Tom pronounced himself fairly happy after the first rounds of this year's BTCC on the Indy circuit at Brands Hatch. He claimed pole position in Saturdays qualifying – a lap he described as one of the best he’s ever driven – and was confident going into Sunday’s races;

“ I’m really pleased to have got pole on my debut for Vauxhall. The whole team has worked hard over the winter and we’ve overcome some set backs. This shows we’re going in the right direction and I‘ve given myself the best possible chance in the races.”

Race 1

Tom got a flyer of a start to head the field in the first of the day’s three races. He still had the lead after two brief safety car periods early on and resisted constant pressure from Colin Turkington’s MG. Tom was getting every last scrap of speed out of the Astra, setting the fastest race lap of the weekend in the process and gaining himself the new lap record for the Brands Indy circuit. For 23 of the 27 race laps Tom had the advantage, but in the closing stages James Thompson, who had got past Turkington, closed on Tom’s leading Vauxhall and slipped through at Clearways with 4 laps to go. Tom held 2nd place to the finish

“ I think that’s about the best I could have done. I couldn’t have stayed ahead of Thompson for any longer. By that stage of the race my tyres were suffering and although I tried everything I could, those SEATs have a huge advantage at the end of races. Second place though; it’s not a bad result. “

So a podium finish on his factory debut and close to winning, but the weight advantage enjoyed by the S2000 spec SEATs makes them very hard to beat. Their cars are lighter with similar power, giving better performance on acceleration and under braking, but crucially they are also much lighter on their tyres and this pays huge dividends in the closing stages of races when the heavier BTCC spec cars have to race on tyres that by then are suffering from much heavier wear.

Race 2

Tom would start the second race with ballast on his Astra. He lined up on the front row again and as the lights went out, got off the line well. Thompson also made a good start though and Tom found himself having to go round the outside at Paddock Bend. At the next corner Tom was knocked wide by his team mate Gavin Smith and a slight trip through the gravel meant he struggled back on in 7th place. The success ballast was having a detrimental effect on performance and despite some defensive driving, Tom was slipping back, down to 9th place by lap 4. Things stayed fairly static until lap 19 when a collision sent two cars spinning off into the gravel and elevated Tom to 7th place. That was where he finished, disappointed that the first lap incident had cost him so many places;

“ Gavin just made a mistake. He apologised after the race, but that cost me five places. It was going to be hard enough with the ballast on; I didn’t need to lose ground that early on. “

Race 3

Luck was on Tom’s side with the draw for the reverse grid for the final race putting him on pole position again. Another fantastic start gave Tom the lead which he held until lap 5. He was hit up the rear by Plato going into Clearways, ran wide as a result and couldn’t stop Rob Collard following Plato past on the exit. Now down to 3rd, Tom had to fight to stay ahead of the following pack;

“ I had more understeer in this race and was struggling to stay ahead of Matt Neal. When he got a run on me I couldn’t defend and had to let Colin Turkington through as well. I felt disappointed at that stage because I didn’t have as good a set up as in the other races.”

Tom was now in 5th place and would probably have finished there except for an incident on lap 21 which altered the final result somewhat. Rob Collard collided with Matt Neal on the approach to Paddock Bend, launching the team Dynamics driver into the barriers. The incident brought out the Red flag and with only 2 laps remaining the result stood. Neal’s demise had elevated Tom to 4th and following a stewards decision excluding Collard from the results, Tom moved up to 3rd place in the results.

“ It has been a tough weekend. I’m really pleased that we seem to have good outright pace. Qualifying on pole and the lap record shows that. However we need to improve our performance in the races. I’m sure Triple Eight will improve the Astra even more and it will be an excellent car this season. It does seem promising. A 2nd and a 3rd certainly isn’t bad and 30 points from the first event is ok, but I started every race from the front row so really it should have been better.”

Tom now looks forward to the next round at Mondello Park in Ireland in two weeks time, where the Astra has been the dominant car in recent years.

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