A very big hello to all of you readers of The Checkered Flag! I hope that you enjoyed all of the BTCC action at OultonPark. It was great to be back not only at my home circuit, but racing at a track where I work as an instructor.
The turnout last weekend was absolutely brilliant, with stats showing that 40,500 people attended the BTCC event in the glorious sunshine.
We started the weekend with the two free practice sessions, setting the eighth and eleventh fastest times respectively, whilst attempting to gain our optimum set-up ahead of Saturday’s 30 minute qualifying session. This was always going to be a little difficult with our race engineer, Paul Ridgeway, on duty in Sweden until race day.
Spirits were high heading into qualifying, but the BTCC delivered on its ultra-competitive nature, leaving us in ninth position with just under 3 tenths of a second separating second to ninth on the grid!
After a slow getaway in Round 10, I managed to finish inside the top ten in 9th position. This gave me some good leverage for Round 11, enabling me to work my way up to seventh position at the chequered flag.
The reverse grid procedure has worked very well for us this year, and a fourth place start beckoned in the final race of the weekend at the Cheshire venue.
I made a good start off the line to immediately propel myself into the mix at the front of the pack with Rob Austin, Jeff Smith and Dan Welch.

Lucky to make it…
Reaching as high as second, we didn’t quite have the legs to challenge for the victory due to an issue with the rear left tyre after contact with Dan Welch. However, to hang on for my first podium in the BTCC was a magnificent feeling.
To come away from OultonPark on such a high in front of a home crowd and all of my sponsors was a great way to end the weekend. I must take this opportunity to thank them for their continued support in 2013.
Next up is Croft this weekend… lets see if we can add some more podiums to the tally!
Don’t forget that you can keep up with all of the latest day-to-day goings on via @adammorgan33 and @ciceleyracing.