8th February 2008

Northern Ireland’s Andrew Herron continued his pre-season SEAT Cupra Championship test programme at two of the UK’s most popular circuits this week – Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire and nearby Donington Park in Leicestershire.

During Thursday’s outing at Rockingham, the 19-year-old JHR Developments driver enjoyed a fault-free run and took some big strides up the learning curve as he continues to adjust from the 197bhp Renault Clio Cup he raced in 2007 to the monstrous 300bhp SEAT Leon Cupra he is to campaign throughout the coming season.

“Rockingham went really well, I got to the point where I felt very comfortable and we thought about going on new tyres to push for quicker times”, said the Dromore based sensation, “We wanted to work on keeping the consistency in lap times though on older tyres so we continued with what we had for the rest of the day.”

Hoping for a similarly promising outing at Donington Park’s National Circuit today, Friday, 8th February, the session unfortunately proved to be one of Andrew’s most difficult days since graduating to car racing at the beginning of last year; the nadir being a nasty 100mph accident at McLeans Corner.

Resulting from an as-yet unexplained brake failure, the teenage star went straight on at the corner and into the barrier on the outside of the turn at unabated speed. Thankfully, with the exception of a sore arm, Andrew walked away unscathed as his SEAT stood up well to the size of the impact.

Andrew commented: “Today has been one of the hardest days of my career in cars. In a SEAT you’re doing about 100mph at McLeans and as I went to change down from fifth to fourth gear I had no brakes at all. Heading straight on over the gravel, I did manage to get the car turned slightly and then smashed into the barrier really hard.

“The car bounced about 12 feet clear after the impact. We saw a replay of the accident in Race Control and it looked like I was airborne before hitting the barrier. Luckily it only seems to be cosmetic damage to the car. My arm hurt quite a bit and I’m sure I’ll be sore in the morning but otherwise I’m fine.”

Andrew’s next pre-season test outing will come on Friday, 15th February, at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire – the venue for rounds 13 and 14 of the 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship season.

“I couldn’t get my head back into the test today after the accident but I’m happy with the progress we’re making”, added Andrew, “We’re under no illusions about the year ahead, it’s not going to be easy but we’re confident our hard work will bring good results.”