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Edition

Australia

Crowd at Tata Prima race impresses Summerfield

Four-time British Truck Racing Champion Mat Summerfield says he was impressed by the massive crowd that turned up for the 2016 Tata T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship on Sunday.

Brian Burt

Brian Burt

M Saad

Adam Bint
Matt Summerfield
Tata T1 Prima track action
Tata T1 Prima track action
Podium celebration
Adam Bint
Matt Summerfield and Ben Horne
Tata T1 Prima drivers
Graham Powell and Matt Summerfield on the starting grid
Paul McCumisky and Matt Summerfield
Paul McCumisky, Matt Summerfield and David Jenkins
Atmosphere

“You’ve got a big crowd out there who have come, knowing there’s only one event. And people have come from all over to see this event,’’ Summerfield told Motorsport.com.

“They [Tata Motors] put all the effort into this. I think it’s quite good,’’ he added.

However, the British driver wasn't sure if fans would come back to the same venue [Buddh] if there were more events.

"At the end of the day, if there were four or five or six events, people aren’t going to come back here, are they?"

And so, Summerfield suggest Tata could add more rounds across the country. "Ideally, you can have two rounds here and two rounds down in South [Chennai],’’ the Brit said.

"There’s talk of them doing one down the South at one of the circuits, maybe more of a club event type of thing.

"If they did that, maybe that will enhance what’s going on. But they put all the effort into this [Buddh round], I think it’s quite good."

Indian drivers good

Summerfield praised the Indian drivers who were racing for the first time in their careers, but urged the backmarkers to work on their consistency.

“Just keep doing what you are doing,’’ he said when asked about what advice shall he give to the Indian drivers.

“Lap times are respectable. And the race is there. But they spread out a little bit as the race goes on.”

“The guys at the back just need to stay consistent and keep up with that [the frontrunners]. And it will be an entertaining race there.”

Relating the Indian class race with the International one, Summerfield said: "If you look at our race, it’s very close even at the end of the race.

"Even in the long race, we still expect to be close at the end of the race for the crowd. That’s the main key feature of it."

Summerfield suggests having more races in the championship will help Indian drivers more time behind the wheels to learn.

Duties as BRTA Chairman

Summerfield acts as the Chairman of British Truck Racing Association (BRTA), where he discusses and finds solutions to problems in British truck racing.

“Basically, there are a lot of organisation to do with the club,’’ he explained.

“So, if you have any problems or whatever, we like to take it to the committee. We all discuss it properly and we make a group decision about it.”

Elaborating more truck racing in UK, he said: "It’s very spectacular. It’s very exciting. But it's been equally good here [India]."

"Obviously, with the trucks [Tata Prima] being a little low on power and we haven’t got the luxury of relying on the nice engines we’ve got back in England.

"Here, we gotta be very more consistent, keep the truck rolling, try not to spill any speed off because to regain that speed and to regain that momentum it’s really hard work."

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Edition

Australia