Post by Mαττ on Aug 11, 2006 22:43:49 GMT -5
Following a truly memorable German Grand Prix, the WSRC championship now heads to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The circuit is a complete change for the teams as they now have to set their cars up for the demands of the twisty nature of the circuit, as opposed to the long straights which characterised Hockenheim at the last race.
Holden Motorsports director Matt Finlay explains. ‘Basically what we need to do is to set the car up with very high downforce parameters for this circuit because of the number of corners requiring much higher levels of grip than usual. Naturally we’ll bolt on the largest wings we have available, as well as softening the suspension to cope with the bumpy, twisty nature of the track. At Hockenheim we needed really long gear ratios in order to compensate for the long straights there. Here, we’ll need very short ratios because there is really not very many straights between the corners. Traction and grip will be everything, and I think that whoever has the car which can pull out of the corners best will definitely be in great shape’.
There’s no question that the car to beat this season has been the superb Audi Motorsports chassis driven by series leader Diogo Vincenzi and his teammate Matthew Green. Therefore, fans can certainly expect this team to be right at the pointy end come race day. Vincenzi only needs to finish ahead of Bruno Castello and Tom Matthews in order to secure the championship at this round, but don’t expect the Audi pilot to give an inch.
One team that has been able to take the fight to the dominant Audi team is that of the KDR outfit led by Tom Matthews with teammate Jorge Caranti, a newcomer to the series who dazzled all with a spectacular performance on his debut at Hockenheim by taking the race win. The KDR chassis is able to perform well on most circuits, but seems to struggle on the tighter tracks, as evident by a less than competitive display in Monaco. So the question is, have testing developments eliminated these issues? The answer will come on race day.
Team Raltwest have had a very successful season thus far in the WSRC and driver Bruno Castello has been able to stand on the podium several times through-out the year. Slowly but surely the gap is closing between himself and the front, but will he be close enough to challenge for the win? Castello himself is very confident of a good result, motivated by the success of the Honda F1 team last weekend with whom Raltwest share engines.
What of the rest of the teams? On the last high downforce circuit back at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Holden proved very competitive, netting pole position and second place. The team are confident that this result can be repeated or even bettered. Vodafone Audi head to Hungary on a high as Dave Carr-Smith secured his best ever finish at Hockenheim with second place. And what of the new arrivals Whiplash Racing with Simon Heywood as lead driver? Can they pose a threat to the other runners at Hungary? Can Ricardo Padrela push the Rhino chassis to new heights in Hungary? It all unfolds right here next Sunday.
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The weather in Budapest for the 20th August is partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. Therefore, we'll be running under DRY conditions ;D
Holden Motorsports director Matt Finlay explains. ‘Basically what we need to do is to set the car up with very high downforce parameters for this circuit because of the number of corners requiring much higher levels of grip than usual. Naturally we’ll bolt on the largest wings we have available, as well as softening the suspension to cope with the bumpy, twisty nature of the track. At Hockenheim we needed really long gear ratios in order to compensate for the long straights there. Here, we’ll need very short ratios because there is really not very many straights between the corners. Traction and grip will be everything, and I think that whoever has the car which can pull out of the corners best will definitely be in great shape’.
There’s no question that the car to beat this season has been the superb Audi Motorsports chassis driven by series leader Diogo Vincenzi and his teammate Matthew Green. Therefore, fans can certainly expect this team to be right at the pointy end come race day. Vincenzi only needs to finish ahead of Bruno Castello and Tom Matthews in order to secure the championship at this round, but don’t expect the Audi pilot to give an inch.
One team that has been able to take the fight to the dominant Audi team is that of the KDR outfit led by Tom Matthews with teammate Jorge Caranti, a newcomer to the series who dazzled all with a spectacular performance on his debut at Hockenheim by taking the race win. The KDR chassis is able to perform well on most circuits, but seems to struggle on the tighter tracks, as evident by a less than competitive display in Monaco. So the question is, have testing developments eliminated these issues? The answer will come on race day.
Team Raltwest have had a very successful season thus far in the WSRC and driver Bruno Castello has been able to stand on the podium several times through-out the year. Slowly but surely the gap is closing between himself and the front, but will he be close enough to challenge for the win? Castello himself is very confident of a good result, motivated by the success of the Honda F1 team last weekend with whom Raltwest share engines.
What of the rest of the teams? On the last high downforce circuit back at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Holden proved very competitive, netting pole position and second place. The team are confident that this result can be repeated or even bettered. Vodafone Audi head to Hungary on a high as Dave Carr-Smith secured his best ever finish at Hockenheim with second place. And what of the new arrivals Whiplash Racing with Simon Heywood as lead driver? Can they pose a threat to the other runners at Hungary? Can Ricardo Padrela push the Rhino chassis to new heights in Hungary? It all unfolds right here next Sunday.
******************************************
The weather in Budapest for the 20th August is partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. Therefore, we'll be running under DRY conditions ;D