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Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell picked up two more
solid results during the fourth of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship
at Thruxton on what was a challenging weekend for the Arkas Racing with
Sunshine.co.uk driver.
At
the fastest circuit on the BTCC calendar, Martyn was able to produce his
strongest lap times since joining the series back in 2006 but was left with
17th and 15th place finishes in the highly competitive
championship.
Having qualified in 23rd place, Martyn
enjoyed an encouraging run in the opening race of the weekend as he battled with
the MG of Jason Hughes before an error at the final chicane saw him lose
position to the Honda of Michael Doyle. Martyn took the flag in 18th
place but was then promoted to 17th following the exclusion of podium
finisher Jason Plato.
Race
two ended in early disappointment when Martyn went off into the tyres on lap one
with broken steering on his Tech-Speed run Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch but from
the back of the field in race three, Martyn came home in 15th place –
just missing out on adding to his Independents’ championship points
tally.
“I
struggled with the car in qualifying but was still able to lap quicker than I
did in the BMW,” he said. “I got a good start in race one and was running quite
well. I was lapping quicker than Jason as the race went on and if I’d got past
him, I think I could have possibly caught Rob Collard. However, Jason threw me a
dummy at the Chicane and I fell for it, which meant Michael Doyle was able to
get past me.
“In
the second race I had a good start again but then got caught up in someone
else’s accident which damaged the steering and put me off into the tyre wall on
the opening lap. The car didn’t feel as good as it had done earlier in the day
in the final race and I was really struggling towards the end. It meant I had to
settle for 15thth on the grid. place, but at least I won some tyres for making up
the most places from 24
“We’d
have liked more, but 17th and 15th place in this company
is okay, especially when you consider that Stephen Jelley in the Team RAC BMW
has only scored one point this season – that shows how tough it is. But we can
run with the likes of Hughes and Harry Vaulkhard and now we just need some
luck.
“It
was a difficult weekend at Thruxton but we have to look to the positives and
Croft should be better suited to the Astra. Things will improve as the season
goes on and I owe it to the team for the work they have put in in the past few
weeks. I have to pay tribute to them again for making sure both Erkut and I were
able to race this weekend after what happened at
Donington.”
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