Aiden Moffat said that he struggled to fight against the rear-wheel drive cars during a frenetic opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park.
The Laser Tools-backed Mercedes A-Class driver finished fourth in the opening 15-lap race of the day in Cheshire, having battled for the final podium spot for much of the race on the softer Dunlop tyre compound.
Narrowly missing out on the final step of the rostrum, the Scot admitted that the softer compound was not as quick in race trim as he first expected.
“We were on the softer tyre which we thought would be the quicker option, but we struggled with it to be honest”, Moffat told The Checkered Flag afterwards.
“In the latter stages it was just a nightmare to try and hold on with it. It would have been nice to hold onto it but fourth still comes with good points.”
The Mercedes driver spent much of the race looking in his mirrors, his defence of Ashley Sutton eventually broken at the final corner after the latter took to the grass when squeezed by Moffat heading out of the Island hairpin.
“I always knew that a defence was coming”, Moffat said when asked on his fight for third. “We struggled with the front end from the start.
“Through the long left-hander at Cascades and into the hairpin I was always under pressure. I knew it was coming at the hairpin every time and with a FWD car against the RWD cars, you just have to wait and wait before you can defend again.
“This has always been a RWD track – that’s shown by eight of the nine podium finishers being in RWD cars last year.”
Photo: BTCC Media
