SUNRED happy with new 1.6 litre turbo debut

SUNRED Engineering were happy with the performance of their new 1.6 litre turbocharged engine in Hungary, which picked up points finishes and almost an independents’ class win in race two.

Aside from a few issues in the Friday test and second free practice session for Michel Nykjaer, the engine ran reliably throughout the weekend.

The three cars of Michel Nykjaer, Fredy Barth and Pepe Oriola all finished race one, with Barth eighth and Oriola tenth picking up overall championship points with the new SUNRED León 1.6T.

In race two, Pepe Oriola was the top running León overall in fifth position until an incident with Robert Dahlgren’s Volvo on the lap 5 restart.

The No.17 SR León 1.6T of Michel Nykjaer would later battle Tiago Monteiro in the diesel powered SEAT, also for fifth post Dahlgren’s penalty, but retired with a front-right puncture and out of the independents’ race lead, but Fredy Barth managed to pick up the final point of the race in tenth position.

“We are really happy with the 1.6 turbo,” said SUNRED Team Principal Joan Orús to TouringCarTimes.

“We have done a great job during the last two to three weeks to finish on time. It’s the first week and the results are there. In qualifying we have seen the engine is not so fast, we have more weight because it’s the first race. The 40 kilos doesn’t help to have a good qualifying.”

“The first race was okay and in the second race it was possible to win the Yokohama Trophy, but we lost out because of accidents.”