Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship returnee Robb Holland says he is feeling positive ahead of his first race outing in Handy Motorsport’s Toyota Avensis at Snetterton 300 Circuit next month, following a satisfying maiden test in the car at the Norfolk track on Thursday, 16th July.
The American driver, who is replacing Simon Belcher at the Swindon team for the next three BTCC race meetings, took the opportunity to join more than 20 other competitors for the officially timed Dunlop tyre test where the focus was mainly on acclimatising himself to the Webb Garden Power Equipment and KÄRCHER liveried car.
In the morning, the 47-year-old lapped Snetterton with a best time of 2m01.347 seconds (88.07mph) and then improved to a time of 2m00.828 seconds (88.45mph) in the afternoon session – the day marking his first appearance in a BTCC car since the penultimate race meeting last year.
Handy Motorsport team principal Belcher, who thoroughly enjoyed working with Holland for the first time, says the tyre test provided the perfect opportunity for the BTCC returnee to gel with the squad ahead of the Snetterton race weekend next month, while also conducting key set-up work to adapt the Avensis to Holland’s driving style preference.
“The day went well, the important thing was to get Robb settled in the car and to get the set-up dialled in how he likes it – he fitted in with the team very well”, said Belcher, “We all went away from Snetterton feeling quite positive, especially as we weren’t really able to throw many new tyres at the car unlike a lot of the others. Hopefully we’ll be in a good place for the race weekend.”
During the morning session, Belcher had the opportunity to run in the sister Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis normally piloted by Tom Ingram. With the High Wycombe driver arriving late to the test, Belcher completed 14 laps in his place after taking the chance to sample Ingram’s set-up.
“It was a great opportunity to evaluate the difference with the set-up Tom has with Speedworks and the set-up I’ve been running this year with our Avensis”, added Belcher, “I took it very cautiously, not wanting to cause any problems for when Tom arrived at the track – to be honest, I was probably a bit over cautious but it was still a valuable experience.”
The second half of the BTCC season will get underway at Snetterton’s 300 Circuit over the weekend 8th/9th August.
