Völker quickest as EWS International gets underway

The 2017 EWS International presented by Infinity and Sweep got underway on Friday evening, with three rounds of optional free practice to allow the 130 entries to acclimatise themselves to the new track layout. The track, designed by race announcer Oli Meggitt and realised by Richard King and the EWS track team, features a huge area of 34×24 metres and the unique EWS corner kerbs. Commenting on the track layout, recently crowned EWS Series champion Elliott Harper noted that there was a “good variety of corners” and expected this to lead to some “close times throughout practice and qualifying”.

Making his first racing visit tot he UK, current Touring Car World Champion made full use of the practice opportunities, getting faster each round until he topped the time sheets with the three quickest consecutive laps by the end of the evening. Describing the track layout simply as “good”, he also noted that the unique corners took him some time to get used to, but jokingly was more concerned that he “did not bring any shorts to a race in England” – the hall temperatures reaching a warm 25 degrees in as the racers ran their practice sessions.

The event continues on Saturday with three rounds of Controlled Practice, to seed the qualifying heats, before the important task of qualifying begins in the afternoon.