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HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rookie Michael Doyle secured his,
and the In-Tune Racing team’s, maiden overall top 10 BTCC finish at Croft
Circuit in North Yorkshire today, Sunday, 1st June, during an absolutely
rain-lashed 13th round of the season.
The 20-year-old Scottish sensation, from Gartocharn on the banks of Loch
Lomond, proved beyond any shadow of a doubt he has the ability and pace to be a
genuine star in the UK’s biggest motor racing championship on the back of this
afternoon’s performance at a track he classes as a semi-home venue.
Ending the first of today’s three BTCC races in a superb ninth position
overall – ahead of front-runners Andrew Jordan, Mat Jackson, Tom Onslow-Cole and
SEAT Sport UK pairing Jason Plato and Darren Turner – the result also saw
Michael secure his best finish in the Independents Trophy with sixth
place.
“I’m very happy with the performance we produced this weekend”, said
Michael, “We improved the car throughout and although we had a few problems and
niggles during the build-up, in the first race we showed just what we can do
when the car is working well and when we’re on a level playing field with the
bigger teams.”
Today’s atrocious weather played havoc with the timetable and conditions
were in stark contrast to the glorious sunshine experienced during qualifying on
Saturday where Michael recorded the 19th fastest time with a lap of 1m 28.625
seconds (86.31mph).
However, the drenched track and persistent rain acted as a welcome leveller
for Michael’s team as it battles the resources of the bigger squads.
At the start of round 13, Michael made up good ground and on the opening
lap he was into 15th position and pushing hard to catch the MG ZS of Jason
Hughes ahead. He was soon into 13th place and a first ever BTCC points finish
looked firmly on the cards.
Red flags were shown on lap five though after the Honda Integra of Alan
Taylor collided with the already stranded BMW of Stephen Jelley at Tower Bend.
Counted back a lap, the classification showed Michael in 14th place and
therefore he was in that position on the grid for the re-start. Problems with
his Honda’s battery did look as though Michael wouldn’t be able to start from
the grid but, very thankfully, he managed to fire the car up before going on to
make a terrific getaway as others struggled for grip.
Running in 10th place as he approached Sunny In, the In-Tune racer then
passed Harry Vaulkhard under braking to take ninth. The Safety Car appeared at
the start of lap two due to another car off at Tower and red flags followed for
a second time soon after. On the grounds of safety due to the terrible
conditions, the race was then declared a result.
Driving beautifully on the soddened track, Michael underlined his prowess
given the right equipment and looked forward to producing more of the same in
round 14. He looked set for another top 10 too early on, but a gearbox problem
on lap two was the start of an eventual retirement which came on lap seven – the
issue also meant he missed round 15.
“In race two I had a reasonable start and through the first few corners I
had a good battle with Adam Jones and Mike Jordan”, said Michael, “Everything
looked good and I think we had the chance to fight for another top 10 but as I
came to brake at Tower on my second lap, the gearbox got stuck between sixth and
fifth so I couldn’t stop the car.
“I ended up in the crop field on the outside. I rejoined a long way down
but in the end I had to pit as the problem got worse. It was such a shame the
weather caused problems with the timetable as, if the third race had started as
originally scheduled, we’d have had the car ready in time for round 15. We just
needed about another 15 minutes.”
With a full six weeks to wait until the next BTCC event of the season at
Snetterton in Norfolk on 12th/13th July, Michael and his In-Tune Racing team
will make good use of the break to try and attract some vital sponsorship to
enable them to build on the excellent promise they showed at Croft this
weekend.
He added: “Hopefully we’ll make it to Snetterton, it’s all budget dependant
but hopefully the result we achieved today will go some way to helping us
attract more sponsors. I had a lot of fun in the car today and I really enjoyed
racing in the top 10. With the right backing, we know that’s where we can be on
a regular basis.”
Action from today’s Croft races will be shown on Britain’s number one
commercial television channel ITV1 late tomorrow night, Monday, 2nd June, at
00.50 – additional replays will be screened on Freeview, digital satellite and
cable station ITV4 later in the week. Please check listings for more
details.
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