Robertshaw Racing is set to continue with just one Chevrolet Lacetti when the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship resumes at Snetterton next month – although the second car could well return for the closing rounds of the year.
The team has run a single Lacetti since the Donington Park round after Matt Allison was forced to withdraw due to budgetary issues, with Harry Vaulkhard running alone alongside the Honda Integra of Alan Taylor at both Thruxton and Croft.
Although he refused to be drawn on any names, team manager Joe Bradley revealed that there is now serious interest in the second Chevrolet from a driver who is due to test the car after Snetterton, with a view to coming in for some of the final races of the campaign.
"I don't think there is a chance of the second car being out at Snetterton, but we hope to have a test after the event for a young driver who could come onboard for three of the final four races," he told
Crash.net. "That would hopefully then lay the foundations for something which could continue into 2009, and would be the start of something long-term."
The team will head to Snetterton buoyed by a successful two-day test at the venue this past week, where Vaulkhard was able to complete plenty of running in preparation for the sixth round of the year.
The BTCC rookie posted the eighth quickest time on the opening day and was then eleventh quickest on day two as the team worked through a series of changes on the car, with Bradley admitting he was pleased with how it had gone.
"We are really pleased with how the test went, mainly because it is the first chance we have had to put some serious testing mileage on the car since the season started," he said. "The car hasn't run in this country before, so we don't have the set-up and data to go off like we do with Alan's Honda Integra, so it has meant that when we get to a circuit, we are chasing the car. When we get to race three, we are in the position we should have been in at the start of the weekend.
"On the first day we were quickest Independent for a while and then on the second day, we weren't looking at the times as were trying different things; it was a research mission for us. Some things we did were the wrong things to do, but that is what testing is all about.
"We will start the Snetterton weekend on more of a level playing field and we could do with a decent result after the bad luck we have had in recent weeks. We've got our fingers crossed and hopefully it will turn out to be a good one for us."