Defending W Series champion Jamie Chadwick of Veloce Racing was the pace setter on the opening day of practice for the double-header season ending championship finale.
It’s been a positive day. We didn’t get as many laps in as we’d have liked to in that last session with the red flag, but to have the two practice sessions today has made me a lot more comfortable at the circuit so I’m looking forward to coming back tomorrow. The track itself is cool. It’s really hard and especially hard to learn in such a short space of time. I think it’s quite demanding of every part of the car and to get a perfect lap out of it is really difficult, so we’re just focusing on trying to put everything together and hopefully we can do that in qualifying. There’s still a lot we can work on but we’re going to take what we’ve learnt from today into tomorrow in full attack, and hopefully we can continue this run of form.”
Puma Racing Team’s Abbi Pulling was second fastest in both practice sessions and following the action she commented saying:
It’s been a really strong day. I have high expectations of myself a lot of the time, so I’ve tried to go into this weekend with no expectations other than to improve on my last result [seventh at Zandvoort]. So far, so good and hopefully we can carry this momentum into qualifying. I think the track is awesome, it’s almost like a rollercoaster. It’s comparable to Silverstone with that quick first sector and lots of stop and go corners, so it’s really important to get your exits right. It’s a complicated track with a lot to remember but I think that’s what makes it so good. Going into tomorrow I’ll review my references and see if there’s any time to be gained, but at this point it’s only minor things so I just need to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Racing X’s Alice Powell who is leading the championship on 109 points equal with Jamie Chadwick and speaking following Friday’s action she said:
“In the first practice session we had rear locking similar to what we had in Austria, but that wasn’t the biggest problem as the engine overheated and I was struggling for straight-line speed. In session two I was a bit hampered by the red flag, but I wasn’t the only one and I struggled with rear locking again. So it has been a difficult day, but tomorrow is a new day. The track is bumpy but I love the first sector. The middle sector is short and just straights, and the last sector is good too. It is probably the bumpiest circuit I have been on and that adds to the challenge for everyone.”