Adam has a tough time at Knockhill.

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race winner Adam Morgan had a tough time north of the border at the weekend as the championship made its annual visit to Knockhill. Adam bagged three points-scoring finishes but struggled for outright pace at one of the most demanding venues on the calendar.
 
Coming to Knockhill on the back of a win at Oulton Park, Adam started the weekend with high hopes. Having worked on set-up across the two free practice sessions, Adam’s Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class headed into qualifying confident of a time good enough for the top 10. Adam was looking good as the session entered its final third, but a red flag triggered by Matt Neal’s Honda Civic charging the barriers at the chicane, stopped the session. On the restart, Adam and the team elected to save rubber for raceday as the evidence pointed to no improvements in lap times, but just as the chequered flag was due, the cars that were on track suddenly achieved optimum tyre temperature and set quicker lap times. Disappointingly, that meant Adam dropped down the final order as the last gaggle of cars crossed the timing line, 14^th being his final qualifying spot.
 
“That was just one of those things,” said the philosophical Ribchester rocket. “We thought we had read the session just right and no-one was improving so we elected to save rubber but suddenly the session came alive at the end and we just weren’t in the right place to respond.” Fourteenth was Adam’s final qualifying position, but in attacking mood for the Sunday races.
 
In race one, Adam was busy battling with BTC Racing Honda Civic driver Josh Cook but the Ciceley Motorsport-run Mercedes-Benz A-Class just didn’t quite have the top speed to find a way by, as Adam tried every which way to get by, Cook’s team-mate Tom Chilton squeezed past, but when Cook suffered a puncture and went off the road, Adam was promoted to 12^th place. “We just lacked pace in that race,” said a frustrated Adam afterwards. “We made adjustments after qualifying but we just couldn’t seem to find a way of finding a greater amount of speed which means that progress was really hard to make on a track at which overtaking is notoriously difficult.”

 
He began the second 24-lapper from 12^th on the grid, but Adam found himself stuck in traffic, the Carlube Triple R backed Mercedes-Benz once again lacking that final tenth of pace that would enable him to make up places. Adam pushed as hard as he could to make progress, but fell victim to contact from Chilton’s Honda, which forced the Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools driver off the road, costing him places in the race and a chance at a reverse grid benefit for race three. Adam ended the race in 14^th place, just seven-tenths shy of Ollie Jackson’s Ford Focus, frustrated once again.
 
Missing out on a reverse grid spot, Adam started the final race from 14^th and again found himself in traffic, but was involved in a concertina effect at the Hairpin which delayed him, only to be caught by Stephen Jelley’s rear-wheel drive BMW. “I was quicker than him in some places,” said Adam, “but I had to defend in others which meant that I dropped away from the pack ahead. Fourteenth again in race three isn’t what we expected after Oulton Park.
 
“Knockhill is a weird circuit in some respects and it is often hard to get a sweet spot on the set-up,” Adam reflected. “It’s easy here to go down some blind alleys in the set-up which compromises your weekend, but we got through without damage and we know what to do at Thruxton to try to maximise our weekend.”

 
Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess said: “That was one of the toughest weekends I can remember. After the highs of Oulton Park it is tempting to count this as a low weekend, but, actually, we were in the points in all three races and left Scotland with both of our cars intact. It was frustrating for everyone at Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools, be they drivers, mechanics or sponsors, not to replicate what we did at Oulton, but you can’t fault Adam for trying to wring every last tenth of a second out of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Next stop is Thruxton which is where we turned a corner last year to unlock pace so we head to Hampshire with optimism.”
 
The second Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class of Jack Butel again maintained its 100% finishing record, Jack having his first ever BTCC races at the Scottish circuit as well as his first races there in a front-wheel drive car. Jack took 20^th in race one, 21^st in the second stanza and 22^nd in the final race as he increased his experience of the BTCC. “I learned a lot this weekend,” said Jersey-based Jack. “I’ve only raced here in single-seaters before, in British F4, so I had a lot to get to grips with, but I definitely felt that I made progress over the three races. The one sector of the lap in which I lost time was the middle one which includes the Chicane and I put that down to lack of time at the circuit, but I have to be happy with my pace at the end of the weekend compared to where I was at the start.”
 
Adam Morgan now lies eighth in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship overall and fourth in the Independents’ Championship, while Carlube Triple R Racing Mac Tools is fifth in the Independent Teams’ Championship.