World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) team Craft-Bamboo Racing have completed a four day test in Portimão, Portugal, ahead of the next round of the championship in Morocco.
Completing more than 1000 km of mileage, the British team were the only independent outfit testing in Portugal, alongside works’ teams Citroën, Honda and LADA.
Grégoire Demoustier’s car was air-freighted directly from Argentina to Portimão to allow the testing to take place, which was carried out in scorching conditions, with track temperatures approaching 50°C.
Commenting after the test, WTCC rookie Demoustier claimed that it was a much-needed experience in order to learn more about the brand new Chevrolet RML Cruze.
“It was really good to do this test we really needed it and we learned a lot about the car,” said the Frenchman. “I improved my driving, especially my start which is going to help a lot for the rest of the season.
“We still have two days to do in Spain next week and I hope we can make more improvements. We still have work to do but we made a big step from where we were in Argentina after having more time on the track.”
As a result of the significant mileage, Craft-Bamboo got through six sets of tyres per day. Engineers were also able to monitor and validate the results of the four-post rig test which was conducted in the UK early last week.
With Craft-Bamboo relatively unfamiliar with the new TC1 regulations, engineers focussed on collecting data for a variety of race configurations, with changes made to the springs, dampers, differentials, ride height and suspension geometry.
The next round of the WTCC takes place in Morocco between the 17 and 19 April.