Welch Motorsport to press on with engine development

The Welch Motorsport team plan to continue their hard work on their self-built engine for the 2015 season, after a trying year battling straight line speed issues in their pair of Proton Gen-2s.

Drivers Dan Welch and Ollie Jackson have often found themselves towards the foot of the speed traps and the field, with Rockingham another prime example, as both were losing a second from the exit of the final chicane to Deene hairpin.

Welch said there were no plans to switch back to the TOCA/Swindon engine they had previously run, and they were determined to extract the most from their own unit.

Asked by TouringCarTimes if a switch was being considered, Welch said: “For me, no. We’ve put enough into this engine now and we’re hoping it will start giving us the rewards. No-one wants a one-engine championship.

“We did a load of work over the winter and the car is better, but we’re lacking straight line speed. It’s visible for everyone to see. We’re on a very low boost level.”

Welch said work would continue on upgrading engines for the two cars, including another step for Silverstone in three weeks.

He said: “We’ve been working flat out on the engine since day dot this year. We have been doing updates and upgrades every weekend, and we should have another upgrade for Silverstone, which I’m hoping is going to be quite a big improvement.

“But at the end of the day, we need some more boost. The figure is worked out on a mathematical formula and it is all set down to everyone at the start of the year.

“It just seems like we’ve build an engine which doesn’t suit the regulations very well. It’s a very strong engine, but it doesn’t suit the way the regs are written.

“We’ve got to take a bit of pain this year, I think, and hopefully it will get sorted over the winter.”