Lewis Kent is aiming for a strong result as he marks his home TCR UK event at Brands Hatch today [3rd June].
He qualified his Essex & Kent Motorsport-run Hyundai i30 N TCR in fourth for the opening race, 0.441 seconds adrift of pole-sitter Dan Lloyd (WestCoast Racing).
His best result thus far is an eighth placed finish at Knockhill, with persistent mechanical issues plaguing his efforts.
The pace has been evident, however, with Kent unlucky not to become the championship’s inaugural pole-sitter back at Silverstone in April.
Speaking to TouringCars.net at the 1.2 mile Indy circuit, Kent discussed the team’s extensive preparations as it aims for a season-best result on ‘home’ turf.
“We’ve stripped the car down and put it back together in the last couple of weeks leading up to this event – it’s my home round so we want it to be a big one,” explained Kent.
“We’ve sorted all the demons out, hopefully, we had a good qualifying yesterday in getting up to fourth, only a few tenths off the front boys, so if we get a good start today and get onto the back of some people, we can hopefully drag round for a couple of laps and pull something out of the bag.
“Anything can happen, but with a little bit of luck and help we’ll be up at the front.”
He also admitted the searing hot weather is throwing up some questions over tyre management, with the ambient temperature set to exceed 24 degrees in Kent today.
“We’re finding some issues with some of the tyres, I don’t know if it’s the heat or what’s happening, but some of them are peeling away quite early.
“Hopefully we’ll manage the tyres quite well and just hold our ground at the same time and we’ll be able to push through and bring it home.”
The Hyundai’s early-season performance in TCR categories was well-publicised and it was pegged back in the most recent BoP (Balance of Performance) revision with an alteration in ride height to 100mm at minimum and a reduction in maximum engine power to 97.5%.
Kent, however, says there is no use complaining and, though he can feel the difference in the car, has resolved to just go about his work as normal.
“There is a difference, you can feel a little bit less power and obviously with the ride height it does walk out and wobble, but you can’t do anything, you have to cope with it and deal with it, there’s no point complaining and moaning.”