Warren Hughes Q&A

"It's hard to know exactly where we are. We tested first at Pembrey and we're not aware of any benchmark times from there, and for me it's so new. [Team mate] Anthony [Reid] is obviously doing the majority of running so far - probably about three-quarters - and whatever issues we've got with the car early on, he can start making progress. I did a 15-lap race distance run at Croft in damp conditions and I managed to get a couple of five lap runs just as a guide, and I was very close to the times that Anthony was setting, so from a personal point of view I'm really happy with how I've adapted to the car."



"It is different, but I believe I've got the best driver in the championship to learn from. Even though I haven't been running, I've been learning just from Anthony's data and watching out on the circuit. I've been to all the tests and made my own impressions of how the car looks and how Anthony drives. When you go testing, even with other cars, you don't often get a chance to go out on the circuit to have a look and it's interesting to see how someone else might do a corner."



"We're going in at the deep end, there's no doubt about it. It's scary how quickly time has gone. After Le Mans I thought we'd be testing the touring car pretty soon, but it's gone much quicker than I imagined. Everybody always wants more time but, like with any new project, we're going to be up against it. There's so much to get your head round for both the team and the driver.

"It's hard to say where we're going to be at the first race. Vauxhall have got nine months on us, so it will be amazing if we do come in and get amongst them straight away. I'd love that to be the case, but we're up against it to achieve that. If we could come in and get podium finishes in the last two races, that will be a job well done. Then we get the winter to develop the car properly.

"I haven't done enough personally to know how much we've got left in what we've got, but everybody is positive. Lola have done a good job on the car and West Surrey Racing have a lot of experience and that will speed things up, so it's all positive. There's a good atmosphere in the team and everybody is very motivated."



"You've got to maximise what is there. For me, personally, I've got a lot of work to do because it's a new challenge for me, so I don't think it's possible for me to give myself more to do.

"Although the cars are maybe less work and less development, you're probably working just as hard at the circuit. There's less testing and development, but when you attend a test, as we're doing at the moment, you're doing as much running and analysing of the data as possible and just trying to find the best way forward.

"I don't think the new rules are in any way less challenging the old Super Touring rules that I've driven. They have just tried to make things sensible in terms of cost. But what MG are trying to do, to come in and make an impact, is a very brave thing. We've got the three races as a toe-in-the-water exercise, but they want to get results and I'm sure that whatever happens this year, we'll be winning races and challenging for the championship next year. Even at this stage, although we've done very little running on the car, we're there. Nobody is coming into the championship taking it easy."



"They've got a lot of experience and it's a pretty amazing team, despite the project being new. Very often with new projects, you've got to have a settling in period with new mechanics and engineers, but what struck me from the first shakedown was that everyone knew their job. It's such a slick team and even though they've got a lot of new faces it just shows you the leadership of the team that it's so well organised. The team already appear to be very gelled.

"From my point of view, I can just get focused on the job that I'm supposed to do, rather than having to have some input on where I think the organisation is weak or whatever. Occasionally with new projects, you try and bring some experience to the team to try and help mould the team when it's new, but that's not necessary because they're well drilled and quick to react to any problems. I couldn't think of a better team to have taken the project on to get up to speed quickly in such a sort space of time and it will be nice to get settled in the long-term."



"I would like to stay in touring cars for a longer period, but the thing with Ford before, I didn't feel it was a true taste of what touring cars were about because I caught Ford at probably their lowest point. It was a desperate year, really. Probably the worst car I've ever driven. I got a fair bit of mileage, but I never really got a taste of what touring cars was all about. I feel this is the real start to my touring car career.

"I've got a contract where I've got more than just a few races, so it gives me a chance to really get my head round what is required. Next year is a very critical year for the championship, so how long I want that to be depends on how the championship will be in the next year or two. I'm just very pleased that I've been able to get such a strong tie with a manufacturer with ambition.

"I'd love to dovetail the Le Mans and touring car programmes for as long as possible. Plenty of people have done it before and had a sportscar next to a touring car career. The touring cars is probably the thing that will keep me busiest over the next couple of years, but every time I speak to someone at MG, my first question is when are we testing the Le Mans car, because we really just scraped the surface of the potential with that. The car that Lola have built is such a beautiful car to drive and I want to pursue that part of my contract as much as possible."