The two teams running the NGTC Toyota Avensis both made good progress at the car's second ever British Touring Car Championship event at Donington Park.
Frank Wrathall of Dynojet and Tony Hughes of Speedworks Motorsport both showed increased pace and reliability over the weekend following a tough debut round at Brands Hatch.
Wrathall took his maiden BTCC race finish in the first race of the day, coming home in 16th. Despite being forced to start both of the remaining races from the pit lane mid-race, Wrathall was able to post good lap times. The Race 2 delay came as the team replaced an exhaust manifold, while in Race 3 a gear linkage broke on the way to the grid.
“We showed our progress throughout the weekend, and in the final race I lapped strongly in traffic and was even being held up by Matt Neal and Jason Plato, which was a good feeling,” said Wrathall. “The steps forward we have made this weekend have been bigger than I could ever have imagined.”
Hughes finished Race 1 in 19th place after making a precautionary pit stop after an oil warning light came on. In Race 2 he finished in 16th, also posting his quickest lap time of the weekend. His weekend would come to an early finish though when he was taken out by the spinning BMW of Dave Newsham at the start of Race 3.
“We've made good progress and I'm content with the weekend,” said Speedworks team boss Christian Dick. “We've moved forwards in each session and are moving in the right direction with the car. Of course we'd have preferred not to suffer damage but that's all part of motorsport and it looks worse than it is. We've been able to sort some of the more fundamental issues we had and have started to work on the car more. Now we hope to build on the progress and take a step forward at the next event.”
