Rob Collard insists WSR’s focus during pre-season testing is to refine it’s existing package as it awaits the arrival of a new B48 engine from Neil Brown Engineering.
BMW announced their entry as a fully-fledged manufacturer into this years British Touring Car Championship at Park Lane on Friday [24th February], and the three-car outfit will head to Castelloli Circuit in Spain this week for an intensive testing programme in warmer climates, designed to simulate conditions for the season opener at Brands Hatch.
Having been absent from competition since the end of last season, Collard told TouringCars.net that finding a rhythm with the car was high on his list of priorities during the remainder of the off-season.
“Personally, I need to get back in the car and drive – I’ve not driven a car now since October last year at the last round, and it’s going to take a while to get back into the groove.” admitted Collard.
The team is also set to focus its attention on chassis and tyre development in the absence of its new B48 engine, with a new-for-2017 specification of Dunlop compound tyre among the numerous challenges to gather information on prior to the opening round.
“Unfortunately we haven’t got the new engine to test yet, because it’s not been finished, so we’re going to go there and do chassis development work, tyre development work, and I think that’s going to be good – our key is just to refine the product we’ve got, the BMW was a very quick car last year – we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
“The little bits you find are not always in overall lap time, in speed, but if you can get the durability of the car to do that lap, for every lap of the race, every lap of that weekend, then you’re winning at the end of the day.”