Rob Collard had a testing weekend as the 2004 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship visited Fife’s Knockhill circuit, the highlight a battling eighth place finish in the opening race before an electrical problem forced him to pit when a podium finish was on the cards in race two. From then on luck and fate seemed against the Hampshire racer, a puncture sidelining him in the final race of the day.
Rob was 11th in qualifying, the short and twisty 1.3-mile Knockhill track meaning times were tight in the 30-minute session, the Collard Racing Vauxhall Astra just half a second away from the pole position time.
“That was hard work – but rewarding,” said Rob, from Eversley. “I knew it would be close round here, but not this close! To have the first dozen or so cars all within half a second of the best time is unbelievable, and where we are on the grid puts us in the right ‘window’ to earn a good start in the second race.”
In contrast to the weather the day before, it was a mist-shrouded Knockhill that greeted the large crowd on Sunday morning, delaying the start of racing by an hour. When the 22-lap opening race got underway Rob brought the Brackenwood Windows-backed Astra home eighth, rewarding him with a third place start on the grid for race two under the championship’s ‘reverse grid’ rule.
“That was a pretty non-eventful race for me,” said Rob. “I didn’t make a very good start, was struggling to keep up with the pack and started to slide back a little, but then I got the pit signal to say I was tenth and didn’t need to push anyway.
“I found that Matt Neal and Jason Plato were coming back towards me at a high rate of knots, and we took the decision to go past and stay just in front as I could see other cars coming up from behind. Starting on the second row is a good position for us – though obviously we would have liked to have started from the front – but we are on the inside line for the first corner and that could be good.”
The summer sun had returned to Knockhill for race two, and at the start Rob slotted into third place. Running securely in that position in the opening laps, his car was looking on the pace until he started to slow – at one point virtually stopping before finally getting the Astra back to the pits. The Collard Racing crew rapidly returned him to the fray, and a Safety Car period closed up the field, but Rob had to be satisfied with 11th from a race that had promised so much.
“I made a good start and slotted into third,” explained Rob, “The car felt good at first, then it started to develop a mis-fire every time we jumped the kerbs at the chicane. The pit crew said to keep trying to drive the car, and it was alright for a couple of laps, but then the problem started happening at other corners and I got slower and slower.
“I changed my style so I wasn’t going over the kerbs so much, but then as Yvan Muller closed the car cut out completely. I cruised virtually to a stop before it fired up and I got back to the pits.
“I rejoined, but it was too late to catch any of the others. It was gutting really, I could have got on the podium and these things only seem to happen when you are in a good position.”
The third race saw Rob making another good start, gaining places in the first half a lap, but on lap three a puncture saw him pitched into a gravel trap. He rejoined after a tyre change in the pits, but soon was out for good – a disappointing end to the weekend.
“I passed a couple of cars off the line – then just got hit from every angle,” said Rob. “It seemed like everybody hit me, which dropped me down the order a bit, and then as I tried to go round the outside of a group of cars at the hairpin, I left everyone lots of room but got bulldozed me off the circuit.
“That damaged the steering, but also gave me a puncture and on the next lap the car locked up as I braked for the hairpin and I went into the gravel. Luckily the marshals pushed me out, so I pitted, the guys changed the tyre, and I did a couple of laps just to check the car was ok.
“The car hasn’t had the pace we have needed all weekend. The engine goes back to the tuners after this race, and we have to hope it gets back to the performance level it had at Oulton Park. This has been a long way to come for very little result, we proved across the weekend that we have good pace at times, and we were on for a strong result in the second race, but maybe it has just been fate. It’s Brands Hatch next – we are racing down south again at last!”
Next races: Brands Hatch, Kent, August 22nd.
