Ross Curnow - fastest rookie at Thruxton (23 Feb 04) Ross Curnow made an outstanding debut at Thruxton Circuit, Hampshire last week when he took part in the first official testing for the Formula BMW UK Championship. The 16 drivers who were in action on the demanding circuit had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the Formula BMW FB02 and the 3.79 kilometre Thruxton circuit, where the first two rounds of the series will take place on 11th April. Before the drivers were set loose on the circuit they received an introductory lesson from BMW Chief Instructor, Andy Priaulx. The ETCC star, who is once again driving for BMW Team Great Britain in 2004, is delighted with the opportunity to work with the youngsters. "It was great to be at the first test at Thruxton to see how they got on with the real thing," said the Englishman. Priaulx took special note of the five drivers that had won a BMW scholarship in Valencia, to the tune of £35,000, with Ross Curnow (1:15.927) and Sam Bird (1:16.029) being the two fastest. “I was delighted they had listened to all the advice they had been given and translated it to performance on the track,” he said. “The way they gradually crept up the leader board was great.” As well as posting fastest time of the day in the Rookie class, Curnow, who is driving for the Panther Motorsport team, finished 6th fastest overall against an international field. Although it was only his second time in the car, and his first drive at Thruxton, he finished only 0.5 seconds behind the leaders. It is Curnow’s first season in single-seaters and his time was beaten only by drivers with vastly more experience. “The car was quick right from the start and this is a credit to both Panther and to BMW,” said Curnow. “This has been the first opportunity to compare ourselves with the rest of the field and the result is very encouraging.” (Extracts courtesy of BMW Motorsport and Salisbury Journal, Photo: Mike Tozer, 07714 269544) Back to headlines