Rob Austin believes that the 2014 British Touring Car Championship will be ‘mega’ after a successful test at Thruxton last week in the Rob Austin Racing Audi A4.
“We think we’ve found something,” said Austin of the test. “We’ve not run the tyres everyone else has run so I think we are closer than the times suggest.
“I’m pretty happy considering this isn’t our best circuit – although I love it and it’s my favourite circuit – it doesn’t really suit our car but I think we will be aiming for solid results.”
Speaking to TouringCars.net at the end of the day – before heading over to the skid pad – Austin admitted that despite loving the Hampshire circuit, it’s not one of the best for the team’s Audi A4.
“Today’s been ok,”admitted Austin. “It’s not been our best test day so far but we weren’t expecting it to be as it is by far our weakest circuit.
“Out of all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve always had problems; we’ve never had any real running. In the wet, we are a hell of a lot closer than we thought we would be.”
Austin has shown that he is on the pace during the previous test sessions he has done thus far and has others planned before the official Media Day on the 18 March. The Pershore racer’s performances thus far are making him confident for the season ahead.
“Yeah, we’ve got 2 or 3 [more tests] planned,” added Austin. “Everywhere else we’ve been so far we’ve been bang on the pace so it’s very exciting. We are really looking forward to the season.
“We always knew going to Thruxton would be damage limitation but I’m even excited about coming to Thruxton now so this season is going to be mega!”