Shedden Tops Tight First SEAT Cupra Championship Test

25 March 2004

Gordon Shedden set the fastest time in the first test session of the 2004 SEAT Cupra Championship at Donington Park yesterday (March 24).  Lap times were incredibly close, with the runner-up in last year's series just 0.3 seconds ahead of SEAT rookies Andy Neate and Oli Wilkinson, while the top six drivers were covered by only 0.7 seconds.
 
The 25-year old driver from Dunfermline was delighted with his day’s testing, having achieved everything he had set out to do. 
 
Gordon said: "It's good to be back in the car and the first test was really productive.  We tried to maximise the car's performance over a race distance and did a lot of laps on the Pirelli tyres and everything was really consistent. We worked on different scenarios on the car to find the best set-up and the Leon is very responsive to change.  We could not have asked for a more productive test and I’m really happy."
 
On their first proper drives in a Leon Cupra R, Andy Neate (a 29-year old electronics engineer from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire) and Oli Wilkinson (the 28-year old London-based winner of the Racing Rivals Scholarship Drive Competition) set identical best times, just 0.3 seconds off Shedden’s fastest time.
 
Andy said: "It’s been a great day and I’ve learnt so much about the car. I’ve achieved far more that I thought I could have in the first test and I’ve exceeded all my expectations."
 
Oli said: "It’s been a good day – it was great to get out onto a circuit and experiment with different set-ups.  The afternoon session in particularly went really well and overall I’m pleased with what we achieved."
 
Having not raced since the middle of 2001, and having learnt the layout of the Donington Park circuit on his Sony PlayStation, Portuguese driver Rui Chagas made his UK track debut by setting the fourth fastest time of the day.  It was not completely without incident,  as he ran out of fuel in one session and careered through a gravel trap in another, but Rui was nonetheless pleased with his comeback drive.
 
Rui said: "It is a good comeback after such a long time out of a racing car, and on a circuit I have never been too before.  I tried a race simulation and stayed out for as long as possible and everything worked very well.  It was a good first test, the car worked well and the SEAT Sport UK engineers are A1 – I know we will work very well together this year."
 
Daniel-Lee Stevens was fifth quickest, the 25-year old former Formula Student driver from Chelmsford in Essex surviving a 100mph spin across the grass and through the gravel at Craner Curves.
 
Ben Winrow was sixth fastest, having experimented with set-up throughout the day.  At the first test last year Ben was 2 seconds slower than the fastest time, and this year he was just 0.7 seconds off the best time – highlighting the progress the talented 18-year driver from Northampton made during the 2003 Holiday Inn SEAT Cupra Championship.
 
Simon Hepplewhite swapped to the spare car for the afternoon sessions, and the 23-year old former motorbike racer from Lindfield in West Sussex underlined his ability on four wheels by setting seventh fastest time – just 1.2 seconds off the best lap time of the day.
 
Emmanuel Crouvisier hadn’t driven a front-wheel drive car since 1999, but the 25-year old from Cleveland Ohio was happy with his first test. He never put a foot wrong in his Leon and feels that with more time in the Cupra R his lap times will improve.
 
New signing Lorcan Johnson had flown in from a holiday in Malaysia to test his Leon Cupra R, as the 48-year old Dublin driver makes his return to motorsport after a nine year break.  He quickly found the limits of the car, and having survived the biggest spin of the day at Craner Curves he was pleased to discover that he had lost none of the speed that brought him several awards – including class titles in the 1983 Dunlop Sexton Trophy and the Northern Ireland Touring Car Championship.
 
Melanie Healey’s parents flew in from Barcelona, where they had been attending the SEAT UK dealer launch of the Altea, to watch their daughter set her best time of the day in her final session.  Melanie continues to show exactly why she won the 2003 ‘Mintex Most Improved Driver of the Year Award’ and was pleased with her first test of the new season.
 
One of the many benefits of racing in the SEAT Cupra Championship is that each driver is given a company loan car for the duration of the season, and each driver left Donington in style – driving their brand new shiny grey Ibiza 2.0 Sports!
 
Testing times: Donington National Circuit (1.957 miles)
 
1.      Gordon Shedden 1:17.7
2.      Andy Neate 1:18.0
3.      Oli Wilkinson 1:18.0
4.      Rui Chagas 1:18.1
5.      Daniel-Lee Stevens 1:18.2
6.      Ben Winrow 1:18.4
7.      Simon Hepplewhite 1:18.9
8.      Emmanuel Crouvisier 1:19.1
9.      Lorcan Johnson 1:21.5
10.   Melanie Healey 1:23.1
 
 
See series calendar for SEAT Cupra Championship 2004

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