Tough day in Scotland for Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport
Leading Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Team, Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport are reflecting on a tough weekend at Knockhill, Fife, after drivers Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton raced hard all weekend.
On the 1.2-mile Scottish circuit, the two Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport drivers were up for the battle going into qualifying but with commitment absolute and track space crucial, Adam had an off at the fast chicane, his Bowker BMW-backed 330i M Sport sliding sideways into the gravel and ending its session early. “I was a bit greedy with the kerb,” explained Adam. “That threw me off the road.” Thirteenth on the grid was Adam’s reward, which could have been much worse but would make life tough going into the opening 24-lap race of the weekend. Tom also struggled for clear track space and would line up 16th for the opening race of the weekend.
In front of a big and enthusiastic Scottish crowd on a chilly raceday, the two Race Gods were ready for the fight. Adam was in determined mood from the start, taking his Mac Tools supported BMW to fight the traffic ahead but in a frantic opening lap, found himself losing places rather than gaining. “I was having a battle with Dan Lloyd (Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra) and went up the inside at Clark’s which put me in a slide and I lost a few places and then the same happened at the hairpin so I dropped to 17th.”
That meant Adam spent the race fighting back into contention, carrying 39 kilos of success ballast for running fifth in the championship. Pulling some brave moves under braking, Adam worked his way back into the points. “After the first lap, I had to fight back but spent the race working back up to 13th, rather than making progress from my grid position. That was frustrating, but we were happy with the pace of the car so there was definitely a big positive to take from the race.”
Adam would start 13th on the grid once more for race two, with a tweak to the balance of the car. Determined to make progress, Adam used a big chunk of kerb at the Chicane to get the run on the traffic, but the car became unsettled and had a spin on the opening lap of the race. “That dropped me to 27th,” recalled Adam, “but I then worked my way back up to 16th so the pace of the car was really good. Again, that was really pleasing but I was cross with myself that I was using it to recover and not to go forward. We had also taken the weight out of the car which made it feel different but overall the car felt good.”
Race three would employ the semi-reverse grid but Adam missed out on it and thus had to start 16th. More balance changes were made but Adam had to run the regulation harder tyre that each driver had to use in one of the three races. That was regarded as the slower tyre so Adam found it harder to battle up the order, netting a second 13thplace of the day.
“It’s been a frustrating weekend. It could have been three top 10 finishes, but the key to it was qualifying. If I hadn’t had my off I could have used a second set of tyres, qualified higher and been out of the dramas, so it is certainly a reminder just how important qualifying is.”
The second Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW 330i M Sport of Tom Chilton also had a frustrating weekend, Tom suffering with the traffic in qualifying and lining up 16th after the twice-interrupted session. In the opening race, Tom battled up to 13th place. “I felt quite fast this weekend, I felt quite racy especially on the softer tyre. I was on a real charge in race one and I got up from 16th to 12th which was good.”
In race two, Tom underlined his pace by rocketing his Haydock Finance support BMW up to the top six and then started to battle with Aiden Moffat (Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50) but as Tom pressed on, a tiny drama at the Chicane upset his progress.
“I made a mistake at the Chicane chasing Aiden and I had to do a Scandinavian flick to try to control it, but instead, that was followed by a 360-degree spin! I was disappointed with myself because I had been flying before that, but it proves that I am not just needing to learn about the car itself but also how to race it. After so many years in front-wheel drive machinery, I would have responded differently to the slide but a rear-wheel drive car behaves differently – and not as I wanted!”
The spin dropped Tom down the order and he ended the race 25th and on the harder tyre also struggled to make progress in race three against the bulk of the grid on softer rubber. The team elected to retain the race two set-up but that proved to be the wrong decision with the harder tyre behaving differently, but the Accrington-based squad felt that the data was very useful. Tom ended the race 23rd.
“I am 75% of the way there to being on top of a rear-wheel drive car so I am definitely getting there! I am getting faster and more confident all the time, so I am looking forward to Thruxton and another step forward.”
Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess said: “That was one of the weekends that reminds you how tough this championship can be. We had great pace, two really committed drivers and they drove as hard as they could, but the cards just didn’t fall right. You get weekends like that, but we take the positives of good pace and no damage meaning we will come out fighting at Thruxton. Our GRAFX wrapped cars looked amazing dancing over the kerbs, although the team were a little frustrated, We had lots of Car Gods guests on site, which was fantastic. To be able to welcome back our partners and involve them in the BTCC is just what we have been waiting for and they all had a great day watching cracking racing. The Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport will be back at Thruxton where we raced in May, so we have data already and we are determined to bag more wins and podium finishes.”
