An extremely promising debut for the FIA R4 Kit
The month of September is synonymous with a return to normalcy but also new beginnings, and ORECA is no exception to the rule. Yesterday, not far from the company’s design workshops, the FIA R4 Kit hit the track for the first time. On the gravel, with at the wheel Stéphane Sarrazin, the ORECA teams put into practice the long-term work they’ve been carrying out for several months, with reliability as the central focus.
Reliability proved key in this first testing session. After tweaking took place on Monday afternoon at the Driving Center at the Circuit Paul Ricard, yesterday, the Etios R4 headed to the dirt track near ORECA’s workshops. At the wheel, Stéphane Sarrazin quickly found his footing in the cockpit. Right from the start, the car proved reliable and powerful. Throughout the day, the French driver, with the guidance of ORECA’s technical teams, completed laps without encountering the slightest problem. After those effortless first laps, to take full control of the car and push the engine, Stéphane increased his top speed and exploited the performance of the engine developed in the workshops at Magny-Cours.
Stéphane Sarrazin, FIA R4 Kit development driver: ”From the outset, it felt right, I instantly noticed the car was easy to drive and handles fantastically. For a first run, the balance is already there, even in the fast stretches. We can go ahead and begin working on the kit’s settings which is the most interesting part of the developmental phase. Between the chassis and the engine, it’s truly the ideal compromise for young drivers hoping to go from two wheels to four. That was the missing link in rally racing. As the owner of my own team, what is highly attractive is the ability to buy the kit and build one’s own car, it’s a significant challenge for the teams but it offers real freedom in running the car. It’s an additional step that allows drivers to improve. What is certain is that the car is nicely designed and performs well immediately, and that’s the most important thing.”
Matthieu Bassou, FIA R4 Kit Project Manager: “We experienced no problems whatsoever during this first day of testing and I couldn’t be more pleased. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of work to be done, we need to put some kilometers behind us, stabilise and optimise the kit, particularly with Stéphane to ensure performance level and help all the teams benefit from reliable and enticing starting points. This first day has shown great promise in terms of what’s to come and is a positive response for all the teams and the work they accomplished over the last several months. I joined ORECA for this project, with a design office, a new team and the detachment of the engine block. It was a real challenge and to see the car run so well from the first session confirms that we pulled it off.”
With 131 kilometers accumulated over this first day of testing, the next goal is to continue to ensure the reliability of the kit and provide client teams with a solid starting point. Three testing sessions are scheduled in the coming weeks, on asphalt and gravel, in order to market the FIA R4 Kit by the end of 2017/start of 2018.