Silverline Chevrolet driver Alex MacDowall got his first chance to drive his new Chevrolet Cruze during the official Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship test at series Media Day. The 20 year old ended the four hour test seventh fastest overall.
2010 saw MacDowall enter the record books as the youngest pole position qualifier in BTCC history and after also securing multiple podium finishes in his debut season; the Carlisle-based driver hopes to mount a championship challenge this year.
MacDowall will be running an updated version of the Cruze he ran last season and the Media Day test around the Silverstone National circuit gave him a chance to get much needed mileage in the car ahead of the season opener at Brands Hatch on April 2nd/3rd.
The BRDC Superstar spent most the test running in the top two, before ending the day with a best time of 1m 00.448s, just 0.4 seconds off the top of the timesheets. This saw him finished less than 0.1 seconds of team-mate and reigning champion Jason Plato.
He commented: “The new car already feels better than last year's and there's much more to come. We tried a lot of different set-ups at Silverstone to make the car suit my style a bit more.
“I was second quickest for most of the day and although we slipped to seventh in the end, I'm not at all worried. I'm really looking forward to the first round at Brands Hatch next weekend, I'm confident we should be able to start the season very strongly and I think we'll have a very competitive package there.”
