Adam Morgan once again shone in the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s latest round at Knockhill, the Toyota driver reflecting on a weekend that he felt would have gone perfectly had he not suffered a race two misfortune.
Two top-10 finishes at the Scottish circuit improved the Ciceley Racing driver’s tally to 17 top 10 results in the first 21 races of the season, a record that could have been raised further had he not been unlucky to suffer a non-finish in the second encounter.
The 24-year-old flew on Saturday as he challenged for a maiden pole position, eventually securing sixth on the grid and declaring afterwards: “If I’d managed to string my best sectors together on a complete lap, I could have been third.”
The Toyota driver then drove a sterling first race the following day, fighting his way up to fourth passed Matt Neal exiting Clark Curve before dispatching Jason Plato‘s MG with a slightly more forceful move heading through the hairpin, one that saw Morgan was later – slightly controversially – penalised for afterwards and pushed back to fifth.
Morgan added: “I think the penalty was a little harsh given some of the moves we have seen this season, but I am not complaining. I was quicker than Jason and didn’t want to get caught up in the pack behind so, when there was a gap, I had to go for it. I was chuffed to bits to go so well: the Toyota was on rails early on but the front left tyre went way from me late on, which meant I couldn’t quite challenge Shedden and Austin ahead of me.”
Morgan’s second race meanwhile ended prematurely out of his own hands when – running in a strong sixth position – the Toyota Avensis suffered a driveshaft failure that slowed him to a crawl on lap eight, Morgan saying:“I was coming out of the hairpin and there was no drive at all. I’ve no idea why it’s happened; I didn’t do anything different from race one, and I didn’t hit the kerbs any harder.
“It was our first mechanical problem of the year and that just shows what a great job the guys at Ciceley have been doing for me. It’s one of those things. at some point during the year something was bound to break, but it’s frustrating after such a good start.”
The final race was a showcase for Morgan as he charged up through the field from the back of the grid to an eventual ninth place following the exclusion of Colin Turkington from fourth, Morgan left satisfied by another weekend that saw him again dicing with the front-runners and still running a strong seventh in the championship.
“I think I killed the tyres quite early on. I set off like a rocket and I think I just worked them too hard and they were soon gone.
“This could have been a mega weekend for us but it’s turned out just OK. The next rounds are at Rockingham, a circuit I like, so hopefully there are some good results to come there.”
