Hunter Abbott spoke to TCF on his involvement in the accident during the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton, adding that he now feels more at home with the Chevrolet Cruze.
The Power Maxed Racing driver again showed rapid pace in qualifying to put the car sixth on the grid, but endured a brace of incidents in the opening two encounters in Norfolk.
After an altercation with Sam Tordoff at Oggies left him facing the wrong one in race one, the second race ended in more dramatic style for Abbott and five fellow competitors. Contact between Ollie Jackson and Dan Welch created a chain reaction heading onto the Bentley Straight, Abbott’s Cruze being collected in the aftermath.
“I’d like to use the words ‘innocent bystander’ for it”, was Abbott’s comment to The Checkered Flag afterwards.
“Ollie went around the outside – personally I wouldn’t try to do that heading onto the back straight – and Dan edged him out onto the grass. The two of them got together; I went as far to the right as I could to avoid it, but Dan’s suspension broke which meant he hit Ollie and pitched him to the right where I was.”
The Chevrolet driver was unscathed and hopeful of making an appearance in the final race of the day, adding: “I think we may have gotten away relatively lightly. You look at Dan’s car and it seems like a right off.
Having spent the early meetings of the season adapting to front-wheel drive machinery, Abbott admitted that he and Power Maxed Racing have taken a turn for the better in terms of the relationship between both car and driver.
“We’re getting there”, Abbott commented. “We’re making good progress now because I understand FWD better.
“We’ve still got a lot to learn, but now I feel that I can give some proper feedback to the team about the car rather than us just taking a gamble on set-up. I can now make it do things I want to, rather than in the first two meetings where I was just adapting my driving.”
