Tom Onslow-Cole claimed that the development of Team HARD‘s Volkswagen Passat is moving quickly during its debut season in BTCC, having already claimed two podium finishes in 2013.
Upon moving to Tony Gilham‘s outfit for the 2013 season, Onslow-Cole has revelled thus far in the team’s own self-developed Volkswagen Passat CC, built to match the current NGTC regulations of the series.
Onslow-Cole took as early as the eighth race of the season at Thruxton to claim a podium position for the new machine, an achievement he has since repeated at Croft last time out in June.
The latter result was made tougher by the unrelenting weather at the North Yorkshire circuit, but Onslow-Cole said that he thought a win could have even been on the cards during the race.
He said: “A good first few corners kept us out of trouble, but with the tricky conditions at the start it is a fantastic leveller. The car seems quite good underneath me and we managed to climb forward.
“I was looking thinking ‘a top five would be good here’, and then thought maybe a top three, and then at one stage I thought there might have even been a cheeky win on.”
The team recently tested the car in July’s official Dunlop test without problems, Onslow-Cole stating that the car’s development has been very encouraging with the pace it has already shown in the first half of the season.
“We’re over the moon with another podium result. The development of this car is going faster and faster and further forward. It’s quite gentle to drive, we are able to get a good feeling for the grip level out there and really maximize it.”
Onslow-Cole heads back to the Snetterton circuit at which the July test was held looking for more success, having claimed his first ever BTCC race win at the Norfolk track in 2007.
