Disappointing qualifying for David Pinkney

The weight of the NGTC engine has been labelled as one of the reasons for a disappointing qualifying session for David Pinkney. The Harpenden racer suffered from understeer throughout the session, brought on in part by having the heavier NGTC unit rather than the Vauxhall Vectra’s original power plant.

Having run eighth quickest in free practice, Pinkney highlighted the problems he faced in qualifying on his way to 13th position, 1.565secs away from pole-man Tom Chilton, by contrasting the turn in of his Vectra, with that of the traditionally engined Triple Eight machine.

“The engine is the best it has been so far and we did well in the first session. However, instead of getting quicker as the day has gone on, we’ve gone the other way. I think the circuit has got more slippery and it has made things more difficult for us.

“I was following James Nash and when he turned into a corner, the car went where he pointed it. I tried to follow and the front end slid away from me.”

While the team acknowledged track conditions played a part, Pinkney Motorsport Team Manager Andrew Dean pointed out the heavier engine has affects on the Vauxhall’s setup.

“With the extra weight at the front of the car, we have struggled with understeer and it means that David can’t get the power down as quickly as he’d like to out of the corners”, said Dean.

“While we have some data from Triple Eight, the weight from the engine means we are having to go in a different direction with set-up. We had hoped for better but we just have to keep our nose clean now and look to make progress up the order to try and pick up more points.”

“There are some things we will look at,” said Pinkney, “But it is difficult to counter the extra weight at the front of the car around a circuit like this. I’d hoped we would have been quicker, but we’ll see what happens on race day.”