As she mentioned at the end of the meeting, for Amàlia Vinyes the weekend in Silverstone has been very productive mostly thanks to the information obtained in the pit rather than to the results in the races. The Andorran driver, behind the wheel of a Seat León Racer prepared by Baporo Motorsport, finished the first race 13th whilst in the second race she finished 9th. It is worth mentioning that, in both races, Amàlia had to overcome the disadvantage represented by having to start towards the rear of the starting grid. An incident during the official practice put her in that position.

The weather forecast for the Silverstone circuit was grim: it was going to rain for most of the time. The forecast was right but it did not bother the racers too much since the track was only wet for the official practice and it mainly rained heavily before and after the races.

During the free practices (30’ + 30’), Amàlia went through the first difficult moments of the weekend: On the first practice I was completely off, I didn’t seem to get on the right lines, all in all a very difficult start. After checking the telemetry and getting some tips from some racers more familiar with the track, there were some substantial changes: The times were better and I was way more comfortable driving the León. It was obvious that it was the beginning of a very long weekend full of new experiences.

Luck was not on Amàlia’s side during the official practice (30’). As early as lap 2, Amàlia managed to be in 2nd position but after getting off the track, she got stuck on the gravel at turn 7. That was the end of Amàlia’s official practice, which she had started in a very promising way. These were Amàlia’s words once in the paddock: I’m very angry with myself, it was a completely avoidable mistake and I think I could have even improved my time if I hadn’t gone out. The silver lining is that the mechanics of the car haven’t been damaged.
It is worth pointing out that Amàlia remained second for most of the official practice. It was towards the end that her time was bettered.

On the first race (11 laps), despite being at the rear of the starting grid, the Andorran driver started strong and managed to get amongst the top 10 for the first part of the race. However after the first half of the race she could not keep the pace and she was not able to prevent being overtaken by some rivals: Apparently it was a problem that also affected other drivers. We will try to figure out what has happened so we can be more competitive tomorrow.
As an added note, it needs to be established that the race took place from 5pm under the sun, a dry track and a rising temperature.  These conditions were completely different from the ones encountered during the official practice.

For the second race (11 laps), Amàlia and her team decided to make some changes to previous adjustments to try and get the most out of the León Racer in specific situations. The car improved noticeably and the Andorran driver finished the second race in Silverstone amongst the top 10. Without any doubt it has been a very intense weekend as far as information received goes. It hasn’t always been easy to absorb all of it. I’m really happy with all I have learnt, both about the circuit and the adjustments of the León. The main goal was reached exceedingly: we have driven as much as possible and we have all the information needed for the adjustments of the car in this circuit. Next year I will aim even higher.

The fourth race of the EUROCUP Seat León 2014 will take place in Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) in September (5th, 6th and 7th) and Amàlia will be amongst the racers. Before that, at the end of August, the Andorran driver has been invited by Suzuki Motorsport to race the Ferrol Rally behind the wheel of a Swift Group A.

Press Service.