Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan says he is “blown away” by his new Mercedes-Benz A-Class which the 25-year-old will race in the 2014 British Touring Car Championship.
Morgan’s car made its first public appearance with its new livery at the media day at Donington Park on Tuesday, with the Lancashire racer going on to rack up 36 laps of running in the afternoon test session.
Despite the car only having had limited pre-season running, Morgan says he was ‘blown away’ after the test, in which he posted the fourth fastest time of the day.
“It’s only just after the test and I’m just blown away,” said Morgan to TouringCars.Net. “It’s a brand new car and it feels awesome to drive. We’ve had no teething problems and we’ve had no mechanical issues. It’s just amazing and it’s a joy to drive – I love it.
“We had a really good test day down at Brands last week on the Indy circuit and that was our first proper test with comparisons and again the car was brilliant and it was on the pace. So at the minute it’s really promising and I’m really looking forward to the season.”
Morgan added that he is hoping to add to his tally of podium finishes in 2013, with the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup champion having only secured one in 2013 at Oulton Park, despite a strong and consistent season.
“I’m looking for a few more podiums this year which would be fantastic,” added Morgan. “I’ve got to realistic – it is a brand new car – and there’s a lot of good drivers out there. There’s seven champions and any one of 15 drivers could win, so it’s going to be immensely competitive. I’m just really looking forward to it and if I could emulate the same sort of result as last year I’d be over the moon.”
Talking about the change of car from Toyota to Mercedes for 2014, Morgan admits that despite using a majority of NGTC components from the old car in the new chassis, there are noticable differences when out on track.
“The car definitely does feel different,” admitted Morgan. “The wheelbase is a little bit shorter and the car is a lot shorter in overall length. There definitely is a difference in the way the car handles and feels but it’s a good difference – the car feels great. It just keeps surprising me with the amount of speed I can carry into the corners. It’s just absolutely brilliant to drive.”