Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing saw their pace go unrewarded this past weekend (August 10-11) as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship made its annual trip north of the border to Knockhill.
Renowned for its elevation changes and blind crests, the Fife venue provided the backdrop to three captivating contests from the UK’s premier motorsport series; although they culminated in mixed results for drivers Árón Taylor-Smith and Mikey Doble.
Taylor-Smith was arguably one of the stars of the show during Saturday’s qualifying as he hustled his Vauxhall Astra onto the front row of the grid, finishing the session just 0.035s shy of Colin Turkington’s pole position time.
Opting to run the more favourable soft tyre in race one, the Irishman held firm in second place for a large portion of race one before he dropped back to fourth after a fraught battle with Adam Morgan and Josh Cook through the chicane.
Taylor-Smith then found himself in the thick of the action again in race two as, now on the medium tyre, he was unable to hang on to the front runners, ultimately crossing the line in 11th.
That result promoted him back onto the front row for race three however a power steering failure early on meant that he could only salvage 13th come the chequered flag.
For Doble, tenth place in the opening encounter was unfortunately as good as it would get as a failed clutch bearing saw him stall at the start of race two. Managing to get going and finish 18th, the 25-year-old would sadly not compete in race three as, despite the team’s best efforts, there was not enough time to repair his car.
Leaving Scotland, Taylor-Smith remains at the summit of the Independent Drivers’ Championship while the Worcestershire-based squad continue to control the Independent Teams’ standings. In the Jack Sears Trophy, Doble holds a comfortable advantage at the top of the points.
Árón Taylor-Smith: “To be coming away a little disappointed on a weekend where we qualified on the front row and had a best finish of fourth is I guess a sign of just how far we have come as team - we’re certainly establishing ourselves as regular front runners now.
“Fourth in race one was great and then we got a bit unlucky on the medium tyre in race two. To be back on the front row for race three, and on the soft tyre, teed us up for a proper result however the power steering let go early on and from there it was just about hanging on.
“Overall I’m still feeling really positive as we managed to claim two more Independent wins and extend our lead in the standings. We’re now also going back to Donington Park where I’m confident we could have a really strong weekend!”
Mikey Doble: “Qualifying inside the top ten was a great start and we managed to hold that position in race one. When I came up to the line for race two the clutch bearing let go and that’s what stalled the car.; frustratingly when we got going the pace on the medium tyre was unbelievable.
“The team didn’t have long to get it turned around but they pulled off a mega effort and it looked like we’d be out there - until a seal burst when we went to bleed the clutch. It’s fair to say it’s not been our weekend.
“On a positive note, we’ve not lost any of the advantage we had in the Jack Sears Trophy and we can go to Donington Park in a few weeks’ time confident that we should have a car that can mix it towards the right end of the field.”
Martin Broadhurst, Team Manager: “I think the best way to describe the weekend is ‘what might have been’ for us. Both drivers had really strong pace however the luck just didn’t side with them this time around.
“Árón’s lap in qualifying is one of the undoubted highlights and he was unlucky to have been muscled out of a podium position late on in that opening race; he raced well all day though. I feel for Mikey too because he never got a proper opportunity to show what he could do.”
Adam Weaver, Team Principal: “I’d like to think that we will get a roll of the dice go our way soon. Qualifying within 0.035s of pole position was a brilliant start for us and Árón valiantly fought tooth-and-nail to bring home fourth in race one.
“That was sadly as good as it got as typical touring car racing, along with some mechanical misfortune, meant that we couldn’t build upon that. Hopefully we can bounce back at Donington Park in a few weeks’ time.”
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship next returns to Donington Park - this time to tackle the Grand Prix circuit - in less than two weeks’ time on August 24-25.
