Craft-Bamboo drivers not worried despite lack of performance in free practice

Craft-Bamboo did not enjoy a good day so far at Spa-Francorchamps, as their drivers were 17th, 18th and 19th in the first free practice, with Hugo Valente ahead of James Nash and Pepe Oriola.

Despite the bad result, though, the drivers do not seem too worried, as the Frenchman and the Spaniard are both cautiously optimistic as to their chances of improving on what they have achieved in the morning session.

“I’m not worried, we will get there”, said Pepe Oriola to TouringCarTimes. “Of course the guys at the front had new tyres, while we didn’t. I also didn’t push to my limit, as it was just the first free practice session, so I’m confident we will be able to improve.”

Hugo Valente is more cautious, but he still believes a top ten result will be possible come qualifying tomorrow. The Frenchman is not disappointed, as last time out in Bahrain he was “nowhere” in free practice, before coming third in qualifying.

“I hope we can get there!”, said the Frenchman to TouringCarTimes when asked if he agree with his team-mate. “It’s interesting to see what the new tyres will do, because Jean-Karl (Vernay) did the same lap time as me and (WRT team-mate) Rob Huff was three seconds faster. It’s quite a big gap, but if that is true it means we already are up there.”

Valente says the aim needs to be the goal for the Lukoil-backed team, as they will then try to play with reversed grids and go from there on race day.

“The top ten needs to be the aim, because there are a lot more cars this weekend. It’s good for the championship, but these guys also raced here a couple of weeks ago, so we have a lot of catch up to play. I need to score more points, and I think four or five regular drivers will be in the top ten, the rest will be locals. It’s a good opportunity if we can exploit it. Also, the newcomers don’t have a championship to think about, so it will be interesting because they have nothing to lose.”