Team Aon ready to return the front with LPG

Team Aon’s switch to a turbocharged LPG engine looks to have been a masterstroke, with both cars showing impressive pace at the Brands Hatch test.

Team boss Mike Earle spoke to TouringCarTimes about the other team’s expectation that Team Aon may very well be at the front this year:
“We hope so, that’s why we’ve done it – it reflects the fact that motorsport like everything else has got to get itself a little bit cleaner – it definitely has an advantage on CO2 emissions, but on the particulates it’s amazingly cleaner – so yeah, it’s good and it’s brought us a whole new bunch of problems to solve, but we’re getting there”.

At Brands Hatch last year, the car was right at the front leading from pole position for race one – only losing out on the final lap. When asked if the car would deliver the same pace with LPG, Mike responded:
“When you look at last year, it was all very flattering but we were 40 kilos lighter than Jason – and Jason does a fantastic job. We had to try and overcome that, we couldn’t do any more with the engine as it was so we had to look at something else”.

With NGTC regulations allowed from next year, when asked if the team would look to using an LPG NGTC car, Mike implied it’s down to whether the BTCC make any further changes:
“The alternative fuel rules are still there in the book – but it’s a case that they may take them out of the rules for next year so then we’ll have to think again”.

Tom Chilton spoke about the team’s preparation for the season:
“Last year was a bigger challenge than we actually thought it would be, and we did get the car really good by the end – but this year I’ve never done so many different test days and had so much development work on the car – the team have really gone to town.”

“It’s been a hard struggle to start off with, because we’ve never run LPG Turbo before, it’s completely different but what we’re learning is it is very similar to petrol – it is 80% liquid and only 20% gas – unfortunately it does have less bang than petrol but that’s why it’s an alternative fuel and we’re allowed a turbo”

Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole ran fourth and eighth in the combined timings on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, and will be hoping for greater things in the Ford Focus’ sophomore year in the BTCC.

Team Aon will also be eligible for the independent constructor category, but as former rivals Team Dynamics and RML are now manufacturer supported this year – it’s likely the team will be able to take this newly created crown relatively unchallenged, although likely to face fierce competition as always in the independent drivers and teams categories themselves.