Having set the pace last season at Thruxton when Tom took a stunning pole position on his maiden BTCC race of 2005, he was looking forward to returning to the ultra-fast Hampshire track. Mid-week testing with the Vauxhall had found another improvement in performance and Tom set the early pace in Saturday’s free practice.

In qualifying he also headed the timesheets for the majority of the session with his first run on new tyres. It wasn’t to be a repeat of last year though as Tom slipped to 3rd, unable to improve late in the session.

“ I’m fairly happy with that. Obviously pole would be better and for a while there I thought my first lap would be good enough. I think I could have got a better lap later on but I ran wide at Church on what would have been an improvement so it wasn’t to be.”

The first race saw Turkington stall his MG on the line so Tom started well and completed the first lap in 2nd place. The opening laps were ok for the Astra and Tom kept the leader in sight and held a comfortable gap back to Matt Neal in 3rd.

Then with his tyres starting to go off, the drop in performance allowed the pack behind to close. Tom hung on bravely for several laps, but on lap 9 he lost out to both Neal and Plato, dropping to 4th.

“ The car’s really good for the opening few laps and even though we’re disadvantaged here, I can compete then. It’s about 6 or 7 laps into the race when things get harder with the tyre wear. “

Tyres were an issue for Plato as well when on lap 13 he suffered a puncture. Tom was back up to third, but he couldn’t hold on to the podium place as Darren Turner just got the better of him on the final lap to place Tom 4th at the finish. 

Tom’s second race started well enough. He got the Astra off the line well and initially was challenging for 3rd position at the Complex. His attempt didn’t quite come off and after a close first lap Tom was 4th. He held that place until lap 9 when one of his dampers broke and forced him to slow significantly. He was demoted fairly quickly down the order, managing to hold on to 6th briefly during a spell behind the safety car, but as racing resumed, it was inevitable that Tom would drop further and he eventually crossed the finish line in 9th place.

Even the draw for the grid positions for the final race didn’t go Tom’s way, as only the top 7 would be reversed. Tom would therefore start in 9th. He got away well and headed the trio of Vauxhalls in 7th place, gaining another position on lap 7 with a well timed move to get past Pinkney’s Integra and move up to 6th. Another safety car period ended with Tom then putting pressure on the pack in front, pushing for 5th place until, as before, the tyre degradation held him back. Again he slipped back down the field, struggling for grip through Thruxton’s fast sweeping curves. At the flag he was 8th and after what had been a disappointing three races, Tom reflected on his problems;

“ We, that is all the Astras, couldn’t maintain our race pace this weekend. The whole team is working really hard to improve this and the cars were better than at the earlier races this season. We’re moving in the right direction with things and the Astra is a quick car. On single laps my outright pace has been strong, but then we suffer over a race distance. I know we will get it right and Ian Harrison is confident that the next races at Croft will suit our car more as well.”

VXR Racing Team boss Ian Harrison said that Thruxton is not a great circuit for the Astra Sport Hatch, that they were suffering aerodynamically. The car is a new design and is built to meet the latest NCAP safety standards that the motor manufacturer has to satisfy. This requires a larger frontal area of the car and affects it’s aerodynamics. The older cars like the Integras and MGs were not designed to the same safety standards and have an advantage on top speed due to less drag. At a flat out track such as Thruxton, this is a real benefit.

There is a six-week gap in the BTCC calendar now, with racing resuming at Yorkshire’s Croft circuit on the 16th July.