Curnow signals intention at Oulton Park (16 Mar 05)

A bitterly cold and windy Oulton Park was the scene for the third official Formula BMW pre-season test session, held on 11^th and 12^th March.

For many of the teams, this was an opportunity to build on their extensive winter testing and to capitalize on the data they had gained at the first two official tests at Thruxton and Brands Hatch. For Ross Curnow, however, this was his first drive with the Promatecme/Soper Sport team with whom he signed last month. The Salisbury driver, who had to sit out at Brands, was cautious about his expectations for the two days: “I have only just met the team and this is the first time they have run the car so we are looking at this very much as a shakedown test to get some preliminary data.”

Promatecme boss, Chris Weller, and Steve Soper were both on hand to work with Ross so he was not short of advice. On the Friday, they made a start at developing some settings which enabled Ross to deliver competitive times and by the end of the afternoon he was 8^th fastest out of 23. The team was very pleased with the day’s work, bearing in mind the car had only just been delivered to them.

Saturday dawned brighter and was clearly going to be the quicker day. Further development was planned, experimenting with different set ups to find one which best suited Ross’s driving style. This was hampered by numerous stoppages, including one in which Ross himself was involved when another driver failed to see him in his mirrors. This brought Ross’s morning to a close but the damage was repaired during the lunch break.

By mid-afternoon, a new set of tyres was bedded in and Ross delivered a lap which took him up to 4^th. Changes continued to be made and as the session drew to a close, Ross put in a series of laps within a couple of 10ths of each other and just short of his best earlier on. Bearing in mind it was cooler and the track was slower, the team were excited with the set up direction they’d found.

Ross’s father, Alan, was unusually ecstatic: This has been a great afternoon for us. We’re right up with the other two Formula 3 teams and it’s a credit to Chris, Steve and the guys that we’ve got here so quickly. We were going faster than anyone at the end and had Ross not been baulked on one of his last laps, we might have moved up even further. The really encouraging thing, however, is that we know there’s more to come and I think we’ve delivered something of a message here today.”

The next official Formula BMW test sessions are at Silverstone on Tuesday 22^nd and Wednesday 23^rd March, Thruxton on Friday 1st April and at Donington on Thursday 7^th April. The first two races take place at Donington on the weekend of 9^th and 10^th April.

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