Taniguchi find helpers at Rockingham

Taking advantage of the mid season summer break, bamboo-engineering and Yukinori Taniguchi headed off to the Rockingham Motor Speedway to work on development of both the Chevrolet Cruze cars and the driving technique of the Japanese driver.

The day went very well with many laps being completed; the circuit was chosen for the test as some of the corners and characteristics are similar to Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit, where the WTCC is set to race on 4 September.

On that same day the Chevrolet RML team was also there, with Yvan Muller and WRC legend Sébastien Loeb. Muller did several laps in the bamboo car: “I was happy to help bamboo with their work today. The car felt really good and I was able to set the time with this car as I did with my own RML car, in fact the balance of this car felt better in some areas.”

Also on hand on the day was former World Touring Car race winner and former British Touring Car Champion, James Thompson who was happy to help Yuke with some driving tips. James also took the opportunity to do a few laps in the car and immediately set some competitive lap times despite never driving the car before: “The car felt great and did everything you would expect from a car that’s leading the championship. Although I’d never driven a Cruze before, I felt comfortable very quickly. I was here today and was pleased to help out the guys at bamboo and I’m grateful for the opportunity to drive their car for a few laps.”