It was a frustrating beginning. “We missed the whole of the first session,” added Erdos. “We'd arrived at Anderstorp with the car in a very different setting and without any previous testing, so it was important that we got all the time available to us.” Anderstorp is also a track that neither he nor his co-driver, Mike Newton, knew at all. “We were left with only one session to learn the track and fine-tune the car. With a few red flags in that one we weren't given a full hour and half there either,” said a thwarted Erdos.

As it transpired, however, the second test went much better. “Luckily, with the changes we've made to the car we found an effective set-up very quickly,” he said, relieved to have things going the right way again. “The team worked so hard to iron out all the little problems and find that good setting before qualifying. It was very pleasing.”

Thomas Erdos headed out early at the start of the first of two qualifying periods, and the prospects immediately looked good. “I soon set a time that put us in the top five,” smiled the Brazilian. “I came into the pits for an adjustment - the car wasn't completely right - and after that set P2. The car was clearly so much improved but we could still have done with a bit more time to fine-tune. Even so, P2 was a great result for the whole team.”