Swift misses TCR after gearbox delay

TCR UK driver Carl Swift was forced to miss the Knockhill races last weekend after suffering delays in receiving a sequential gearbox.

Swift was one of two DSG Trophy entries in the seasonopener at Silverstone for those with the direct-shift gearbox but wanted to upgrade his SEAT Cupra ready for Knockhill.

“It’s a shame, the new gearbox just arrived too late,” said Swift, who will now compete with the Maximum Motorsport squad. “It was supposed to be here from Spain last week [over a week before Knockhill] but we didn’t get it until Tuesday. It’s annoying really, especially as we had six weeks since Silverstone.”

With the other DSG entrant, Stewart Lines, also converting to the sequential ’box, Swift didn’t see the point in sticking with the original specification.

“The DSG Trophy is all well and good if there’s five or so cars battling for it but when there’s two cars fighting at the back of the field and you’re not far enough back to be in a different class it makes you look like you’re not very good,” he said. “The lap time difference is between one and three seconds depending on the circuit, so that should bring us forward.”

Swift’s absence meant the grid dropped to 11 cars at Knockhill – down from 13 at Silverstone – but he believes more European entries will arrive for the next round at Brands Hatch in June.

“I think we will be up to 20 cars by the end of the season, it was just ambitious to hope for that from day one,” he added.