Morgan Marks his 250th BTCC Start.

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship ace Adam Morgan marked his 250^th BTCC start at Thruxton, Hampshire, this weekend, with front-running pace and a fourth-place finish in his Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
 
It was at the Hampshire circuit, the fastest UK track, 12 months ago that the Ciceley Motorsport squad, headed by Steve Farrell, made significant improvements to the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and it was a confident team that arrived ready for round 13 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship. Adam, in particular, had made a special step forward when it came to qualifying.
 
“Qualifying tends to be my weakness as I just don’t seem to get totally hooked up and find that last bit of time. I have spent time with a sports-psychologist and so before qualifying I locked myself away in the truck and went through his advice again and it really worked. On my last lap I set the best final sector of anyone in the session, found two tenths of a second and moved up to the second row of the grid. I was really chuffed with that because it as one of the best laps I’ve ever driven.”
 
From fourth on the grid, Adam and the team made some changes to the car for the opening race, which was Adam’s 250^th BTCC start. The car, however, “Was a bit too understeery,” explained Adam. By the end of the race, in which Adam consolidated his fourth place, the front left tyre was very worn, but Adam was delighted with his pace, especially as he set the fastest lap of the race from the Independent runners, the non-manufacturer-entered teams.

 
“I was really pleased with the pace. The car was quick all the way through and I can’t grumble with that at all. That was a really good start to the day.”
 
The Ciceley Motorsport squad made some changes to the car for race two, which Adam felt made the rear of the car a little unpredictable. “I’m nit-picking now!” he admitted. “Again, the pace of the car was really strong, but then sadly an O-ring in the power steering unit failed. It costs about 50 pence probably and we’d already changed it before we came here, but when the power steering goes, it is impossible to turn the wheel so that was the end of my race and put me at the back of the grid for race three. That was a big blow as we were running in fourth place at the time.”
 
The team repaired the O-ring for race three and Adam started 24^th and gained ground off the start, only to be caught up in drama at the Chicane at the end of the opening tour. That lost Adam the ground he’d made up so had to start again and caught Stephen Jelley’s BMW for 17^th place. Adam battled past, only for the replacement O-ring to fail on the final lap when a points finish was on the cards. 
 
“I couldn’t believe it! A component failure is something that we haven’t suffered for a long time and, as yet, we don’t know what is causing it. It’s odd to have two go in two races, and we don’t have a lot of time before Silverstone to analyse it.
 
“The positives are that I have driven well across all sessions, the pace has been really good with me in the top five all weekend and the set-up has been good all weekend, so there are many good elements to the weekend, plus my qualifying effort was a step forward. We could, should, have had three top fives and maybe a podium. It was nothing I did wrong nor the team did wrong: it was a brand new part that failed twice so that is out of our control. Next stop is Silverstone next week and I will be going all out for points and a podium.”

 
Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess commented: “Motor racing can be cruel can’t it? After a really good qualifying and first race, we were all geared up for more points in race two before a 50p part stopped us! For it to happen again in race three was gutting but we will get to the bottom of why it happened and get it sorted for Silverstone. Everyone at Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools is committed to success and we won’t let this get us down.
 
“It was great to see Adam going so well in race one, and that being his 250^th BTCC race generated a lot of valuable exposure for our sponsors with ITV talking to Adam on the warming up lap for the opening race, a reminder of the commercial value that the BTCC has. Now we head to Silverstone ready to run at the front once more.”
 
The second Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class in the hands of Jack Butel took three solid finishes at the circuit geographically closest to Jersey-based Jack’s home. From 24^th in qualifying, Jack progressed to a best of 18^th during the day, just missing out on points but continuing his unbroken run of race finishes in his rookie season in the ultra-competitive Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.