Adam Morgan returned to the podium in the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship meeting of the season at Donington Park, the Ciceley Racing man insisting the Mercedes A-Class felt “bang on”.
Morgan shone in qualifying to net fourth on the grid at the Leicester circuit, recovering from a mistake in race one to earn a first rostrum visit of 2015 in Sunday’s second encounter.
A slip to 12th place on the softer tyres in race three was a less enthralling outcome, but Morgan was left feeling positive about the Silver Arrows’ performance.
“The car is absolutely bang on”, said Morgan. “I was always on the edge, but the car felt brilliant.
Morgan, a winner last year at Brands Hatch, initially felt he struggled with the colder temperatures to gain heat in the Dunlop tyres, but a fine qualifying effort of fourth set up the opportunity to fight for the podium on Sunday.
“It was cold and we couldn’t get heat into the tyres, but the team made a few tweaks here and there after our debrief and provided me with a brilliant qualifying package. I had to really push my tyres for a good grid slot in race two and with the addition of ballast they quickly lost all their adhesion.”
A costly mistake early in race one at McLeans dropped the Mercedes driver to ninth, but Morgan then battled through to third spot in a sometimes bruising battle with Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal.
“A really good race – loads of action all around the track”, added Morgan.
“I have to be honest, I was getting a bit cheesed off with being the apparent target of my peers. I was getting banged around all over the place, I just kept my head down and waited for my car to come to me.
“We are learning all the time and already think we have found a solution to change the cars set up when weight is added. Our podium has made this another really good weekend”.
Morgan’s Donington haul sees him head to Thruxton lying eighth in the championship, 22 adrift of series leader, Neal.