Rob Austin delighted with first run

Rob Austin was happy with the car after its first run at Donington Park in free practice, having had no testing prior to this weekend.

Rob Austin, driving in the No.13 Audi filling in for his regular driver Dave Pinkney, who has other commitments this weekend, set a best lap of 1:14.922, just over four seconds down on pace setter Andrew Jordan.

The Audi was therefore faster than both Chris James in the S2000 Chevrolet Lacetti and Tony Hughes in the NGTC-spec Toyota Avensis.

“It’s the first time it’s been on any track anywhere, ever,” said Austin to TouringCarTimes.

“We were just discussing, the gear cuts out, so every time we change up gear, it stalls it for too long, drops turbo boost and takes a second to get back up. So I think most of the gap I’m off is straightline, so I’m actually surprisingly confident for a man who’s four seconds off the pace.”

The car missed a planned shakedown test at Pembrey earlier in the week due to additional improvements required before it could run.

“We’ve had our fair share of problems with it, their can’t be any more to go, there can’t be anything else to break!”

With Pinkney out of the car this weekend, the team have taken the opportunity to reverse-engineer the pink colour scheme and run the car with a livery with a clearer homage to the classic Audi race cars of the 80’s, with Rob adding:

“It looks **** hot in red doesn’t it?”