The Atech CRS GP team returned to track action with three days around the Silverstone circuit this week. The three-car team, now located in Leicestershire, joined the rest of the GP3 Series teams for the second of three pre-season tests, and were treated to a bright and sunny start to the opening day.
During the course of the morning session, the three GP3 rookies steadily improved their times, until the session was cut short thirty seconds from the chequered flag, ending their chances of improvement.
After lunch the drivers retook to the track, and a determined charge from Stockinger saw him pull himself up to fifth overall, and confident of improving had rain not interrupted the session. For Yelloly and Amberg, the afternoon provided a valuable opportunity to carry out race simulation runs but the chances of improving their lap times was brought to a halt when the rain fell mid-way through the session.
On Wednesday the trio were met with changeable track conditions but Stockinger again felt more at ease with the conditions and his car set-up, winding up tenth overall. Afternoon rain halted any chance of improvements in lap time but allowed them the chance to run on full wets and saw Yelloly excel in the tricky conditions, moving up to 13th, just behind Stockinger, with Amberg comfortable also on the wet track, moving up to 17th.
Thursday’s final day started on a wet track and over the course of the three-hour session, there were several red flag stoppages, preventing the drivers from getting a clear run. The afternoon session however saw windy dry conditions replace the rain, which provided another challenge but also the opportunity to gather vital information ahead of the final pre-season tests next month.
Marlon Stockinger: “The team did a great job on Tuesday and we were able to get a good set-up pretty much from the start, which allowed me to post some good times early on. In the afternoon we worked on developing the car further and had it not been for the rain, I really feel I could have improved even more. It was much of the same on Wednesday, consistently running in and around the top ten but we struggled on the last day for some reason. However I still remain confident ahead of the Barcelona test that we can take what we’ve learnt here into the next test.”
Nick Yelloly: “We messed up on our first tyre run on Tuesday but in the second were reasonably competitive. We spent time also doing a race simulation run which was great, but I didn’t get the chance to go for a time on new tyres before the rain came. Through Wednesday and Thursday we struggled on new tyres in the middle sector until the closing minutes of Thursday when I found the reason and gained six tenths! That was a great feeling and now we leave Silverstone in a much more positive frame of mind as we head to Barcelona, a circuit I know and like, confident of improving further.”
Zoel Amberg: “I spent much of the morning of the first day learning the track as it’s very new to me, the second to fifth corners I feel I’m particularly struggling with but overall I was reasonably happy. We made a few changes for the afternoon but sadly we didn’t get the chance to run on new tyres before the rain set in. On Wednesday the morning session was OK but the second half was pretty wet although I was quite happy with my pace. On Thursday it was very hard to get a good run as there were many red flags and the wind was very strong which made it hard to find the correct line. But I’m enjoying the experience very much and working with the Atech CRS GP team.”
Team Principal David Hayle: “Marlon drove very well and was immediately on the pace from the start on Tuesday. He was very happy with his set-up and that was reflected by his strong performance Tuesday and Wednesday. Nick and Zoel were able to run race simulations on Tuesday, which proved valuable as we approach the opening races. We have learnt from the three days though, Nick found a huge improvement in the closing minutes on Thursday alone and Zoel is improving every session, so overall I think it was a good performance by all three.”
The team returns to track activity in the final pre-season tests at Barcelona, Spain on 12-13-14 April 2011.
