Ciceley Racing‘s Adam Morgan believes there is no reason why he cannot fight for more strong results at Oulton Park this weekend, after a strong start to the season and a promising recent test for Toyota at Donington.
The 24-year-old has been one of the surprise packages of 2013 so far, taking eight top 10 finishes from the nine races so far and currently lying joint sixth in the championship thanks to five top six finishes.
The Lancashire driver’s improvements from his rookie season also show in the Independents championship, as both he and his rookie Ciceley Racing squad rank second in the Independents Trophy, and feel confident of continuing their form at the next round this weekend at Oulton Park (June 8-9).
“There is no reason why he can’t bag more points at Oulton”, said Morgan. “We made some good progress in testing last week at Donington Park, concentrating on general set-up and checking all the systems were OK. I feel we have a reasonably good set-up for Oulton now; the Toyota felt really good and we’ve come a long way since last year, so hopefully we will be right up there.
“I’m really looking forward to Oulton. It’s my home track and you can guarantee that all my family friends and home supporters will be out in force. The irony is that although I love the circuit I’ve not had brilliant luck there in the past. Hopefully we can turn that around this year.”
The former Ginetta GT Supercup champion was one of several BTCC participants that used the spring break wisely, joining many of their rivals for what proved to be a successful test at Donington Park, Morgan and his Ciceley Toyota Avensis proving highly competitive. “There were a number of teams testing at the same time as us at Donington, including Speedworks, eBay, Honda and Motorbase, and I think that we were among the quickest”, added Morgan. “However, we have to remember that it’s only a test day and you never really know what the others are doing.
Fellow Toyota driver Frank Wrathall meanwhile had the early phase of his season dented by misfortune and mechanical difficulties, the most recent being a damper issue at Thruxton last time out that halted his progress. Although the Dynojet Toyota man has endured his troubles on the Sundays, Wrathall’s has been on the pace throughout qualifying this season and, following a successful recent test during the spring break, is hoping his fortunes will take a turn for the better.
“We’ve had a full day testing at Donington Park, and that went very well and helped us get to the bottom of the problems we were having at Thruxton,” said Wrathall. “We traced it to damage to the shock absorbers, probably caused by hitting the kerbs early on in the meeting. It explains a lot of our issues. For one reason or another things haven’t all come together for us on race day; I’m hoping that Oulton will see a change in our fortunes and that I can get three good race results under my belt.”
