CDR to investigate Simmons’s tub after Silverstone struggles
BRDC British F3 pre-season favourite Ayrton Simmons will have his chassis investigated by his Chris Dittmann Racing team after struggling for pace at Silverstone last weekend.
Understeer consigned Simmons to 14th fastest in qualifying, and he was classified 10th in each of the first two races, before salvaging a reversed-grid win.
Hidden damage to the car could be a legacy of Simmons’s clash with Bart Horsten at the Brands Hatch season opener in May. After initially suspecting the dampers, CDR resorted to changing the car’s entire rear end after qualifying.
“We haven’t been out since Brands,” said team boss Chris Dittmann. “The budget isn’t there, unfortunately, to test a lot so first time back in the car was Thursday.
“After qualifying, we could see a clear issue. Our car is strong round here and Ayrton is lightning quick, so it’s very frustrating for us when we can’t pinpoint the issue. But the team did an absolutely amazing job after qualifying, and we were here until 1am [on Sunday] going through absolutely everything. It’s still not 100% clear what it was, but that’s something we need to check at the workshop.”
Further set-up work between races improved the rebuilt car’s handling, enabling Simmons to win the reversedgrid race three. “They’ve worked incredibly hard all weekend trying to get round the problem,” said Simmons. “I think the main issue was probably the tub, which you’re not allowed to swap during the weekend. We managed to get round the problem as much as we could.”