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Team sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport will be chasing points for the third successive meeting as the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship heads to Donington Park this weekend for the third round of the year.
Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell secured a brace of top ten finishes at the wheel of his Honda Integra during the opening weekend of the year at Brands Hatch, while team-mate Paul O'Neill celebrated his return to the BTCC at Thruxton last time out with the team's first top six finish. O'Neill also went close to a fairytale win in race three, before a late puncture ended his chances while fighting for the lead.
Heading to Donington Park, the team – backed by leading online travel agent sunshine.co.uk – lies eighth in the overall standings, while it is just ten points off former champions Team Dynamics in the Independents' championship race.
With one of the most popular driver pairings in the paddock, the team will hope for plenty of support at Donington, with Bell having always enjoyed a bumper following at one of his ‘local' circuits on the calendar.
“Donington is one of the closest circuits to home for me, so I can always count on a lot of support when we get there,” he said. “The Sunshine.co.uk boys will be out in force again, and hopefully me and Paul can work well together to try and deliver some more points for the team. Donington as a circuit is great. It's fast and flowing and always draws in the crowds, and hopefully we'll put on a good show for them.
“As a team, we were robbed a bit at Thruxton after what happened in race three, so hopefully Paul and I can deliver the goods and put that right a little bit. The cars are prepared to such a high standard by the Tech-Speed team and we have shown in the first two rounds that we are more than capable of fighting in the top ten.”
Team-mate O'Neill produced a star performance at Thruxton as he took the fight to more modern machinery on his return to the series, and while he admits that Donington may not suit the car quite as much as the high-speed Hampshire circuit, the former Vauxhall driver said he was hopeful of dicing inside the top ten.
“I'm really looking forward to it,” he said. “I'm not sure we'll be quite as strong as were at Thruxton, but the car has gone well at Donington in the past and we should be fighting in the top ten. I'd hope to be battling with the likes of James Thompson and Adam Jones at the least and getting on the tail of the Vauxhalls and the BMWs. I had three good races at Thruxton and spent plenty of time in the car, so I'm looking to hit the ground running from the first practice session and get the job done.
“Marvin [Humphries] and the guys at Tech-Speed have delivered a good car – like they always have done and always will do – and we'll be doing all we can to impress again for Sunshine.co.uk and the rest of the sponsors who have helped us get on the grid. We couldn't do it without their support.” | |
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