Sunred happy with new engine’s debut

The petrol-powered 1.6-litre turbo engine developed by SUNRED with Lehmann Motorentechnik received its baptism of fire last Sunday in the Hungaroring races.

Fredy Barth and Pepe Oriola scored the first points in the SUNRED SR León cars, finishing eighth and tenth in Race 1; Michel Nykjær was in a position to do even better in Race 2, fighting with Monteiro’s SEAT León TDi for fifth until he was stopped by a blown tyre with only one lap to go.

“We are very happy with these results,” SUNRED’s principal Joan Orús said. “The engine has clearly shown its potential and did not have reliability problems. To build up this project and be able to race the engine at the fourth event of the season required a huge effort from the team. And we are very proud for what we have done.”

Even in terms of speed, the 1.6T was a bit faster than the 2.0 TDi; in qualifying Nykjær reached 197.7 kmh at the speed trap of the first sector, against Monteiro’s 197.0.

“The new engine is already faster at the beginning of its development. The TDi has no margin left for improvements, while the 1.6T can improve a lot,” added Orús. “We have to focus on drivability and set up, to make easier for the drivers to make the most out of it. Torque and reliability are the strong points and I’m sure that we’ll be able to deliver more power already from the next races at Brno.”

A decision whether Gabriele Tarquini, Tiago Monteiro and Aleksei Dudukalo will also switch to the 1.6L turbo car from Brno will be taken in the next few days.