Ciceley Motorsport race ace Adam Morgan had a tricky weekend at Croft, North Yorkshire, in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship but conquered the treacherous conditions to secure two top-10 finishes.
After showing encouraging pace in free practice, Adam went into qualifying in more optimistic mood. However, the qualifying session turned out to be a real lottery, blighted by five red flags and frustrating interruptions. Adam, whose Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a front-wheel drive car, was hurt by the need to do a lap from the pits, cross the tyres over and do another two laps before tyre temperature would allow a flying lap to be achieved. Frustratingly, each time Adam started a flier, the red flags flew and he hadn’t been able to complete a single fast lap time by the end of the session!
“Every time I was on a flying lap, the red flags flew. We did nothing wrong, it was just other people falling off or nudging the barriers on to the track so they had to be moved. It is mega-frustrating because the car felt really good this morning but now we are the back and Sunday is going to be hard.”
From 28thon the grid for the opener, Adam charged his way up to 16thplace on a damp road winning Dunlop’s Forever Forward award for most places gained. Although Adam was just one place away from the points-scorers, it put him in the mix for race two.
“The road was wet after a shower before the race and we made changes for the damp conditions. They worked, although the car fell away towards the end as the road dried out and that had more of an effect than I expected, but the positives are that I’ve got no damage and am well-placed now for race two.”
Adam started the dry second race from mid-grid and battled up to 11th place, latching on to the tail of the similar Mercedes-Benz A-Class of Aiden Moffat. The Scotsman made his car very wide meaning that not only couldn’t Adam find a way by, but he soon came under attack from a train of cars including Stephen Jelley (BMW), Senna Proctor (Subaru) and Rory Butcher’s Honda. One error from Adam would have allowed the pack to charge by, but, soaking up the pressure, The Morganator hung on in his Fuchs lubricated Mercedes to take 11thplace.
“That was decent! I moved into the points and the car was OK, but I struggled with the high speed sections a bit, so we need to make some changes for race three but the car is capable of fighting for places.”
Heavy rain before race three threw another variable into the mix, but the Mac Tools Mercedes was expected to do well. After all, you need a Mac in wet weather…. Equally, Adam’s rallying experience was expected to stand him in good stead on the slippery track surface.
Using Dunlop’s wet weather tyre, Adam started 11thon the grid but fought up to ninth place on a road that was drying all the time. With grip levels changing, the dirty track surface and spray being thrown on to the windscreen and visibility obscured, it was a challenging race for everyone, but Adam mastered the conditions to bag ninth spot.
“All things considered, to start the weekend 28thand finish ninth isn’t too bad! I had two points scores, showed good pace and avoided damage so there are positives. It hasn’t been as good as I wanted and part of that is down to qualifying. Because the cars are so evenly matched, so competitive this year, qualifying is so important and that hurt us yesterday but the Mac Tools Mercedes-Benz A-Class is still a force to be reckoned with. We’ve had good races but not a good weekend yet, so we need to string together three good finishes next time at Oulton Park. That’s the target.”
Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess said: “That was a really tough weekend thanks to the conditions and the weird qualifying session. After Saturday, morale was a bit low but the way Adam got his head down and charged up to ninth in race three paid back all the hard work from everyone in the team. It’s not just been a challenge on the track, but keeping our guests happy in the wet and mud takes some doing and there is no better way to lift spirits than with a good result in the final race so Adam’s charge to ninth was a real boost. We are seeing just how competitive the BTCC is this year so a top 10 finish is a real achievement. All our Mac Tools guests were impressed with Adam attacking and defending, coping with spray, peering through a muddy windscreen and never putting a wheel wrong. He drove really well all weekend.”
Adam lies 12thin the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship and fourth in the Independent Drivers’ Championship.
Ciceley Motorsport’s second Mercedes-Benz A-Class, run under the Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport banner for Dan Rowbottom, enjoyed its most competitive weekend yet, with Rowbo taking a best-yet 14thin qualifying and equalling his best race result of 17thplace in race three, only dropping a place on the last lap to a car on slick tyres on a drying road. Buoyed by the pace, Dan is hunting for points next time out.
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