Adam Morgan claims race three victory at Donington Park
Adam Morgan rounded out his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship weekend at Donington Park with a superb win in the final race of the weekend. The victory, the fifth of his career, moved Adam to within seven points of the championship leader.
Adam ended the qualifying session with one last push that helped him to jump up to 13th on the 32-strong grid. Sunday’s race day dawned with cold, grey but dry conditions and Adam was eager to make progress on a dry track.
His opening race started badly when he was the victim of an ambitious dive by team-mate Tom Oliphant, the resulting contact causing Adam to run off the circuit and plummet down the order.
Adam’s second race was a hugely important one and it set him up for the third encounter. From 22nd on the grid, Adam stormed up the order, running the faster prime tyre and also devoid of any success ballast. That meant that his Mercedes-Benz A-Class was flying and, in one inspired dive, he bagged fifth place at the Chicane by passing two cars in one move!
Race three had a semi-reversed grid with the top nine finishers from race two being turned upside down, so Adam started fifth on the grid. With some brave driving on the opening lap he charged up into second place exiting the tricky double-apex right-hander of Coppice Corner. At the end of the opening lap, a safety car period bunched up the field leaving Adam on the tail of race leader Ash Sutton ready for the restart. By lap eight, Adam was ahead, diving through on the inside at the Chicane. Behind him was race one winner Josh Cook (Vauxhall Astra) who chased Adam to the very end, the pair split by never more than a few tenths of a second. Adam, however, never put a wheel wrong to secure victory, the fifth different BTCC winner in the opening six races.
Adam Morgan: “The car was just fantastic here and I was really determined to get a win and it all gelled. I am so happy for all the Ciceley Motorsport team because we didn’t get a win last season but we have fought back over the winter."
The result moves Adam up to second in the Drivers’ Championship and also in the Independent Drivers’ standings. Ciceley Motorsport lies fifth in the BTCC Teams’ Championship and second in the BTCC Independent Teams’ Championship.
The next stop for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is at Thruxton, Hampshire, on May 19/20 with qualifying live on itv.com on Saturday May 19 and a full day of race action live and exclusive on ITV4 on Sunday May 20th.
