Taylor tops the timesheets in first test
Ollie Taylor, driving a Honda Civic TCR, was the fastest man around Silverstone in the first test day ahead of the inaugural TCR UK championship. Second fastest was Sean Walkinshaw in another Honda while Stewart Lines was third quickest in his CUPRA TCR.
The day began damp, although at least the overnight rain had dispersed the remaining show around the Silverstone circuit. Taylor (1:05.751) and Walkinshaw (1:05.764) were first and second quickest in the first of the day’s four sessions, while the drying track saw times improve as the day went on.
The Hyundai i30 N TCR of Lewis Kent (1:05.086) was fastest in the second session ahead of the CUPRA of Carl Swift (1:05.292), but the session after the lunch break saw the lap times tumble. Walkinshaw became the third driver in as many sessions to go quickest with a best lap of 1:00.027 ahead of Taylor (1:00.247) and Lines (1:00.448).
The day’s final session then saw the quickest laps of the day, with Taylor (59.300) Walksinshaw (59.338) and Lines (59.971) all breaking the one-minute barrier. In all, seven cars took part in the day, with the Honda Civic of Josh Price an early casualty when it was sidelined with an engine problem.
Taylor commented: “Today was a good day! It was great to be on track with the other TCR cars that were all running competitively. I was quickest in the damp this morning, played around with the settings in the middle two sessions and quickest again at the end, so we started on a good note and ended on a good note and so it has been a very good day. I’m very much looking forward to the season now – it’ll be an exciting new chapter in my racing and I can’t wait.”
Walkinshaw added: “It has been very, very productive today. This was our first time out this year, so it was a case of getting everyone back into the swing of things. It was also our first time using Yokohama tyres, so we’ve been able to get some really useful data which should help us enormously for the first round.”
Silverstone’s National Circuit hosts the opening two races in the TCR UK championship on Easter Sunday, April 1st.
