SILVERSTONE  Rounds 28, 29 and 30.

Tom had a rewarding final BTCC event of 2006 on the Silverstone National circuit, with two excellent podium finishes, the second, an amazing drive from the back of the grid. There was bitter disappointment though at being knocked off in race 2… ……….

In free practice on Saturday morning, Tom was encouraged by the performance of the VXRacing Astra Sport Hatch, posting 2nd and 3rd fastest lap times in the two sessions. He ended up quickest of the Vauxhall drivers again in qualifying, but couldn’t improve on his morning times, finishing up 5th in the afternoon session.

From his 5th place grid slot, Tom made a fantastic start and in the rush down to the first corner at Copse, he braved it out around the outside of Darren Turner’s SEAT to emerge in 3rd place. Tom held his position strongly over the opening laps and on lap three, posting the fastest manufacturer’s lap of the race, he started to put some distance between him and the chasing pack. Now Tom had 2nd place Colin Turkington in his sights and set about finding a way past the MG. Several times over the next few laps he got alongside only to have to give way as Turkington resisted.

The MG was holding Tom up and allowing the field to close up behind, producing a fantastic battle for 2nd place between Turkington, Tom, Matt Neal now up to 4th and Turner down in 5th. The four of them were covered by fractions of a second and it was only when they encountered slower back markers on around lap 19, that some distance opened up again.

Tom could never relax, but over the last three laps he started to close in on Turkington again as the pressure from behind eased. At the flag he hadn’t managed to get past the MG, but was very happy with his 3rd place finish.

“I enjoyed that, great fun, I had a great scrap with Colin and nearly managed to get past, but not quite. It was close but clean, we had a little side on side contact a few times but nothing bad. The good point is that the race pace of the Astra is where it should be now. We’ve been working so hard all year to get it right and now the pace is there it’s so much more enjoyable to race. “

Tom was looking forward to another chance for a good result in the second race, but it wasn’t to be. After another fantastic start, James Thompson in the SEAT knocked him off on the first lap. Bitterly disappointed, Tom described what happened;

“ I got off the line well and thought about trying to go for the lead initially, but decided to be patient and just settled in behind Colin and Gareth. We all followed neatly through Copse and then approaching the second corner I felt a hard smack up the rear and the next thing I know I’m spinning off into the gravel. Nothing I could do about it. “

The last race would be incredibly hard for Tom as he would have to start at the back of the grid.

In an absolutely amazing opening lap Tom had moved up from 24th to be 10th as the field streamed across the line at the end of the first lap. On lap two he was up to 6th and still looking to gain more places, but the safety car came out. At the re-start Tom’s rapid progress continued and on lap 10 he dived past Turner’s SEAT to incredibly claim 3rd place.

Another safety car later in the race closed things up again and from the re-start on lap 16, through to the end of the race, Tom was under huge pressure from behind. Turkington in 2nd place started to pull a slight gap to Tom who was busy watching his mirrors and driving as fast as he possibly could. His determination paid off and at the flag he had held onto 3rd place and gained his second podium of the day;

“ That’s amazing. I really didn’t think before the race that a podium was on, but after that opening lap and then with the way things closed up with the safety car, I started to think, hey this could be good. The last few laps were really hard, the three SEATs behind were all over me, but I just drove absolutely flat out to the finish.”

So it was a good finale for the season. Tom had been the highest points scorer for Vauxhall again, and was happy to end the year with strong performances;

“ The best thing is the race performance. We have really improved that area from the beginning of the year – steadily moving forward and now we can match the race pace of the others. We got podium finishes in all the races today, my two and Fabrizio’s 3rd place in the second race shows the improvement made. The Astra has been fantastic today and it’s nice to be back where I want to be – on the podium.”