fortunes. Priaulx looked to have the measure of the field all day, securing the fastest time in the morning session and remaining quickest until ten minutes to go. Unfortunately for the amiable Guernseyman, just as the front runners committed to a series of flying laps to end the day, he lost time out on track with a minor problem, leaving him no time to pit again for fresh tyres and respond to the competition. Although clearly disappointed with his final position of fifth, Priaulx has again underlined the competitiveness of the Civic Type-R – and had team mate Alan Morrison not suffered from a brake problem all day, no doubt the Irishman would have also been in the thick of the action.

Just behind Reid in sixth was Team Petronas Syntium Proton’s David Leslie and Egg Sport’s Paul O’Neill, the two combatants split by just 5/100ths of a second. Equally divided by the smallest of margins were Independents’ Cup rivals Gareth Howell and Aaron Slight in ninth and tenth places – driving for the Team Atomic Kitten and Barwell Motorsport outfits respectively. Former World Superbike star Slight, who’s been impressive in his inaugural BTCC season, had an exciting end to the session when he lost control of his Vauxhall Astra Coupé at the super-fast Craner Curves, slamming into the safety barriers.

A more muted outing for Team Halfords saw the team field just one Peugeot 406 Coupé for newcomer Carl Breeze and, with engine mapping development on the agenda, Breeze ended the day in 13th position.

In the Production Class, Jamie Davies – subbing for the Le Mans-bound Norman Simon – placed his Edenbridge Racing BMW 320i at the head of the time sheets by 2/10ths of a second from Tech-speed Motorsport’s Mark Fullalove. Fullalove was pleased to end the day just shy of the pace, having run on used tyres throughout and losing fifth gear with an hour to go. Alan Blencowe was a fine third quickest for GA Motorsport, from the super consistent Spencer Marsh, who parked his Beacon Motorsport Honda Accord in the garage mid afternoon when third quickest, declaring himself happy with the day’s work.