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Collard on song in the rain
May 21, 2009
British Touring Cars Championship
Rob Collard claimed an outstanding win for Airwaves BMW at Donington in the third round of the HiQ MSA Touring Car Championship.
The driver, from Yateley, was in imperious form in the third race of the day, seizing first place at the first corner then cruising to victory at the rain-swept Leicestershire circuit.
It was Collard’s second win of the season, keeping him firmly in contention for the championship title.
It was also the first win for a BMW at Donington in the BTCC since 1993.
Collard was placed second on the grid for the final race of the day, which took place in very wet conditions, with team-mate Jonny Adam directly behind him in fourth.
Collard launched off the line and immediately took the lead from the Chevrolet of Harry Vaulkhard.
Team-mate Adam then followed him past Vaulkhard and went second, before being unceremoniously pushed from the track on only the second lap and falling to 16th.
At the other end Collard was waiting for no man as he put in a series of strong laps at the head of the field, leaving reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi in his wake. However, conditions on track started to change rapidly and the tarmac began to dry, meaning Collard’s wet weather tyres began to suffer.
The BMW man was in no mood to surrender his lead, however, and powered to the finish ahead of title rival Colin Turkington. Adam had to make do with 13th position.
“The car was tremendous all weekend, a lot of credit has to go to our engineers for doing such a superb job under difficult conditions today,” said Collard, who finished fourth and ninth in the other two races over the weekend.
“Race one was good for me, race two was a bit unfortunate, but we showed the strength of this team by bouncing back and doing a great job in the last race.
“I got away so well and I pushed really hard over the first part of the race to try and build up a really good lead.
“When the track started drying out I just went looking for water on the wet line all the time, and that helped me keep the tyres in good enough shape to maintain my lead.
"I was a bit worried when I started seeing back markers, but I got past them OK and I knew I could produce a bit more pace if I needed to over the last few laps. This weekend has put me right back in the title hunt so I can’t ask for any more.”
Airwaves BMW Team Principal David Bartrum said: “That was a superb win for Rob in the last race, he did a really professional job and it just underlined how well he has been driving this season. I’m delighted for him and all the boys in the garage who worked so hard to make it happen.
Collard had qualified sixth for the first race and had been pretty satisfied with that placing, after a few minor problems with the car.
“I’m pretty happy with that session after the issues we had.,” said Collard. “We made some small changes to the suspension set-up when I came in and it made a tremendous difference.
“When I went back out the car felt really good and I went quicker than I had in the first part of the session. I’m in a great position to go for a podium position in the race.”
Having been dry all morning the heavens opened just before race one, meaning a swift changeover to a full wet set-up for the Airwaves BMW 320sis.
However, the conditions did not faze Collard, who made a trademark super-fast start and went straight from sixth to third before the first corner. Team-mate Adam also made a solid getaway, picking up a couple of places over the first two laps to move up to seventh in the order.
Adam became locked in a titanic battle five-way battle with Jason Plato, Giovanardi, Paul O’Neill and Adam Jones and fought his way back up past his more experienced rivals to secure sixth by the finish.
Collard began to struggle with grip as the track dried, allowing title-rival Matt Neal to catch and pass him in his Vauxhall, as Collard finished fourth.
The weather had improved dramatically by the start of race two. Starting from fourth, Collard was into second by the first corner, just behind the Honda Civic of race one winner James Thompson.
Collard was looking to pressure Thompson in first place, but ended up being spun out of contention and down to 13th after a rival made contact with his rear bumper. He fought his way back up to finish ninth, however, while Adam came in seventh.
Collard’s stunning third-race win and two top-ten finishes in the day’s earlier races put him back among the front-runners in both the overall and independent drivers’ titles.
Collard is fourth overall, on 67 points, level with third-placed Giovanardi and 22 behind leader Neal.
Colin Turkington is second on 76 points. Plato and Thompson complete the top six. Adam is 11th on 25 points.
On the independent drivers’ leaderboard, Collard is placed second on 78 points, 15 shy of Turkington.
Airwaves BMW is now third in the overall team standings and first in the independents’ championship, on 86 and 95 points repectively.
Vauxhall’s VX Racing are 57 points clear at the top of the overall team standings, while in the independents, Airwaves lead Team RAC by just one point in what looks set to be a titanic battle.
Airwaves BMW resume their campaign at Oulton Park on May 31.
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