ROUND 6
After extensive repairs and a re-build of our #81 we made it to compete at Zolder. 10 days to re-build the truck was a great effort by all involved “Thank you”.
The truck hadn’t been tested since re-build and expected the weekend to be a test as well to find out any issues we had on it. Our two Free Practice sessions could have been better, a faulty water hose in session one saw us only complete 6 laps and both sessions we finished 12th fastest. In qualifying we encountered a power steering failure, Mark coped well, and we change the steering linkage.
Race One: Coping with temperatures of 34 degrees in the cockpit was not easy for Mark. 6th on grid would be a challenge, a great start and into P10. By end of lap one under investigation for exceeding track limits. By lap 4 we were 9th. Lap 6 a drive through penalty for further over speeding put Taylor back into P13. A black flag for further over speeding, the third time and was ordered into the pit lane and disqualified for the infringements. New GPS tracker fitted due to original being faulty.
Race Two: Back of the pack on the grid, into P11 straight away and a lap later into 8th place. Back to our usual form only to have a premature finish to the race on lap 9 due to a red flag after Steffan Faas hitting the tyre wall. Mark took a podium P3 trophy and 8th overall. We also got the Team Championship trophy as well.
Race Three: Mark was 11th on the grid. First few laps were like cat and mouse changing between P10 and P11. By lap 9 a full course yellow was declared after a fireball engulfed the truck of Luis Recuenco behind Mark and the race was red flagged shortly afterwards. Mark finished in 10th spot and 4th, missing a podium in the Promoters Cup by one place.
Race Four: Taylor lined up 5th row for the final race of the weekend alongside John Newell, Mark battled again with a truck that had some problems from the start that saw him take the flag in 11th spot. Mark did a good job keep the truck going for the duration of the race.
Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship. Our weekend looked like this:
- Race One – Disqualified – Over-speeding.
- Race Two – 8th (3rd – Promoters Cup)
- Race Three – 10th (4th – Promoters Cup)
- Race Four – 11th (4th – Promoters Cup)
Driver Comments
“It just wasn’t our weekend but knew that it wasn’t going to be great, the truck was in need of testing and that’s what we did and found some issues that will help out in the long run”.
The main thing is we got to Zolder to compete, more points in the championship, get another Promoters Cup trophy and another in the Team Championship with NWT Motorsport
We leave Zolder Circuit with the following championship points in total:
- Goodyear FIA ETRC Drivers – 29 points (11th)
- Goodyear FIA ETRC Promoter’s Cup – 174 points (4th)
- Goodyear FIA ETRC Teams – NEWELL & TAYLOR – 146 points (5th)
Read Circuit Zolder, Belgium Race Report
