Morgan secures three top 10 finishes in Thruxton thrillers

FUCHS sponsored Adam Morgan bagged three more top 10 finishes in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton this weekend.

In his Mercedes-Benz A-Class, which always goes well at the Hampshire speedbowl, The Morganator qualified seventh at the end of an interrupted session. A red flag caused by a car in a dangerous place meant that a demon lap couldn’t be completed and with Adam’s other best lap affected by traffic, Adam was frustrated by the outcome.

“The lap that the red flag came out was looking good and I reckon that it would have put me fourth. My other good lap was stuffed a bit by traffic but we have a good pace for the races.”

Adam suffered man flu on race day, but still fought his car to fifth place in the opening race with 48 kilos of success ballast on board. “I lost a bit of ground off the line and that cost me a bit of time but I made good progress and the car felt good. We didn’t really know how the weight would affect us and also the new hard tyre that we run here was an unknown so it was a decent race for us, and the car had a decent balance so it is a positive outcome."

The second race was frustrating for everyone as a spectacular lap one crash for Dan Lloyd’s MG led to a safety car and then a race stop. A long delay followed for repairs to the barriers and a 10-lap restart began with a grid based on the positions before the stoppage. Adam had been forced wide on the opening lap and lost a couple of places that he couldn’t make up before the safety car entered the circuit. The result was that Adam began the restart one row further back and ran seventh after a battle with fellow Mercedes driver Aiden Moffat. The two clashed at the Complex after Adam, carrying 39 kilos of success weight, hit a kerb and bounced across the front of Aiden, which slightly delayed the pair.

“I apologised to Aiden as soon as I got out of the car. It wasn’t deliberate and I felt really bad, but it cost us both a bit of time, but seventh is okay as it is more points.”

Adam started the final reverse grid race seventh on the grid with 27 kilos of success ballast on board. Adam battled his way through the 16-lapper in the leading pack but the car felt different from the previous two races.

“The car was difficult for some reason. We shed some weight but struggled with understeer and that made me frustrated and because I lost some places, I then pushed too hard too soon to try to make them back up and I might have hurt the tyres a bit. That meant the tyres lost their edge so the result wasn’t what I was hoping for after a win here last year, but, looking positively, we had three top 10 finishes and a good haul of points so it was a pretty decent day, really.”

Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess said: “We have enjoyed another excellent day in the BTCC. Our car has bagged three top 10 finishes, come away with no damage and our many guests, from Mac Tools and Fuchs Lubricants, have all got behind Adam and cheered him all day. This year’s championship is so competitive: people are going faster than last year but are further down the order so it is easy to get tricked into comparing our results last year to this year and being disappointed. When the championship is so close, we have to reset our expectations a little and the fact that we have a good car, are scoring points consistently and running in the leading pack underlines that Ciceley Motorsport is one of the top teams in the championship. We have our home race at Oulton Park next which is always important to us, but our next challenge is to maintain the pace and set up of the car. We lost our way a bit there last year so we aim to strike back this season with more podium finishes on home soil.”

Adam’s fifth, seventh and ninth place finishes put him fifth in the championship and second in the Independent drivers’ title race, while Ciceley Motorsport is fifth in the teams’ championship and second in the Independent teams’ contest.

The next rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship are at Oulton Park, Cheshire, on May 20/21.