Oulton Park '10 - Rounds 4, 5 & 6

By Thorney Motorsport

With newly branded trucks, cars and team clothing we’ve decided to change our own brand at the same time, we’ve had the thorns as part of the logo since we started over ten years ago so our new ‘devil’ logo heralds our latest update. New team clothing and badges will be available in the shop soon. The ideology behind the devil logo is explained HERE.

Brand and image are one thing but with racing there is only winning so whilst we looked good all of that matters for nothing if you don’t win so we were fired up to give a good first impression.

With a lack of decent testing at Snetterton, and Oulton Park being a tough track to learn quickly both Stuart and Alex took advantage of a full days test on Friday with the result that we were able to make some subtle changes to both cars to maximise their grip advantage over some of the other cars. As a result qualifying went well, Stuart got pole from Churchill but Alex suffered a little coming in 8th not having many clear laps.

Race 1

With the drivers acting as bookends in Class A (Stuart in pole and Alex in 8th) we had mixed feelings, Alex needed to get a good run to get up the field and Stuart needed to keep everyone behind him, as it turns out it was a simple race, Kevin George stuck his Corsa so far into the barriers early in the race that after a short period behind the safety car the race was red flagged with the results reflecting the grid – Stuart win, Alex 8th. Whilst its nice to get an easy win the frustration that Alex never got the chance to climb the field as we expected him to do did make it a little strange, Stuarts win certainly helped his championship standings though. Kevin was fine, although his Corsa looked a little mangled.

With the Sunday off (quiet day) the team spent the day organising team photography for the new team and then watching the Redbulls punt each other off (we're still arguing who's fault it was!) in Turkey so it was almost relaxing.

Race 2

Another mixed bag for the team. Alex did as we’d expected in race one, he clawed his way up the field to finish 4th which was an excellent drive but Stuart got off to an awful start which let Churchill sneak past and whilst he stuck to his bumper Stuart never got the chance to challenge for the lead. Racing was good though with battles all through the field and the Class A changing position down the field with regularity. The second place for Stuart was a good haul of points though and Alex did his championship no harm with another 4th.

Race 3

Final race of the day and to be honest both drivers looked and felt a little tired. The reverse grid mean both Stuart and Alex got relatively poor grid positions and both got stuck behind other cars from the start.  Craig Currie in one of the Nissan's got off to a flying start and never got challenged as the rest of the pack squabbled lap after lap resulting in slow lap times. Alex had a race long fight with the SEAT of Dan Malone and the Nissan of Jethro Bovingdon but had to settle for a disappointing 7th, was certainly an active race with a total of 5 drivers called up to race control for contact. Stuarts race fared a little better, Churchill got past to try and chase down the Nissan but Stuart had to settle for 4th, not bad to add to a win and a second place in the earlier races though.

The next race weekend is Pembrey where everyone will be able to watch live on TV on June 27th.

The Dunlop Great & British will be on Motors TV on the following dates:
12/06/10 -  18.00
13/06/10 -  05.02
13/06/10 -  10.30
16/06/10 -  23.25
17/06/10 -  13.30
19/06/10 -  03.06
21/06/10 -  15.30
24/06/10 -  04.05