Craft-Bamboo Lukoil targeting Bahrain victory
Craft-Bamboo Lukoil will be present in Bahrain with a revised driver line-up, which includes highly-rated James Nash alongside 2015 runner-up Pepe Oriola and Sergey Afanasiev, who were retained from last year.
Despite the limited pre-season testing mileage, the team expects to be competitive from the word go, with a strong line-up expected to contribute to the team’s success.
Nash is excited ahead of the new challenge, after some time in GTs. The Brit took part in pre-season testing, which allowed him to get back to grips with the front-wheel driven SEAT: “I am very excited to be a part of this growing championship and to support the Formula One as well,” said the Brit. “It is going to be a challenging weekend but I have a great team around me and I can’t wait to start working with them again. I am bored of talking, let’s get racing!”
Pepe Oriola is determined to get a good result straight from the word go, encouraged by pre-season testing: “I am really happy to be back in the series with the team and I hope to have a good result. I am really motivated for this year and after testing in Valencia I think we have the ability to be at the top of the standings all year.”
Sergey Afanasyev did not have the chance to test the car before the season started, which will make the challenge harder for the Russian: “It is really nice to finally start the season, I haven’t run a single kilometer on this car as it is brand new compared to last year’s car, so it will be a bit of a challenge. We will be fighting for both championship titles and I will do my best. With Lukoil and Craft-Bamboo behind me, I know that we will be competitive and I am really looking forward to an exciting race ahead.”
Richard Coleman, CEO of Craft-Bamboo Racing, added: “I am confident that we can once again challenge for both championship titles. We really needed to have more testing during the off season but we focused on getting our driver line-up right and that will reward us over the entire year.”
