Taylor upbeat despite setback at Donington
Rounds 7, 8 & 9 of the 2008 HI-Q MSA British Touring Car Championship took the series to the East Midlands and to challenging circuit of Donington Park. After a frustrating meeting at Rockingham Alan Taylor and his Robertshaw Racing Honda Integra were looking for a change in fortune and finally get a solid 3 finishes.
The first free practice session was a cautious one for Alan who was using the session to get used to the car round the Leicestershire circuit. The session was pretty uneventful and Alan ended up P23 with a 1.15.593 secs lap.
Free Practice 2 saw Alan in much better form. After a lengthy de-brief with the team Alan was able to address the areas of the Circuit where he was loosing time. Again the session was trouble free and saw Alan go 1.3 seconds faster than FP1 and for the first time this yr a top 20 position ending the session in 19th with a time of 1.14..278.
Delighted with his morning progress so far Alan went in to qualifying really confident of repeating his free practice form. The session started well for taylor who was setting good times. As the session progressed Alan was inside the top 20 in 18th place ahead of his main rivals, martyn Bell, Erkut Kazilirmak and Chris Stockton who was debuting the SEAT Toledo after swiching from the Lexus IS200. With the session coming to an end Alan was on his final run but made a very small mistake at the Old Hairpin. The car snapped sideways and spun on to the grass glancing the tyre wall and doing some damage to the rear of the car. His position didnt change and Alan was still in a career best 18th with a time of 1.14.585. "That was a real shame at the end" said Alan. "The car was fabulous and I was trying to get every ounce of pace from it and the lap I spun would have been even faster. i can't wait for the race".
It was a good day for the Whole Robertshaw Racing team with, the Chevrolets of Harry Vaulkhard and Matt Allison which were 20kg lighter score a 9th and 10th in Qualifying and in the Supporting Elf Renault Clio Cup Derek Pierce and new Signing Rob Gaffney scored a superb 2nd and 3rd in the first of the weekends 2 races/
Race day saw a huge crowed flock to the circuit and with Rain in the air it was going to be an exciting days racing. Race1 stared with drama as the start lights had a power failure so it was back in time with a union jack start. With a flag start the rules state that the race starts when the flag is dropped. Sadly for Colin Turkington and Stuart Oliver then went when flag went up. There was no option but to given them a drive through penalty for a jump start. Meanwhile Alan had meade a reasonable start and held his position down to the first corner. As the field rounded Schwantz Curve Alan was right with Mike Jordan in his Honda Integra and actually gave the Team Eurotec driver a tap going through the corner. This delayed Alan and allowed John George to slip through on the run up to Coppice. Going through the Chicane at the end of the lap Alan was forced across the grass loosing him more time but he was still in contention on the run to Redgate at the start of lap 2. On breaking for the corner Alan still had Dirt on his tyres and this forced him through the gravel trap and dropping Taylor to last place minus his rear bumper. By lap 4 the safety car was out following a crash between Rob Collard and John George and a seperate accident that befell matt Allisons Chevy at Coppice.
After 2 laps Behind the Safety Car the race was restarted. Alan was in 21st place with Fabritzio Giovanardi's Vectra right with him following a pit stop. Giovanardi was soon Passed Alan and going in to the Chicane the vectra hit one of the corner markers which bounced off Alans car causing damae to the front wing. After running wide at Redgate Alan was closing on Erkut Kazilirmak and Micky Doyle when the safety car was diployed for the second time after Matt Jackson and Ton Chilton made contact at the Old Hairpin. At the restart Alan was passed Erkut and set about catching Doyle for 16th place. Alan was in fighting mood and oing in to redgate on lap14 the 2 made contact with Taylor trying to force his was through. Doyle held his ground till the pair arrived at the Old Hairpin where Taylor dived down the inside in to 16th Place. That 16th turned into 15th when Darren Turner his SEAT Leon TDi had a turbo pipr come off dramatically reducing his power. As the race drew to a close Alans car was looking very battered and bruised but he was still going fantastically well and closing on Chris Stocktons SEAT for 14th place when disaster struck. On the last lap Alan ran wide at coppice doing a lot of front end dmage to his car and dropping him back to 18th which is where he would finish. "What an eventfull race!!" said Taylor "I went off 4 times, had a great scrap with Micky and set a top ten time through the speed trap in sector 2". " The car has the speed i just need to finishes now. Roll on race 2."
Race 2 saw Alan line up 18th. With the light working this time there were no repeats of the jump starts. However there was drama. Andrew Jordans car had stalled on the grid but he managed to quickly restart the car. This left confusion among the drivers and it was decided to start the race rather than do an extra green flag lap. Alan made a good start and was keepng out of the way of the fast starting Turner, Chilton and Jackson. As the field Rounded Redgate Martyn Bell spun and was colelcted by Stuart Olivers SEAT. With 2 cars in the Middle of the road Alan had no where to go and collected to 2 cars causing significant damage to the car putting out of the race and also for the 3rd race later on in the day.
" there was nothing i could do" Said Alan. " The car is out for the rest of the day now and we need to get it straight before Thruxton in 2 weeks time" The Team has officially cancelled all weekend leave as it rushes to repaired the Chevrolet of Matt Allison and Alans Car.
Round 10,11 and 12 Take place at the fastest circuit in the UK at Thruxton on May 16th/!7th
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