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Team sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport endured a mixed weekend at Donington Park during the latest rounds of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship, where bad fortune prevented the team from adding to its run of top ten finishes.
Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell and Widnes ace Paul O'Neill went into the weekend looking to add further points to their tally at the wheel of the two distinctively liveried Honda Integras, but incidents on track in the three races hit their hopes.
O'Neill arrived at Donington on the back of an impressive return to the BTCC at Thruxton, but a misfire in qualifying restricted him to eleventh on the grid.
In wet conditions for the opening race, O'Neill was making progress through the field before a missed gear saw him run wide at Redgate and take a trip through the gravel. He soon started to storm back up the order and was picking off cars at will – including title winners Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato in one move – before contact from the BMW of Jonathan Adam saw him spin off into the gravel on the run to McLeans while running sixth.
O'Neill's hopes of a strong finish in race two were hit by contact at turn one which damaged the suspension and front splitter on his car, but he still managed to finish just outside the points in eleventh.
For the final race, on a wet but drying track, the team gambled on putting slick tyres on the front of the Honda with wet tyres on the rear, but a vibration on the warm-up lap saw O'Neill pull into the pits for a tyre change before he joined the race from the pitlane. Despite a brief spin, he went on to post the quickest lap, although the race came to an end before he was able to make the most of his tyre gamble – despite the fact he was lapping three seconds a lap quicker than the leaders at the finish.
While a top ten finish proved elusive, the fastest lap in race three meant O'Neill was rewarded with a bonus point.
“In a word, I'd say we were unlucky,” he said. “We had a misfire in qualifying which set us back a bit but it was going well in the first race until I made the mistake at Redgate. Without that, we could have got onto the podium as the car was mega. I was making good progress back up the field after that and picking people off until the incident with Adam. One minute I was defending my position, the next I was in the gravel…
“In race race two, the suspension and splitter were damaged and I lost downforce through the fast corners, so eleventh was okay. In race three, we took the gamble with the tyres. I made a mistake and went off once as I was pushing so hard, but it was the right call - we just ran out of laps. The fact I set the fastest lap showed we'd have been right up there if the race had been a little bit longer.”
Team-mate Bell was looking to add to his double score from the opening rounds of the year at Brands Hatch, but saw his hopes hit by an incident in qualifying, when he made contact with the tyres at Goddards and damaged the driveshaft on his car.
Forced to start from the back of the grid as a result, he was then hit by the BMW of Nick Leason at turn one and suffered damaged steering, which hampered his challenge and left him to battle to 15th with an ill-handling car.
With changes to the set-up of the car and his steering repaired, Bell enjoyed a stronger run in race two and was battling his way up the order before getting stuck behind the Ford Focus of Alan Morrison. Despite battling throughout the race to find a way past the Team Aon driver, Bell was unable to find a way through and a late spin saw him drop behind John George to again finish 15th.
Contact at turn one at the start of race three, which damaged the steering again on the Honda and also caused a puncture, meant Bell's hopes of a strong end to the weekend were ended within seconds of the start, but having pitted to replace his puncture, he returned to the circuit and took the flag in 19th to continue his 100 per cent finishing record this season.
“We had a mixed bag really,” he said. “In qualifying, I was on for a really good time but I clipped the tyres at Goddards and it ripped the driveshaft out, so I didn't set a time and started 20th. In race one, I got hit by Nick at Redgate and it damaged the steering but I stayed out and battled to 15th.
“We changed the set-up for race two and it took me a few laps to get used to it, but I was able to pick people off until I got behind Morrison. He was driving the wheels of that Focus and I just couldn't get through, and then I ran a bit wide while trying in the closing laps and lost a place. It's one of those times when I had to try and it just didn't pay off.
“In the final race, Tom Chilton hit me so hard at the first corner that it damaged the steering again and gave me a puncture. I came in and we stuck slicks on the front, but with the damaged steering there was no chance of me making any progress up the order as the car was a real handful.
“We've shown that the sunshine.co.uk cars have the pace and now we just need the luck. But we've scored some more Independents points for the team and our confidence is continuing to grow.” | |
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