Pace and points in Yorkshire for Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport
The two Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW 330i M Sports of Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton showed impressive pace at Croft, North Yorkshire, this weekend as the Bowker BMW-backed cars batted to points finishes in all three Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship races.
Adam Morgan bagged two top 10 finishes with team-mate Tom Chilton doing the same in race three and illustrating his pace with the fastest lap of race two.
Adam qualified an impressive fifth (carrying 33kg of success ballast) recovering after a minor gearbox issue early in the session to put his Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW on the inside of row three with Tom qualifying 15th in a difficult session that was twice interrupted. That meant that finding an opportunity to complete a run between stoppages was very difficult.
From the start of race one Adam was in the middle of a multi-car battle but he was on the medium compound tyre, the harder of the two choices at Croft and those drivers on the option soft rubber, to be used once over the day, were proving faster. That meant Adam dropped behind Josh Cook’s soft-shod Honda before Chris Smiley’s Hyundai went for a narrow gap at the Hairpin and wriggled past with four laps to go. Adam netted eighth place, a little frustrated.
“I thought that I would have held my place or gone forward,” he said, “but the cars on the soft tyre proved to be quick for a few laps and as they came though it affected the flow of the battle. There was a long line of us all fighting and if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, you could lose places so points and losing some of the success weight for race two isn’t all bad.”
Race two proved to be more of the same as Adam, now with 21 kilos of weight and the softer tyre, found himself in another massive queue of cars, all jousting for position and trying not to lose ground. “All it took was to try one move and you could leave the door open for someone else,” explained The Morganator. “It was a really brutal race with a lot of rubbing as everyone was desperate to make a move stick, but at the same time trying to overtake was a big risk. Nothing really fell my way and no gaps opened up ahead of me and instead I lost a place which is frustrating. The consolation is that I took ninth, scored points and lost more weight but I was hoping for more.”
Adam’s weekend contained more frustration in race three when he was involved in a big battle for seventh place with Jake Hill’s Ford Focus. Having already gained places from ninth on the grid, Adam, with just 15 kilos of weight on the car, was crawling all over Hill’s nervous-looking Ford as they approached the Complex and as the Ford slid slightly, it caught Adam’s BMW and sent it into a spin. Worse was that Adam had to wait for the engine to fire up again and then find a gap in the traffic before he could rejoin. The dramas dropped him to 21st before he charged back into 17th place at the chequered flag.
“I’m really frustrated, to say the least. I was quicker and lighter than Hill but he was being really defensive and he was on the limit. That made his car nervous and it touched mine but that was all it took to send me into a spin. At least I could fight back and gain a few places before the flag but that race could, should, have been so much better.”
Team-mate Tom Chilton had a consistent day, netting 11th in the opening race as he battled up from 15th on the grid, but was unlucky in the second race as he was involved in first lap dramas that whacked his Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW into a spin. “Who didn’t hit me…?” asked Tom, ruefully.
A mighty fightback from 27th to 17th was an inspired drive, Tom unlucky to miss out on a place in the top 15 for championship points but he did secure the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race, proof of how Tom is becoming increasingly confident in the rear-wheel drive machine. From 17th on the grid for race three, Tom blasted his way to 10th place after another attacking drive that illustrated his pace and confidence in the car.
Said Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess: “Today was mixed for Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport. I have never in 8 years seen Adam so frustrated after a race weekend. We showed really good pace because both cars were really good at running up near the front and overtaking, plus Tom took the fastest lap of the second race. So we know our cars perfectly set up and fast, as well as reliable, so that is really positive in our first year with the BMW. The cards just didn’t fall our way, though, and results didn’t reflect what we are capable of but with Silverstone in just a week’s time, at least we aren’t staring two badly damaged cars, the teams Mac Tools spanners are going to be getting some hammer getting the cars ready to leave on Wednesday! We will be back fighting at the front again next week, and Tom’s pace was fantastic, he can’t wait for the next round”
Adam lies ninth in the championship with Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport eighth in the BTCC Teams Championship. Adam is fourth in the Independents Trophy with the team fifth in the Independent Teams Championship.
