Craft-Bamboo Racing head to the Salzburgring for this weekend’s TCR International Series races with more confidence than they did for Imola, even though wet weather looks set to play a role.
James Nash in particular had a disastrous weekend last time out in Imola, with an engine failure halting his weekend after race one.
The Brit lost ground in the championship standings as a result, and is now 34 points behind leader and team-mate Pepe Oriola.
However Nash is confident that he can have a strong weekend in Austria, having claimed his maiden World Touring Car Championship victory at the circuit in 2013, also with Craft-Bamboo Racing (then bamboo-engineering).
“After the disaster that was Imola two weeks ago where I had an engine failure in race one putting paid to the whole event, I can’t wait to get back out in the Lukoil SEAT León,” said Nash. “That I’m going back to the Salzburgring with largely the same guys I had so much success with in WTCC is a big bonus because last time we raced there we did pretty well.
“The track itself isn’t too difficult. It’s basically two straights, a tight corner at one end and a long sweeping bend leading into a long hairpin at the other, but what does make it a little tricky is tyre management. You have to get the car set up well and be confident that the rubber is going to last because the place has a habit of destroying tyres and that’s the last thing you want to happen anywhere on what is a very fast circuit with marginal run-off areas.
“The fact that I’m not carrying additional ballast this weekend will help and should give us the scope to go a bit more aggressive on set-up than we otherwise might have done, being fairly certain that we can retain the grip well into the races without too much fall off in tyre performance towards the end.
“We certainly need a good pair of results in Austria to get my championship back on-track and I’ve got every confidence that we will.”
His team-mate Oriola predicts that the race weekend could come down to the weather conditions, with heavy, thundery showers forecast on both Saturday and Sunday.
If it did indeed rain on raceday, then the Salzburgring would hold the first-ever wet race in the TCR International Series’ history.
“It is going to be difficult as the current weather forecast says there is a lot of rain coming,” said Oriola. “I am confident though because I have a lot of experience at this circuit in the rain. It is where I took 2nd in the ETCC championship under very adverse weather conditions, so hopefully this weekend I can manage the 20kg ballast and get a lot of points for my championship.”
Craft-Bamboo Racing CEO Richard Coleman echoed Nash’s sentiments that the team has every reason to be more confident this weekend.
“The Salzburgring in Austria holds a special place in the company’s heart as it was the first win at a world championship event,” added Coleman. “We are more confident here than we were in Imola and we hope to get Nash’s championship back on track and score some heavy team points this weekend.”