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Jelley continues to wrack up the miles.

Wednesday, 5th March 2008

More testing for new BTCC man at Snetterton.

Having tested his new Team RAC BMW 320si at Silverstone last week, Stephen Jelley continued preparations for his debut season in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship with a day of running at a cold and wet Snetterton.

The British F3 race-winner, who will line up alongside Colin Turkington this season, was one of a number of drivers to brave difficult conditions at the Norfolk circuit, with persistent rain and low temperatures leading to slippery circuit conditions that led to most drivers bringing their programmes to an early conclusion.

Jelley was one of the busier drivers on the day as he got more miles under his belt at the wheel of the BMW and admitted that the poor conditions had actually been to his benefit as he continues his touring car education.

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"It was very cold with sleety rain coming down so it made the circuit quite slippery," he told Crash.net. "However, that was quite good as it was different conditions for me and it was all more running in the car. It was actually quite civilised in the touring car as at least I had a roof over my head so I didn't get wet!

"For me, it's just a case of getting used to how the touring car moves around compared to the single-seater as its all different, but I don't think it will take me too long. At Snetterton for example, the first corner is flat out in the F3 car but it certainly isn't in a touring car.

"There is more do technically with the tourer as you don't have the downforce you have with a single-seater. If you have a problem at part of the circuit in the F3 machine, you can just wind more wing on, but you can't do that here. That is just something I need to get my head round, but I think it will be fine and I don't see it being a problem at all."

With further testing to come before the first rounds of the season at the end of the month, Jelley added that he was confident of being up to speed by the time his first race comes around and said he saw no reason why he can't be fighting at the sharp end of the grid.

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