Touring car hopeful Andrew Herron is aiming to bounce back from last weekend’s nightmare outing at Knockhill in Scotland when the SEAT Cupra Championship resumes for rounds 17 and 18 of the season at Silverstone National Circuit next weekend.The 20-year old Northern Irishman, from Dromore in Co. Down, saw his bid for a couple of solid top four finishes last Sunday completely shot down when a lack of power from his SEAT Leon Cupra totally nullified his competitiveness and pace.Prior to the second of the weekend’s two races, Andrew’s JHR Developments team identified the potential cause of his problems to be an issue with the turbo on his 300bhp racer. Although the fitting of a new unit did boost his race performance relative to the opening encounter, the damage had already been done to his hoped for points haul.Bitterly disappointed following the problems of Knockhill, the Brian Herron Contracts supported driver knows if his car is back to full working order at Silverstone next weekend, 30th/31st August, he will undoubtedly be in the mix to fight for the fourth and fifth podium results of his maiden SEAT season.“The team is still looking into the problems from Knockhill”, said Andrew, “The change of turbo definitely made a bit of difference but we don’t know yet if the car is 100 per cent or whether there’s another problem too.“If we can get the car to perform well at Silverstone I’m hopeful we can be on the podium again. We went well during the one test day we had there so I am looking forward to the races. Silverstone is obviously the home of British motorsport so it’s always good if you can go well there.”Off the back of two disappointing race weekends recently – the second encounter at Oulton Park at the end of July seeing Andrew taken out at the first corner by rival Carl Breeze – the SEAT rookie is eyeing the Silverstone action as a great opportunity to make inroads on fourth placed Breeze in the championship battle.“The National Circuit isn’t my favourite lay-out at Silverstone, it would be great to have the chance to run on the full Grand Prix track, but I’m still going to enjoy it. The last two meetings didn’t go as we needed – first I was taken out at Oulton Park and then we had the power problems at Knockhill. “We need the last two events of the season to be strong, I really want to end the year on a high. We’ve shown what we’re capable of this year and I think we’ve done a great job but I want to be back on the podium. Hopefully at Silverstone, we’ll make that happen.” Andrew will return to the wheel of his SEAT Leon Cupra during pre-event testing a week today, Friday, 29th August, at Silverstone National Circuit. Qualifying for the 17th round of the season is timetabled to begin at 09.00 on Saturday, 30th August, with the round 18 session following at around 14.00.The first SEAT race of the weekend will take place at 16.25 on Saturday afternoon with the second encounter scheduled for Sunday, 31st August, at 12.00.

Provisional 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship Driver Standings (after Rd16):1st Robert Lawson, 262pts; 2nd Jonathan Adam, 248pts; 5th Andrew Herron, 153pts