Ollie Taylor says the switch to the Honda Civic Type R FK7 has paid dividends in terms of confidence, with the Pyro Motorsport racer enjoying better stability and handling in the corners.
Taylor, who already has three podiums from four starts in the opening two rounds of the 2018 TCR UK Touring Car Championship, opened the third weekend at Brands Hatch by topping the time sheets in the warm-up session.
He edged out championship leader Dan Lloyd’s Volkswagen Golf GTi by 0.015 seconds, and with the recent Balance of Performance revisions looks in good shape to challenge for a maiden victory around the 1.2 mile Indy circuit.
Prior to the meeting in Kent, Taylor made the switch from an older Honda Civic Type R FK2 model to the recently-released FK7 as raced by team-mate Finlay Crocker.
Speaking to TouringCars.net after the first practice session, Taylor cemented his belief in the decision, saying that the extra confidence gives him that little bit more needed to fight Lloyd for victories.
“It felt great, it was only my second or third run in it,” he said.
“It’s very intuitive, we’ve still got a few changes we’re going to make – we haven’t been here in this car yet so we had to guess what setup to put on it.
“It was a good guess, but we can still probably get a bit more out of it, I think. It was a little bit over-steering for my liking. We’ll make a few more changes for next practice and then see what happens this afternoon.
“It’s much more stable with an independent rear suspension, which means I’m more confident throwing it into the corners with the car underneath me. It’s slightly wider and longer, which also helps with the stability.
“It’s got a different power curve to the FK2, and it’s probably not as good. It was mapped by a different company, so the old car probably has a bit more torque. The chassis is a nicer place to be, I’m much more comfortable in the car, which all culminates in better lap times.
“This definitely gives me something extra, I’m hoping it’ll close the gap a little bit – someone needs to do something about Dan [Lloyd], haven’t they?”.
With searing temperatures in the early twenties expected this weekend, tyre degradation over a race distance could prove crucial, with Taylor saying early forecasts differ from the team’s initial expectations.
“The tyres took longer to come in than I thought they would, so they’ll probably last longer [in races] than we thought they might. We’ll see, as always it’ll be very interesting.”