British Touring Car Championship
Rockingham 26th – 27th August
After the high of two top ten finishes at my BTCC debut, I experienced both ups and downs at Rockingham Motor Speedway.
Despite lapping 0.6 of a sec off the pole man in qualifying, my time was only good enough for 21st out of 31 cars. It’s fantastic that the level is so high throughout the field and it motivates me to find those extra tenths and hundredths of a second that make the difference. It’s great being part of such a cut-throat series!
It wasn’t to be in race 1 as my poor #6 Ford Focus was walloped from the side when I got collected in an accident ahead. Lap 1 of a BTCC race is certainly entertaining to be a part of, but you’ve got to have your wits about you. The steering was bent from there on in and I was driving down the straights with 45 degrees of left steering lock. I dropped down to P25, however we were lucky to finish the race as one of the components was literally hanging on by a thread!!
The guys got the car back together in the nick of time and I was all for going forward. A fresh start and with the Hard Option Tyre out of the way in Race 1, I was feeling good sitting on the grid with my medium compound slicks, which should have some extra pace. I made up some places over the first few laps and was as high up as 17th. Unfortunately this was short lived, as I quickly struggled for pace in the 2nd half of the race. Rockingham’s abrasive surface had caught out our car set-up as the tyres started to drop in performance. The car fell off a cliff and I felt like a sitting duck as the the guys behind reeled me in and picked me off. I was certainly relieved to cross the line in 19th and blooming heck was that tough!!
Race 3 was now even more crucial, I wasn’t leaving Rockingham without a positive run. Once again we had the medium compound and our set-up was back on track, so I was feeling good. I got off the line well and made it past a couple of cars into turn 2. Lap one was full of its usual antics as I became the meat in an Audi and Vauxhall sandwich. Both cars closed the door on me heading down to the final Chicane and they spun around my front end and collided with each other.
Luckily I got out of the grass and kept my shiny yellow Ford Focus in one piece. After the race I was deemed to be the innocent party in the incident! Once clear I got my head down and made some passes to slot into 12th overall. I was now in clean air with Gordon Shedden hot on my heals. We were reeling in the Audi in front by half a second a lap and I got the feeling Gordon was happy sitting behind me as we hunted down the car ahead, but then the safety car was deployed due to an incident on track.
The race went green with just 2 laps remaining and I made a slight mistake exiting turn 2, leaving the door open for Gordon to nip up the inside. Now out of my rhythm, Matt Neal followed suit into turn 5. I dropped down to 14th, but a good race it was and I secured another points finish.
The BTCC is such a challenge but one that I’m really enjoying. The key to being at the top is to qualify well, get off the line fast and race hard (but fair!!). I’m starting to get those feelings back from my Porsche Carrera Cup days with Celtic Speed, where I prided myself on being aggressive on the initial laps and always made up places. I learned a hell of a lot at Rockingham and I’m confident of more progress at Silverstone in three weeks time – we will keep pushing!