BRANDS HATCH, BTCC  ROUNDS 7, 8 AND 9

A grid penalty and a new type of tyre presented their differing challenges to Tom and the Arena Motorsport team this weekend

Saturday was hard work for Tom and the Arena Motorsport team, as they had to use the two practice sessions to acclimatise to the new Championship tyres supplied by Dunlop. The other teams had all used the new rubber at Donington, but Tom didn’t take part there so they would have to work out chassis set up during practice here at Brands, as Tom explains;

“ We had a rough idea of where we would be with the new tyres as we did try them briefly on a test day at the end of last season. The different design of the tyre we all have to use now forced us to make a few set up changes, but nothing major. We just had to work hard and fast to get the information we needed.”

That hard work paid off immediately in qualifying as Tom dramatically improved his lap times from morning practice and was fastest with just a few minutes remaining.  Right at the end of the half hour qualifying session, Matt Neal found a little bit more from his Honda Integra and beat Tom to pole position by just 8 thousandths of a second. Tom was still pleased;

“ That lap was the result of everybody’s hard work this morning. We’ve made big improvements and because we knew we were going to suffer the penalty, I just had to go for it to get as high up the grid as possible. I’m really pleased with that lap and although it would have been even more pleasing to be fastest, Matt is only a fraction quicker and his team have worked with this new tyre all year, so the Team can be happy, it’s a good performance. “.

The penalty Tom refers to was given after a steward’s inquiry into the incident involving Tom in the third race at Thruxton five weeks ago. The officials handed Tom a penalty that meant he would be put back six places on the grid after qualifying at Brands Hatch. This was thought by the whole team to be unjust, and despite representations to the organisers of the BTCC, they upheld their decision and of course this changed Tom’s front row start position to a place on the 4th row of the grid.“To be penalised like this is extremely harsh and after all the hard work the team put in, I just feel gutted for them. We should be starting on the front row but now it will be from 8th on the grid.”

Round 7

Tom made a great start from the fourth row and found himself fighting for space with Jason Plato’s SEAT. Forced to go around the outside at Paddock Bend, Tom had to be content with remaining in 8th place. The 24-lap race was, unusually for the BTCC, quite processional. Dan Eaves out-braked himself at paddock, sliding off into the gravel trap – promoting Tom to 7th place and apart from a last lap run in with Rob Collard’s MG and James Kaye’s Honda Civic, that was that;

“ I had a pretty uneventful race really. On the last lap Rob ran wide at Druids and I tried to get through, couldn’t make it come off and that let James Kaye close up and try to pass me. We ran side by side for the last couple of corners and up to the finish line. I just had my nose in front so held on to 7th. The car had more understeer than in yesterday’s qualifying session, the circuit’s surface had got more slippery, so I didn’t really have a chance to attack in this race. Hopefully we can get some more grip for race two. “

Round 8

A brilliant getaway at the start promoted Tom to 6th place at the end of the first lap. Having passed Hines, Tom set about challenging the group immediately ahead comprising Collard, Plato and Turkington. It was all very close with nobody giving an inch. Then on lap 4 the drivers in front of Tom all tangled going through Surtees corner and although Tom managed to miss the resulting spinning Vauxhall of Colin Turkington, it would still end in retirement as Tom explained;

“ I saw it all kick off going into Surtees and just looked for a way to avoid the incident. I thought I had got away with it, but somehow I had taken a hit directly on the nearside front wheel. Halfway around the next lap the driveshaft eventually let go.”

 An impact had weakened it and then it eventually broke.

“ It was a real disappointment because the car felt fantastic in that race. I’m sure we would have finished with a good result. “

Tom nursed his Honda back into the pits and to retirement. The non-finish would also make the last race of the day a real challenge with Tom lining up to start in 11th place on the grid.

Round 9

Tom’s challenge was made a little easier when two cars were out at the start. They flew off into the gravel trap at the first corner and as the melee settled, Tom latched onto the leading chain of drivers, looking for an opportunity. The chance came following a safety car period, Tom made his move on James Pickford’s SEAT and out-dragged him into Surtees. Up to 7th and gaining on the winner of the previous two races – Matt Neal, Tom set what would be the fastest lap of the race. His Honda Civic was now handling exactly how he wanted;

“ The car felt fantastic. When I passed the SEAT I had some clear track and could really push. I caught Matt pretty easily, but passing him was a different matter. I didn’t have enough of an advantage to get through without him making a mistake, and he didn’t. He was holding me up and we couldn’t get any opportunities move up the field so I finished in that position – 7th place. “

The Team had performed well. Tom’s fastest race lap in the third race showed they had overcome the difficulties of starting the weekend with a new tyre. Tom had driven strongly and consistently. With Brands Hatch being such a notoriously difficult circuit to overtake on, everybody was left wondering how different the results might have been without Tom’s penalty delivering them such a significant blow.

The BTCC continues in two weeks time at Oulton Park. Tom and the team might have an opportunity to do some testing before then to improve the car further and Tom is looking forward to the next round;

“ The car is really good now. We don’t need to make huge developments, just small things to keep us competitive. I’ve qualified on the front row in both the events we’ve done so far and got fastest race laps as well so we know we will be in with a good chance at all the races this year.