AmDTuning adds to BTCC points tally at Silverstone

AmDTuning.com produced another strong showing on track as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship headed to Silverstone for the penultimate meeting of the campaign.The West Thurrock-based team went into the weekend seeking to build on a brace of points finish in the previous meeting of the season at Rockingham, where driver Ollie Jackson produced his most competitive performance of the year.On the pace through free practice, where he produced the 13th quickest time at the wheel of his Audi S3, Ollie qualified 24th on the grid having battled with understeer through the session, with the team resolving the problem ahead of the opening race of the weekend.A strong performance when the lights went out saw Ollie battling his way forwards through the pack; dicing with the works Subarus and title-leading BMWs in a train of cars fighting for the final points scoring positions.Having taken the flag in 16th, Ollie was then promoted into 14th post-race when the two MG drivers were excluded from the results.Another solid drive in race two saw Ollie running inside the points until the closing stages, when a forceful move from the Honda of Matt Neal two laps from the end saw him demoted to 16th place.Further contact from a Honda, this time driven by Jeff Smith, ended Ollie’s hopes of more points in race three, despite an impressive recovery that saw him fight back from a heavy hit at the end of the Wellington Straight to again finish just shy of the points scoring positions.“It’s almost good to be disappointed that we only got one points finish from the weekend, as we certainly could have scored in all three,” he said. “A lot of it came down to qualifying where we were lower than we should have been, but we fought back well on Sunday and made the most of the strong race pace in the car.“Race one went well and it looked like we could add to the points in race two until the closing laps when we just missed out. In the final race, there were certainly points to be had before Jeff Smith tried to use me as a brake at the end of the straight and dropped me right down the order. The fact that I fought back to 17th with a damaged car, and was able to lap as quick as the front-runners, showed what might have been.“We just need to work on making sure we get the most out of the car in qualifying at Brands Hatch and I’m sure we’ll be able to add to our points on Finals Day.”Team boss Shaun Hollamby said he was pleased with the performance on track, although he shared in Ollie’s disappointment at the missed points.“The pace in the car has been good once against this weekend and we certainly could have taken more than a single points finish,” he said. “Ollie race day performance has been strong and it’s only because of the driving of others that we haven’t been able to score in all three races; particular in the final one where he was as quick as the guys at the front.“Having shown our improvement in the past two meetings, hopefully we can now continue to build on it and go to Brands Hatch in a few weeks and end the season on a high.”


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