Mondello Park      BTCC   Rounds  16,17 and 18.

For the third successive Touring Car meeting, Tom stood on the podium after a challenging and rather damp trip to Ireland.

Qualifying

Heavy rain dominated all the practice sessions making the tight, demanding Mondello track even more of a challenge than usual. Tom quickly got to grips with the conditions and when the circuit was at its wettest, his lap times in the Honda Civic were very impressive, setting the early pace.

Tom ended up second quickest after the free practice sessions and had hoped to repeat or better his form in official qualifying. The heavens opened and torrential rain soaked the track, delaying the start of qualifying. When it did eventually get underway there were several red flag incidents, stopping the session and preventing anyone really getting into their rhythm. Early on Tom had topped the timesheets, but as the time ticked by, conditions improved and lap times started to fall. Inevitably the fastest times were set at the end of the session and unfortunately for Tom he didn’t get it right when the track was at its best;

“ I made a mistake in the Esses on my best lap. I had been 7 tenths of a second up at that point, it would have been a good lap, but I braked too late and lost time through the next few corners. That cost me nearly a second, so I’m disappointed with being only 7th fastest. The team have given me a fantastic car in the wet conditions. We need to improve it a little when there’s more grip, but it is better than the 7th place suggests. “

So Tom would line up for the first race in 7th place on the grid with his work cut out to try and get a good result as Mondello is a notoriously difficult track to overtake on.

Round 16.

Despite gloomy skies the track was dry as the grid formed for the first race of the day. It would turn into a disaster for Tom as a problem made the car a real handful. It was all he could do just to keep it on the track, a competitive performance was out of the question and Tom limped home to finish in 9th place.

“ That was disappointing and pretty tough work. I made a good start, got past James Pickford’s SEAT and I think I was 6th.   Then from the second or third lap the car was terrible. I was sure something had broken – it wouldn’t stop, it wouldn’t turn in and I was struggling to stay with the pack. I fought to hang on but it was no use. They were queuing up to pass me and I certainly couldn’t defend with the car I had “

The Arena team inspected the car after the race and found a problem, which they set about curing to hopefully give Tom a chance in the second race.

Round 17.

It had rained between the first and second races leaving a damp but drying track with more rain in the air. This presented all the teams with a difficult tyre choice. Whether to go for slicks and hope it didn’t get any worse, go for wets which would give an advantage to start with or even to mix the tyres with slick front tyres and wet rears. This final option was the one that most teams eventually went for. Following the formation lap, Tom felt it was still too slippery for slicks and he opted for a full wet tyre approach.

As the race got underway it was clear Tom had an advantage. Up to 5th by the first corner, 3rd by the next corner and leading the race by the end of the first lap, it appeared his tyre choice had been the right one. With rain starting to spit as well, the team were looking on confidently as the black Lego Star Wars Honda pulled away into a comfortable lead.

Initial optimism faded as the rain stopped and it became clear that Tom’s wet tyres were not going to last the distance on a drying track. He was caught and passed by the slick tyred Astra of eventual race winner Colin Turkington and then had to make a pitstop to change tyres. The gamble had not paid off; Tom put slick tyres on the front and rejoined now down in 11th place.

He made up several places during the rest of the race, running as high as 6th before a strategy call from his team changed the approach. Tom and Arena had decided to take advantage of the reverse grid format for the final race, so he backed off and allowed Yvan Muller and Jason Hughes to pass him. This meant Tom finished 8th and would start the final race from 3rd position, on the inside of the second row.

Round 18.

Tom got a fantastic start and by the third corner, headed the field. Initially it appeared he had the pace to stay out front, with Muller and Plato taking up the chase. Tom led for the next four laps, but could see Muller closing in his mirrors;

“ Yvan was definitely quicker. He has been all weekend. I thought about trying to keep him behind for as long as possible. He had an advantage but it wasn’t that great so I could have made it difficult for him. The way I saw it though was if I started to drive defensively it would let the group behind catch us both up, so I let Yvan go through. “

Tom stayed wide into the first corner on lap 5 and let Muller pass. He then stuck to the bumper of the Frenchman’s Astra and the pair of them built up an impressive lead over the next 5 laps to be some 9 seconds clear of 3rd place.

Behind them the race had become a bruising battle with plenty of cars displaying panel damage. Debris around the track forced the introduction of the safety car on lap 10 and this immediately wiped out the huge lead Muller and Tom had established.

At the restart Tom got the jump on Dan Eaves’ Honda Integra to build a gap and was never pressured on his way to a fine 2nd place finish. He couldn’t do anything about Muller though;

“ He got away a little at the restart and although I was pushing hard, I could never get close enough to worry him. The gap stayed the same and I learned a few things following him around here, a few things he does differently to anyone. Very interesting. Anyway I’m pleased with 2nd place. Pleased for the team. It’s been a tough weekend, we have struggled for pace except when it was really wet. This last race we were happy to have found some more speed and got a good result. “

Tom has a couple of weeks to relax now, get in some more fitness training sessions and prepare for his next outing in the BTCC at Snetterton on the 7th August.