Tom secured his biggest points haul of the season so far with 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes in the latest rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton………

The 30 points he picked up from Sunday’s three races lifted him to 7th place in the Driver’s Championship and helped Team Aon to consolidate their 2nd place in the Manufacturers/ Constructors Championship.

Happy with his performance, Tom was pleased to have had a strong weekend at a circuit that promised much for the Calor LPG powered Ford Focus;

“It was a good event for me and the team.” He said afterwards. “We expected to be strong, but it’s important to make sure you secure the points when the opportunity is there. We’ve had good race pace, not as good as the Chevrolets, but better in the races than in previous rounds. The team has worked hard to overcome the tyre degradation that we’ve experienced up to now and I think we’ve made a big step forward in that area.”

One problem that Tom and Team Aon had to live with was a decision by the BTCC organisers to implement a performance handicap on the turbocharged Ford Focuses by way of a smaller air restrictor to limit the straight line performance of the cars. Tom commented;

“That’s their decision and we have to accept it. What I find hard to understand though is why they penalise us even though we can’t match the Chevrolets on lap-times. We might be quicker in a straight line, but our package has disadvantages elsewhere, such as under braking, that affects our overall performance.”

The smaller restrictor was fitted after Tom’s first podium finish of the day and in spite of losing around three miles per hour down the straights, he didn’t get frustrated, drove hard and got the results.

The weekend started promisingly for the team even though the weather did its best to cause chaos. Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session had the Team Aon mechanics dashing for wet tyres as the rain started just before the session began. Tom opted to keep his slicks on the front and was comfortably fastest in the early stages. However the rain increased and a full wet tyre set-up was needed halfway through. On his first run Tom went quickest again, but was relegated to 3rd fastest at the end of the half hour by the two Chevrolets.

Sunday’s first race in dry, sunny conditions, brought a podium finish for Tom, but it hadn’t been easy. A slow getaway at the start saw him drop down to 5th in the opening stages before he battled back past Matt Neal and set about the other Honda ahead of him. Eight laps in Tom found the opportunity he needed and out-braked Gordon Shedden to take 3rd place. Never under pressure after that, Tom set about catching the leaders and although he got the gap down, he wasn’t close enough to mount a challenge and took the 3rd place finish.

In the second race, despite the smaller restrictor, Tom went one step better, leading his team mate, Tom Onslow-Cole home in 2nd and 3rd places for Team Aon. It was a much less eventful race after taking 2nd place from Mat Jackson early on, Tom was then comfortable, but couldn’t make any impression on the race leading Chevrolet that had built an insurmountable gap.

The final race was the hardest of the three after the reverse grid draw placed Tom 9th for the start. He got away well, gaining a place straight away and moving past Steven Kane’s BMW early on. He then managed to avoid a coming together right in front of him through The Esses which effectively ended his team mate’s race, and when James Nash threw away his lead, Tom was up to 4th. He didn’t put a wheel wrong and despite heavy pressure from Plato behind, held on strongly to take 4th place at the flag.

It had been another eventful weekend in the BTCC and Tom won’t have to wait too long for the next one as Silverstone beckons in two weeks time.