Joined
·
8,469 Posts
Oxfordshire, England --Volvo and Prodrive have finalized their line-up for the 2002 FIA European Touring Car Championship. The 24-year-old Englishman James Hanson has been signed to drive the second S60 aside of former British Touring Car Champion Rickard Rydell from Sweden.
"James is a young driver with a huge potential. What he did in the 2001 ETCC on his first Touring Car season was outstanding; not only he was able to outpace his more experienced team-mate but also achieved a podium result", team manager Dave Benbow commented.
In 2001 Hanson drove an Edenbridge Racing BMW 320i, his best result was a third place at Jarama, behind Tommy Rustad's Nissan and Tobia Masini's Alfa Romeo.
"I am really excited to drive for Volvo and Prodrive. The team has an excellent reputation in Touring Car and not only; as a matter of fact they proved to be a winner in every category. I have seen already that their approach to this Volvo programme is very professional," Hanson said, adding, "To work and drive aside of Rydell will be an excellent opportunity for me to learn as he is one of the best Touring Car drivers ever. Therefore it will be very interesting to compare myself directly to him. It's my first year in a front-wheel-drive car, but I can bring to the team some experience on Super Production cars, that are the basis of the Super 2000 regulations; I also know most of the circuits, so hopefully we can help each other to develop the car in the shortest time."
Last week Hanson took part in the ETCC testing at Vallelunga improving his lap times quickly and consistently while his new team-mate Rydell set very fast times; his best lap of 1:17.93 was only eighth hundredths of a second slower than Giovanardi's virtual pole position.
"We are roughly where we expected to be: a little behind the Alfa and quite close to the BMW," Rydell stated. "We know the difference between our actual car and the final evolution. We know than with new aerodynamic package we'll get more downforce and handling will change a bit. From what we saw in Vallelunga, I think that we have to get more speed. I don't have the feeling that we are fast enough at the moment."
Prodrive took part in the Vallelunga test days with an interim car.
"They were still running the prototype that was built last year before the Super 2000 regulations' final adjustments. Since the first spec it has been partly modified, but is still featuring a mix of solutions. In our plans the final race car will start testing in the UK at the beginning of March", Volvo Motorsport director Olle Odsell revealed.
But the S60 proved to be already very reliable, running for almost 1000 km in Vallelunga without any technical failure.
"James is a young driver with a huge potential. What he did in the 2001 ETCC on his first Touring Car season was outstanding; not only he was able to outpace his more experienced team-mate but also achieved a podium result", team manager Dave Benbow commented.
In 2001 Hanson drove an Edenbridge Racing BMW 320i, his best result was a third place at Jarama, behind Tommy Rustad's Nissan and Tobia Masini's Alfa Romeo.
"I am really excited to drive for Volvo and Prodrive. The team has an excellent reputation in Touring Car and not only; as a matter of fact they proved to be a winner in every category. I have seen already that their approach to this Volvo programme is very professional," Hanson said, adding, "To work and drive aside of Rydell will be an excellent opportunity for me to learn as he is one of the best Touring Car drivers ever. Therefore it will be very interesting to compare myself directly to him. It's my first year in a front-wheel-drive car, but I can bring to the team some experience on Super Production cars, that are the basis of the Super 2000 regulations; I also know most of the circuits, so hopefully we can help each other to develop the car in the shortest time."
Last week Hanson took part in the ETCC testing at Vallelunga improving his lap times quickly and consistently while his new team-mate Rydell set very fast times; his best lap of 1:17.93 was only eighth hundredths of a second slower than Giovanardi's virtual pole position.
"We are roughly where we expected to be: a little behind the Alfa and quite close to the BMW," Rydell stated. "We know the difference between our actual car and the final evolution. We know than with new aerodynamic package we'll get more downforce and handling will change a bit. From what we saw in Vallelunga, I think that we have to get more speed. I don't have the feeling that we are fast enough at the moment."
Prodrive took part in the Vallelunga test days with an interim car.
"They were still running the prototype that was built last year before the Super 2000 regulations' final adjustments. Since the first spec it has been partly modified, but is still featuring a mix of solutions. In our plans the final race car will start testing in the UK at the beginning of March", Volvo Motorsport director Olle Odsell revealed.
But the S60 proved to be already very reliable, running for almost 1000 km in Vallelunga without any technical failure.
