Morgan kick-starts BTCC campaign

Three top 12 finishes at Donington Park

Morgan kick-starts BTCC campaign

Adam Morgan started his Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship assault with three top 12 finishes at Donington Park this weekend, as Britain’s premier motor sport championship roared into life.

Behind closed doors, but in front of ITV4’s cameras for day-long coverage, Adam’s Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class, run by Ciceley Motorsport, ended the day in the top ten in the championship with a positive driver buoyed by the car’s pace.

Adam qualified tenth in Saturday’s 30-minute session, spots of rain at the start of the session triggering a run of banker laps to ensure of a time in case the track conditions worsened.

That, in turn, precluded a pit stop for a tyre cross, desirable on the front-wheel drive cars, but Adam made the best of his decision despite not maximising his pace in the second sector of the lap. 

He said: “I’m convinced that there was another tenth left in me, but I didn’t quite extract it, however, the car feels great.

“We had a brake issue back at the season launch day but, with a lot of effort by engineer Steve Farrell, we have been through the data, found the problem and cured it.

“The car feels so much more driveable now.”

Adam’s opening race didn’t reflect the optimism of qualifying.

In the frenetic opening corners, Adam lost ground as a brace of cars flashed by and then contact with Sam Osborne’s Honda Civic at McLeans Corner cost him two more.

As the race settled down, Adam upped his pace and was making progress into the top ten when he suffered another setback: having just overtaken Ollie Jackson (Ford Focus), there was contact at the Chicane as Jackson braked too late and Adam was forced wide, falling from 10th to 17th.

In a gutsy fight-back, Adam dragged the Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class into 12th place at the chequered flag.

From 12th on the grid, the Accrington-based racer was in feisty mood in race two.

He was part of a frantic battle that raged on for much of the race, with Adam charging up into eighth place, illustrating the pace of the Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes.

Just 6.5 seconds off the lead, Adam was delighted with his result.

On the semi-reversed grid for the final race, The Morganator lined up fifth in what turned out to be a frantic race.

Led initially by his race one nemesis Ollie Jackson, the race pace was electric as Jackson fended off Chris Smiley (Hyundai i30N) and Josh Cook (Honda Civic) with Adam slotting in behind in fourth.

The fast pace forced Adam to drive as hard as he could and with 18 kilos of success ballast on board from his race two result, the speed and weight combined to affect Adam’s left front tyre.

Adam said: “The pace was really quick and I just asked a bit too much of the left front, so as the race wore on I couldn’t quite have a go at Josh for third.

“It was close, but I just didn’t quite have the final tenth to attack him.

“Fourth was a good result to end the weekend, though, and the car feels so much better than last year that I am very positive about Brands Hatch next weekend.

“The Mercedes feels like a new car.”

The results put Adam ninth in the championship and fourth in the Independents’ Trophy.

Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools is eighth in the BTCC Teams’ Championship and fourth in the Independent Teams’ Championship.

The second Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class was raced by Jack Butel, who signed a late deal to join the BTCC.

Thrown in at the deep end, the weekend was all about track time for Jack in his first experience of a front-wheel drive racing car and he didn’t disgrace himself.

Starting 24th for race one, Jack kept out of trouble and finished 22nd, before improving further in race two to bag 19th place.

Sadly, in the final race, Jack was the victim of contact as an out-of-control Ollie Brown clobbered the back of Jack’s Mercedes and fired him into the gravel trap.

Although Jack was able to re-join, he lost a chunk of time and suffered rear end damage that affected the pace of the car but he took 20th place as well as gaining more valuable track time.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship moves on to Brands Hatch this weekend, August 8th/9th.

Qualifying on Saturday is shown live on itv.com and all the raceday action is live on ITV4 on Sunday.

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