Warren Scott is expecting his Silverline Subaru BMR Racing team to ‘be right up there’ in the British Touring Car Championship races at Snetterton, despite potential issues with the straight-line speed of the car.
During the two-day tyre test at Snetterton last month none of the BMR drivers were at the sharp end of the times, with Colin Turkington ending up with the best time of the quartet with eighth on day two.
Scott explained that the team had been persistently struggling in the speed traps during the test, whilst in this morning’s first practice session he was buoyed by the fact that three of the four Levorg GT’s made it into the top ten in the first speed trap, amidst improvement in top speeds all-round.
“Free practice certainly gives me confidence, especially where Colin was,” said Scott to TouringCars.Net. “I don’t know what everyone else is doing, and I don’t even know if Colin put a new set of tyres on, so he might have tried a new set, I don’t know.
“We were always a bit worried around here with regard to the straight-line speed. We lost a bit of confidence in the [tyre] test because the straight-line speed seemed down. It seems maybe people had taken weight out of their cars at the test, I’m not sure.”
Whilst Turkington topped the times, Jason Plato was just over a second slower in 14th behind tenth-placed James Cole, whilst Scott himself was the slowest of the quartet in 21st.
“With no weight in, then Jason, Colin and maybe James will be right up there,” added Scott. “I’m hoping that they’ll get in the top three and I’ll still be happy.”
Scott added that despite being the slowest, he was aiming for the top 20 in qualifying and that he feels good with the set-up on his car.
“The car feels good. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any running at the test as we had a problem, which Jason then had on the second day. But the car is great around here, although when you’re slightly down on horsepower it becomes a bit of an issue.
“I think there’s a real opportunity [to win]. With no weight in, I think our qualifying could be good. With the talent of the drivers if they get out front, they can usually hold it out front.”