23rd January 2008

Saloon car racer Andrew Herron continued his pre-season testing programme with a visit to Oulton Park in Cheshire today, Wednesday, 23rd January, the JHR Developments star experiencing his first wet-weather running at the wheel of a SEAT Leon Cupra.

Having made his track debut in the car he will use to contest the 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit yesterday, the 19-year-old from Dromore in Co. Down couldn’t wait to get back in the turbocharged 300bhp machine this morning.

With Oulton Park booked exclusively by the JHR team for the day, just three cars were on circuit meaning Andrew enjoyed a solid day of running without any interruptions. The only problem with this was the fact the track was damp following overnight rain and with just a trio of cars circulating, it took almost all day for a dry line to appear.

Nonetheless, it was good for the Brian Herron Contracts-backed racer to get some vital experience of the SEAT in wet conditions, mileage which could stand him in very good stead ahead of his first ever season in the category.

Commenting on the day’s running, Andrew said: “It was pretty much a full day of wet testing. With just three cars out there it was difficult to get the dry line we wanted and it took a long time for one to appear. I couldn’t really push too hard until about 10 laps from the end of the day because of the conditions, but it was still a positive test.

“We tried a lot of different settings and made plenty of changes during the day. We’re learning all of the time and constantly looking to see how we can get the most out of the car. We’re heading to Rockingham tomorrow for more testing and I can’t wait. Hopefully we’ll have some drier weather though so I can start to push harder.”

Andrew concludes his first week of testing in his brand new SEAT tomorrow, Thursday, 24th January, at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire.