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Team sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport enjoyed a fine start to the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch, with two top ten finishes from the opening three races of the year.
With Paul O'Neill forced to miss the weekend due to commitments elsewhere, it was left to Martyn Bell to fly the flag for the team in the lone Honda Integra, and the Barrow-upon-Humber racer didn't disappoint as he achieved his aim of scoring points from the first weekend of the year.
Martyn qualified in a solid 15th place for the opening race and battled hard with the likes of Harry Vaulkhard and BTCC race winners Dan Eaves and Tom Chilton to take the flag in tenth place – scoring his first championship point since the penultimate race meeting of the 2007 season.
The second race saw Martyn finish twelfth - less than two seconds away from tenth-placed Jason Plato - but in the final race of the weekend, he rewarded the team with a second top ten finish of the day; repeating his result from race one to take the final championship point.
“Without doubt that was my best weekend in the BTCC,” he said. “I know I scored points with the BMW, but they were points I picked up, whereas at Brands Hatch, I raced for them. I had confidence in the car and was able to push a lot more, and the Integra really seems to suit me - even if I did make a fool of myself by going to get in the wrong side before the first practice session!
“I'm thrilled to bits with how the weekend went for myself, the team and the sponsors. I now have a car that will allow me to show what I can do and I wasn't a million miles away on the times. To be less than 20 seconds behind race winner Jason Plato in race three shows how far we've come.
“Brands Hatch has never been my best circuit, so hopefully there is more to come as the season goes on, and while I was aiming for top tens this weekend, I now want to try and be getting towards the top eight. I also can't wait for Paul to join me in the second car, as he is a proven race winner and will only help to push me on. There is no reason why we can't have the two sunshine.co.uk cars battling for points.”
Martyn also finished all three races as the highest placed driver running in older BTC-machinery, with the results from the weekend leaving Team sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport in eighth place in the overall Teams' championship and seventh in the Independent Teams' standings.
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