Demoustier: It was really good to do this test

Grégoire Demoustier has described an intensive test in Portugal as a “big step” after the FIA World Touring Car Championship rookie completed more than 1000 kilometres in his Craft-Bamboo Racing Chevrolet.

The French rising star began his WTCC career in Argentina last month with limited experience of his Eurodatacar-backed Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 but he put that right over four days at Autódromo Internacional Algarve near Portimão.

While the works teams in attendance called on several drivers to carry out their testing programmes, Demoustier undertook his team’s running by himself, which enabled him to get crucial experience of his car ahead of Eurodatacar WTCC Race of Morocco from 17-19 April.

“It was really good to do this test we really needed it and we learned a lot about the car,” said Demoustier. “I improved my driving, especially my start which is going to help a lot for the rest of the season. We still have two days to do in Spain next week and I hope we can make more improvements. We still have work to do but we made a big step from where we were in Argentina after having more time on the track.”

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s engineers were also kept busy during the four-day test, which took place amid track temperatures of 50 degrees centigrade. They collected data for a variety of race configurations with changes made to spring, damper, differential, ride height and suspension geometry settings in an effort to increase performance and drivability ahead of the Marrakech street race later this month.

Next up for Craft-Bamboo Racing, which air-freighted Demoustier’s Chevrolet back to Europe from Argentina to allow him to test, is a two-day session at the Circuit Guadix in Spain.