Both Ollie Jackson and Dan Welch were left with differing opinions on their part in the accident during the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton.
The six-car shunt occurred on the Bentley Straight during a frenetic opening lap, beginning with contact between the AmDTuningco.uk Audi S3 of Jackson and the Proton Gen-2 of Welch heading out of Williams Bend.
Ashley Sutton‘s MG, Hunter Abbott’s Chevrolet and the Ford Focus ST duo of Alex Martin and Stewart Lines were also involved, both Jackson and Welch giving their views to The Checkered Flag on what happened afterwards.
“Unfortunately, that’s just the occupational hazards of BTCC”, Jackson told TCF after the incident.
“Basically, I was on the outside and Dan was leaning on me heading onto the straight. That broke his suspension, he collected me and that sent me across the track.”
Photo: BTCC Media
On the other side, Welch told TCF: “I had a good start and everything was going well. [Ollie] should have conceded the position. He tried to hang on around the outside of the corner.
“It’s one of those things. He tried to hang onto my rear quarter until he went out wide.”
Unscathed from the sizable impact, Welch commented on the state of his Proton Gen-2, adding: “The car is totalled. I reckon I might have one good corner left on it. I was in the middle of the track and thought ‘this is going to hurt’.”
On the opposite side, Jackson had optimism that he could still be on the grid in the final race of the day in Norfolk.
“We might get the car back out for race three, but it’s not a dead cert”, he added. “The boys are working absolutely flat-out, so fingers crossed. It’s suspension and front-end, but the shell is straight and the sub frames are straight.
“We’ve still got a bit of qualifying pace to find, but the race pace is excellent. We’re still on a long journey with [the car].”
