Pugs press release

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Preview for Thruxton Rounds 3& 4

Peugeot Sport last week confirmed Matt Neal’s absence at Thruxton’s official TOCA test as a permanent situation due to a dissolved sponsorship deal, this left heavy financial pressure on Peugeot who were in the end unable to support the 3-car team. Unfortunately for Matt it was a last in, first out situation. Matt Neal and his team will be a great loss to VLR who were working closely with the ‘Team Dynamics’ mechanics on improvements to the Coupe.

The test day at Thruxton grew progressively worse for Peugeot VLR, now one car down they were hoping to focus greater attention on the two remaining cars, in order to find some much needed speed to contest the previous Vauxhall reign. Yet disaster hit as Steve Soper’s car suffered a tyre blow out while travelling at approximately 135 mph, the number 44 Coupe smashed through the tyre wall before stopping dead in a 73mph collision with the circuit wall. We were please to report that Steve was a little shaken, but had no serious structural damage, which was more than could be said for his car. The Shattered pieces of the Coupe made a good souvenir for Motorsport enthusiasts, but for Team VLR it spelled long nights and early mornings to recover the car in time for rounds 3 & 4 of the TOCA tour that would also take place at Thruxton on the 7th of May.

However this was not the only big news of the day, the VLR team were also congratulating themselves on achieving an improvement in the cars times, Vic Lee Team Director said: ‘Even though we had a couple of problems today, overall it has been a good learning experience for us, we have got many area’s of the car which we are going to spend the next couple of weeks working on. It was an unfortunate incident with the tyre blow out, but the tyres are also new to the Championship and are therefore still in the development stages. B F Goodrich are also working along side all the teams, keeping a constant check on performance.’

Dan Eaves had a short but sweet afternoon on the track, he only managed to complete 31 laps, yet he felt his time on the track was a good introduction to the race that would follow. Dan also said ‘I felt there was a slight problem with the steering that was holding back my performance, but by the end of the day the problem had been rectified and I was a lot more confident with the cars handling, and I am looking forward to testing all the modifications at next weeks race.’

The time available from the last test day to the race has been a hectic time for the team, producing development parts to try and find those valuable extra tenths of a second needed to take the challenge to Vauxhall.
Peugeot Sport will also benefit from the official waiver that now allows further testing to continue till May 31, which is much needed for teams such as Peugeot, Alfa Romeo and Lexus who are still suffering from incomplete cars.

For up to the minute information on Peugeot Sport VLR, check our website for details, we will also be producing up to the minute press releases as the events of the 2nd race weekend unfold!