Tempus Sport tackle Hampshire’s high-speed Thruxton

Fri 24th April 2009 Tempus Sport will tackle the second round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship over the weekend of May 25-26 where driver Harry Vaulkhard aims to build on the strong start to his second season in Britain’s premier motor sport series.

Twenty-three year-old Harry from Newcastle finished in the top ten two of the three races of the season-opening Brands Hatch round at the beginning of April, in what was the debut BTCC race weekend for Tempus Sport.

Thruxton was the venue for one of Tempus’s pre-season tests, however Harry will be hoping not to emulate his performance on that day in February, when he was caught out by a dirty and slippery track surface, and slid into a newly placed piece of Armco, damaging his car and ending the test after a handful of laps.

The Hampshire race circuit is the fastest in the UK, and offers drivers a rear challenge over its 3.8 km layout. Its high-speed configuration exposes any weaknesses in a car’s power or set-up, and the back straight into the tight chicane has been the scene of high drama in many a BTCC race. This is the second of ten rounds of the BTCC, all of which are broadcast live on ITV4.

Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 15:10-15:40 hrs. On Sunday there are three races, starting at 11:35, 14:10 and 16:50 hrs.

Richard Coleman, Tempus Sport Team Director said: “Our debut at Brands Hatch seems like an age ago and we’ve had a lot of debriefs and done a lot of work to go forward for this weekend at Thruxton. Harry scored more points at Brands than he did all season in 2008, and we’re confident we can build on that tally. Of course, we did briefly test at the track back in February, but unfortunately it was only for a handful of laps. Nevertheless, we’ve seen the pace and potential of the car so lets hope for some good racing.”

Harry Vaulkhard, Tempus Sport driver said: “Thruxton is one of my favourite circuits, and apart from testing earlier this year, I’ve had some very good experiences there. Perhaps most notably I won the 2007 British Seat Cupra R championship at Thruxton in the final round of the season, and it was on my birthday! It was also the first place I led a race. There's some fantastically fast corners round the back of the track, some technical areas at the start and end of the lap, all coupled with a venue that seems quite old-fashioned in many respects. All in all, Thruxton is one of my preferred hunting grounds and I’m excited to see what we can do there with Tempus.”