Set up error ruined first Scandinavian race for Hartmann Honda Racing 01.05.2010: The opening round of the new Scandinavian Touring Car Cup at Jyllandsringen in Denmark did not give the results that Hartmann Honda Racing had hoped for following the team’s brilliant start to the season where it claimed a 1-2 win in the European Cup race

The opening round of the new Scandinavian Touring Car Cup at Jyllandsringen in Denmark did not give the results that Hartmann Honda Racing had hoped for following the team’s brilliant start to the season where it claimed a 1-2 win in the European Cup race in Portugal. 18th and 15th positions were the meagre outcome for the team’s single driver Tomas Engström following a week, where the Danish team was forced to split with one of its drivers, James Thompson, and his engineer.

”We made a set up error, when we prepared the car which meant that we spent Saturday not riding on the dampers, but on the rubber bricks,” team owner Hans Hartmann explains.

”This caused a lot of tension in the car, which ended up with several parts braking up. That was parts in the suspension, the anti-roll bar and similar items, which just broke because they were subject to severe tensions. Sadly, we can only say that it was an indication of us having too much on the plate, when we prepared the car for the race.”

On Saturday evening Hartmann Honda Racing managed to track the error and correct it, but it also meant that the preparation for the two races could only be done on race day.

”We lost all of Saturday, where we did not manage to get things tested, and we really had needed that,” Tomas Engström says. He only managed to post 20th best lap time in Saturday’s qualifying. “During the warm up on Sunday I only managed to drive three laps before the suspension broke, so in reality we only had three laps as basis for our set up, and that is far to little for a circuit like this one.”

”In the first race I got a good start, but I got stuck in the tangle on the first lap. But on the second lap my anti-roll bar fell off, something that was probably caused by the problems with the broken suspension. I really feel that we had all the troubles we could get in this weekend.”

Tomas Engström, however, managed to finish both races in 18th and 15th positions respectively.

“It was a result that was below average, so from now on things can only go one way,” Hans Hartmann said. “I do feel that the guys have worked as best as they could, but we have had too little time for preparations. It has been an uphill affair.”



- Hartmann Racing -  photo Morten Kimer Hansen.