Ollie Jackson, AmD Tuning.com
Pat Cranham
The AmDTuning.com team enjoyed a fine end to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch, showing impressive pace and taking home two points finishes from the final meeting of the year.
The West Thurrock-based team made the short trip to Kent eager to return to form after a difficult weekend at Silverstone and things started well, with Attleborough driver Ollie Jackson on the pace throughout the two free practice sessions.
In a tightly-fought qualifying session, he then secured 18th on the grid at the wheel of his turbo-powered Volkswagen Golf – only 1.3 seconds away from pole position around one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar.
Rain for race day threw up an added challenge and unfortunately the challenging conditions would prove to be Ollie’s undoing in the opening race when he slid off into the gravel in the early stages and was forced to retire.
Starting near the back for race two as a result, Ollie was on fine form as he avoided a number of incidents ahead of him on the circuit to work his way up the order and he crossed the line in eleventh spot, where he would then start the final race of the season.
Although he lost places on the opening lap, Ollie soon battled his way into the top ten before closing onto the rear of a battle between the MG of double champion Jason Plato and the Vauxhall of Lea Wood. Matching the pace of the cars ahead, Ollie looked set to end the year on a high although he would lose his top ten on the penultimate lap to the hard-charging BMW of Tom Onslow-Cole.
It meant Ollie ended the weekend with a brace of eleventh place finishes, which leaves him 18th in the overall standings and 13th amongst the Independents.
“I think we all did the best job we have done all season this weekend,” he said. “After race one we came back well with two good performances although it is a bit of a shame that we missed out on a top ten in race three as I think we had the legs on the cars ahead but Tom was coming so quickly behind.
“All-in-all, I think we can be pleased with our performance. The car handled really well, I think I got more speed from it and I had a lot more confidence behind the wheel. This season has been a real learning curve for me and it’s been nice to learn with a team like this. Hopefully we can return again next year.”
Team boss Shaun Hollamby was also delighted with the way the weekend panned out as the AmDTuning.com team brought the curtain down on its time running the only Volkswagen on the BTCC grid after three years.
“It’s been a brilliant way to end the season,” he said. “We showed good pace and I think if Ollie had been able to get involved with Wood and Plato in the final race, we could have got well into the top ten. While a top ten would have been the perfect way to end our time with the Golf, we’ve had probably our most competitive outing with it in three years and shown what it could do for a team in 2013.
“Ollie has driven fantastically well this weekend to end his season on a high. Okay, he made a mistake in race one but that happens. He was aggressive in race two to make up places and gave as good as he got and I’m really pleased with how he performed. We’re going into the off-season on a high and will now work on a programme for next year which will hopefully see us running Ollie in an NGTC car.”
Source: AmDTuning.com
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