Rockingham was a weekend to forget for Andy Neate, the IP Tech Race Engineering driver failing to even complete a single racing lap on Sunday after he was an unfortunate victim of a race one incident.
Neate returned to the wheel of his Independent team’s Chevrolet Cruze at a circuit at which he was a consistent top 10 contender last season, qualifying 22nd on the grid in the car that showed promising pace from rookie Mike Bushell at Knockhill.
The following day would end achingly early for former BMW, Ford and MG driver Neate however, when he was powerless to avoid piling into the Proton of Dan Welch in a first-lap pile-up at Gracelands instigated by Will Bratt‘s spinning WIX Racing Audi after it was tagged by Nick Foster‘s BMW, Neate’s Cruze suffering front-end damage unable to be repaired for the remainder of the day.
The early end to Neate’s weekend proved highly disappointing for the team, Neate having entered the round confident of improvement following a boost increase for the NGTC Chevrolet.
“That’s one of those weekends where I really don’t know what to say”, said a disconsolate Neate after his early exit from Rockingham.
“Heading to Rockingham we were really confident about what we could achieve and with the increased boost, we were keen to show people what the car is capable of on a level playing field. The electrical issue on Saturday put us on the back foot but I got away well when race one started and made up a few places before Deene.
“Someone then hit me meaning I lost those places again and then when I got to Gracelands, it all kicked off in front of me.
“I had nowhere to go and I can’t put into words how disappointing it is after everything the team has put into repairing the car after the damage we sustained at Knockhill. We’ll go away and regroup ahead of Silverstone.”