Morgan’s mighty pace goes unrewarded

MSA British Touring Car Championship star Adam Morgan endured a difficult weekend at Snetterton, Norfolk, with mechanical gremlins blighting his impressive pace during the weekend.

Accrington-based Adam arrived at the 2.99-mile circuit in optimistic mood after a productive mid-season test at the Norfolk venue and the weekend started well with the third best time in the opening two practice sessions. After having a lap time scrubbed for exceeding track limits, Adam bagged a third row grid spot for the opening race and made a good getaway to be in the leading gaggle on the opening lap. He was forced wide mid-way through the opening lap and lost one spot but soon battled back to put the FUCHS sponsored Mercedes-Benz A-Class into 4th place. Adam continued to be a factor in the early part of the race until, when running sixth, the Ciceley Motorsport car suddenly slowed.

“The driveshaft broke,” explained Adam. “We were doing really well and had great pace so I was confident that I could have gained more places before the end, maybe even a podium, but then the driveshaft changed the whole complexion of our weekend. With the results of the first race dictating the grid for race two, that put us on the back foot straight away.”

The Morganator started the second 12-lap race from 28th on the grid meaning that he had a tough job ahead in battling as high up the order as possible. Adam bolted away from the line and started to work through the pack, but the WIX-supported car was struggling for outright pace. Even so, Adam did a storming job to work his way to 19th by the end of the race, despite the need for a car with good top speed on Snetterton’s two fast straights.

“I’m not really sure what it was,” said Adam after the race, “but the car just felt as though something had been knocked and the outright speed that we had enjoyed in practice had disappeared. The lads all worked their socks off, though, to get the car ready for race three and then it felt great again.”

Race three’s grid put Adam 19th and he rocketed away from the line to try to break into the top 15 and score championship points. Adam’s storming early pace put him into 11th place before his weekend nose-dived with a battery problem. The car suddenly ground to a halt and despite Adam restarting it, the car died twice more forcing a pit stop and retirement. The battery terminal shaft touching the bodywork caused a shortage, which forced the car out of the race.

“I am gutted, really,” Adam said at the end of the day. “That is another non-score which is really bad for the championship, but if I look at the start of the weekend and that last race, there is a lot to be positive about. The car’s pace was excellent before we had the driveshaft break and the lads worked wonders for race three because the car felt like it was on rails. I was really confident that I could be in the top 10, maybe even the top eight, but in the end it wasn’t to be. I walked away from the car into the truck and heard the ITV team saying: ‘Adam’s miserable weekend continues’. That summed it up, really!

“We go to Knockhill next and we have always gone well there so I am eager to get back on track and put this weekend behind us. We will spend a lot of time making sure that we don’t suffer any mechanical dramas again and with the car now having a really good set-up once again, I can’t wait to get back on track and back on the podium.”

Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess said: “We know it was a frustrating weekend for Adam and all our engineers because they all worked so hard to make our Fuchs Backed Mercedes-Benz A-Class a winning car again. Sometimes these things happen in motor racing but a weekend like this just makes all of us want to win even more: we will come out fighting at Knockhill and make sure that we put the disappointment of Snetterton behind us and give all our loyal sponsors and guests plenty to cheer about.”

Adam now lies 11th overall in the championship and fifth in the Independents’ Trophy heading to Knockhill on August 12th/13th.