Photo: PSP Images

Hybrid era begins with successful Silverstone outing

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The new hybrid era for the British Touring Car Championship enjoyed a solid start after the TOCA Hybrid test car hit the track over the course of the weekend at Silverstone.

The Toyota Corolla – built by Speedworks and operated by Cosworth and M-Sport – took part in the race weekend as a guest entry with former champion Andrew Jordan at the wheel.

After using the Saturday sessions to work on set-up and systems checks, Jordan took the start of all three races from the pitlane as planned and secured a best finish of 20th place, whilst also setting the fastest lap in race two despite not being quickest in any of the speed traps.

The car successfully and consistently deployed its hybrid power throughout the weekend – approximately a 10% power increase for a maximum of 15 seconds per lap – and will now continue testing alongside the recently announced BMW 1 Series ahead of the introduction of the system next season.

“The fast laps the Hybrid car achieved – running on the exact same tyres as the rest of the grid, as well as a normal race setup – underlined the inherent performance of the car,” series chief executive Alan Gow said, “and nor was the Hybrid system merely ‘cranked up’ to achieve that performance – in fact, as the TSL timing data underlines, setting the fastest lap in race two was achieved despite it not even recording the fastest speed trap times in that race.

“So, we are all delighted with the way the Hybrid system ran during the Silverstone race weekend, as the car achieved everything we wanted it to. The main goal was to go through an entire race weekend sequence; putting the car, the system and our partners – Cosworth and M-Sport – through the ‘stress-test’ that a race weekend brings, as well as comparing the performance of the car, albeit at the very beginning of its competitive life cycle.

“Overall, it has been an extremely successful demonstration and we now continue to the next phase of the Hybrid project’s development cycle ahead of the full introduction for the 2022 season.”