A fabulous victory and two 5th places made it a memorable trip to the North West for Tom and Arena Motorsport

Tom overcame very challenging conditions in the final race of the day to score the third BTCC victory of his young career. The win followed two solid drives to 5th place in the first two races of the day.

Qualifying.

The practice sessions on Saturday morning left Tom and the Arena Motorsport team scratching their heads slightly as they struggled to find a good balance in the Honda.Tom explains their frustrations;

“ I’ve had understeer in places where we normally struggle with oversteer and that’s confused us a little. We improved things for the second session and again in qualifying it was better, but I didn’t have the excellent balance I’ve had so far this season. “

In the second practice session Tom was 4th fastest, but could do no better than 6th in official qualifying.

“ I’m happy that we have improved the feel of the car. We didn’t match the times we did this morning, but the track temperature has increased a lot so that is a factor. The Vauxhalls were slower than us this morning, now Yvan and Gavin have found more pace and they have pushed me back to 6th. It was very close though. “

Indeed it was with just 3 tenths of a second separating Tom’s 6th place from pole position.

Round 10

Hot and humid conditions on Sunday would put fitness at the front of the drivers’ minds for the three 15 lap races. Drinking loads of water and staying in the shade for as long as possible was Tom’s approach to try and stay cool before the grid formed for race one.

A good getaway enabled Tom to move inside Gavin Smith’s Vauxhall on the run to the first corner. They ran side by side for a while before Tom’s inside line at the hairpin gave him the advantage. The next few laps were tricky ones for Tom as he came under pressure from Smith and Colin Turkington in the Vauxhalls and Luke Hines’ SEAT. Tom stayed cool;

“ I was being fairly cautious in the opening laps because I knew the problems everyone faces with brakes at the end of the race here at Oulton Park. I decided to just do enough to stay ahead, but not overdrive trying to pull away. I could see them all over the back of me trying to outmanoeuvre and out-brake me. Eventually they must have asked too much of their tyres and brakes because from half distance I could just drive away from them. “

Tom’s plan had taken him clear of the battling pack behind and with his cautious use of his brakes had given him a very fast car at the end of the race. He was slowly catching 4th placed Yvan Muller, but couldn’t close enough on the former champion to challenge for position. So a solid 5th place was the result.

Round 11

A track surface temperature of 41 degrees and looming storm clouds gave an oppressive feel to things as the cars left the pits ready for the second race. Would it rain? Tom and the team had discussed strategy in the event of a sudden downpour and eyes looked skywards as the field formed on the grid.

Tom got a little too much wheelspin at the start, held his position through the first corner and then got boxed on the outside through Cascades. This allowed a couple of cars past on the run up to the hairpin and Tom had to settle into 7th place. He obviously had a quicker car than the Vauxhall of Gavin Smith in front and it wasn’t long before Tom was looking for a way past. The opportunity came and Tom seized it. Smith drove defensively into Lodge, the final corner on the lap, Tom took his normal line, got a run on the Vauxhall and dived through on the inside across the start line and down into Old Hall. Now 6th, Tom chased the leading pack and gained another place when Jason Plato lost out to heavy pressure from Muller’s Vauxhall and slid off through the gravel trap.

That put Tom in 5th place and he stayed there to the flag.

“ It was a relatively uneventful race that one. Once I got past Gavin I couldn’t catch the group in front and wasn’t under threat from anyone behind. I just kept pushing and hoping the drivers in front would slow towards the end of the race as their tyres and brakes got worse. I closed the gap a little but not enough to attack. “

With the reverse grid format for the final race of the day, Tom would line his Honda Civic up in 6th place on the grid.

Round 12

The weather conditions changed dramatically for the final race of the day, with heavy downpours soaking the track. After such a hot day the cooler temperatures were a blessing for Tom inside the cockpit, but a real challenge in terms of the slippery track surface it would create.

At the start Tom made the most amazing of getaways. From 6th on the grid he was up to 2nd by the first corner. Then at the hairpin, leader Plato braked too late and had to overshoot the corner. Tom nearly went with him;“ I very nearly followed Jason up the escape road on the first lap. We both braked too late, I was lucky to stay on, but I had to let Rob Collard through. “

Plato’s mistake handed the lead to Collard in the MG with Tom still in second place. Several drivers had fallen foul of the tricky conditions and slid off bringing out the safety car.

For what seemed like an eternity the field followed the safety car round until eventually the debris had been cleared and racing could resume. At the restart Tom immediately put Collard under pressure and as they headed down to the hairpin it was the MG this time that misjudged the braking point and slid wide. That was the only chance Tom needed and he took it. Now leading with a clear view of the track ahead Tom pushed as hard as he dare;

“ I was much happier once I got into the lead, the visibility was so much better and I could control the pace. Initially I pushed very hard to build a bit of a lead, but over the last few laps I did ease back a little because it would have been so easy to make a mistake. “

On the first few laps in the lead Tom managed to build a gap of six seconds over second placed Matt Neal and that was enough to give a bit of a cushion when Matt pushed hard in the last few laps to try and reel Tom in. At the flag the gap was down to 2.7 seconds, but the win was Tom’s.

“ I’m so happy. That was very difficult – so slippery. I’m really pleased for the team who have worked so hard to get this. I took it easy on the last couple of laps and could see Matt getting closer but I was still quite relaxed.“

So Tom stood on the top step of the podium for the third time in the BTCC and celebrated a very pleasing weekend.

His next event is this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Tom has been invited to demonstrate his race winning Honda up the famous cour.

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