AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing had a successful start to the season at Brands Hatch in the first weekend of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Drivers Tom Boardman and Rory Butcher enjoyed a solid weekend at the helm of the Essex teams’ newly acquired MG6 GTs which they hoped would start showing out a solid points scoring platform after being rebuilt over the Winter and with changeable conditions dictating many of the finishing positions on the Sunday this was to be a possibility.
With Rory qualifying twenty sixth and Tom twenty eighth it seemed there was to be an uphill battle to finish well for the first race of the day. However, Rory managed to jump six places on the opening lap before patiently working his way up to a points scoring finish of thirteenth and three points.
Tom also picked his way through the field to finish a respectable eighteenth in race one, but that will pale into insignificance in comparison to the well documented race two.
Taking stock of the conditions before the start of the race, the decision was taken to start both of the cars on the slick Dunlop tyre. In the opening stages the pace of those on slick-shod rubber were obviously not as quick as those who started on the wets, but a turning point came partway through the race and the two drivers began their assault up the field.
Rory managed to haul his MG into ninth position but even better was that Tom had managed to lift his car up into fourth place and was even in contention for taking the race win. Boardman finished only two seconds behind the race winner Senna Proctor.
Roles were reversed for race three when Rory finished in sixth for the final race of the day whilst Tom had contact at Paddock Hill Bend on the second lap and limped home eighteenth by the time he reached the flag.
This strong weekend of points finishes sees the team lie fourth in the teams’ championship and Team Principal Shaun Hollamby praised his team for what they achieved on the day.
“Both Rory and Tom have driven brilliantly in the conditions and to end the weekend six points off the lead in the team’s championship is way beyond anything we could have expected.
“We’re realistic enough to know that it will be tough to stay there but this weekend is a great way to thank the likes of AutoAid and RCIB Insurance for their support in pulling his together and hopefully there are more strong results to come as the year goes on.”
Tom reflected on his second and third race of the weekend, “We made the call on slicks in race two and it was tough in the early stages before things started to dry out and to come through and take fourth place was brilliant.
“Even though the extra weight we had to carry in race three then cost us some straight line speed, I think we could have scored some more good points if we’d not been knocked off track.”
Meanwhile Rory was chuffed with the results despite coming into the team quite late, “I’m delighted for the whole team with the way the weekend has gone.
“Considering the amount of pre-season running we have had and the fact that my deal came together quite late, it’s brilliant to come away from the weekend with three points scoring finishes and P6 in race three was a great way to end it.”
