Proteam Racing to start intensive test programme

Proteam Racing returned to the track last weekend in the TCR International Series, with Italian driver Diego Romanini at the wheel. The Ford Focus ST, which has been plagued by gearbox issues ever since it was introduced, now features a racing gearbox developed by manufacturer Bacci, based in Tuscany.

“Having our gearbox manufacturer not far from our workshop is a major plus,” said team owner Valmiro Presenzini to TouringCarTimes. “Fitting a new gearbox in a car is not as easy as it may seem from the outside. New components need to be designed and manufactured. We started the gearbox programme right after Monza and the driveshafts were only delivered hours before setting off to the Red Bull Ring.”

Presenzini described the tough weekend experienced by the team, as they worked flat out to put the car on track: “I think I haven’t slept more than 20 hours last week, as we were all focused on completing the car to take it to Austria. The fact alone that we were able to turn the wheels makes me proud of the entire team. Our crew showed the passion that is behind this job.

“Of course it would be a euphemism to say the car is young. To be fair, it had never turned a wheel in anger before, and like I said the components were delivered just in time. We were so much in a rush to get it out on track that we didn’t even worry about the setup, all we wanted was to check the systems and verify everything was okay in the first free practice session.”

Issues were expected to emerge in the weekend, but Presenzini is happy none of them were catastrophic: “It is hard to say when looking at the lap times as we were absolutely off the pace, but behind the scenes we knew what the problems were and that is enough to give us hope that the car will soon be competitive. We had driveshaft and differential issues, but none of them were to be unexpected in a brand new gearbox.”

The Proteam Racing team owner promised the car will soon be competitive: “There’s a track not too far from where we are based, Magione, and we will test the car there until it wears out. The Campionato Italiano Turismo Endurance raced there not too long ago, so we know more or less the lap times a SEAT León TCR would clock there, which is a good reference. We will develop the car intensively. The Red Bull Ring race was just a way to test the car, it was not a proper race. I’m sure we will be much nearer the top come Singapore, which I am looking forward to. All in all I am quite optimistic.”

Proteam Racing scored a point with Tom Boardman at the wheel in Monza earlier this year.