Race-winning team Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport endured a tough time at Thruxton, Hampshire, last month (27/28 August) in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship as its two BMW 330e M Sports battled against mechanical maladies and incidents.
After a win earlier in the season when the team last raced at the UK’s fastest circuit, hopes were high arriving at the Hampshire speedbowl. Qualifying proved to be difficult, however, as Adam Morgan confessed to not hooking up all three sectors and team-mate George Gamble felt his car was lacking a bit of pace. The pair would ultimately settle for 14th and 17th on the grid for Sunday’s opener respectively, with the team working to rectify electrical problems for both cars.
Race one proved to be a tough outing for both drivers with Gamble forced to start from the pit lane due to further issues with his BMW 330e M Sport. The 26-year-old was raring to battle his way up the order but would be forced to retire on the fourth tour with a broken wishbone.
Morgan, meanwhile, was jostling with Stephen Jelley for eleventh but would lose out to finish in P12 at the chequered flag.
Once again, the Ciceley Motorsport engineers were busy between races, changing batteries and the power supply to both cars. From 12th on the grid, Morgan lost ground on the initial laps, dropping out of the points-paying positions, before making his way back up to 14th. The #33 driver attacked Dan Lloyd for the entirety of the second half of the contest, ultimately settling for 14th when he was unable to find a way past the Hyundai.
Gamble had work to do during the 14-lap encounter from last on the grid, duly storming up to 25th by the conclusion of the opening tour before improving to take 19th place.
Worse was to come in race three, both drivers outside the reverse grid draw, with both cars retiring with damage. Early contact at the chicane for Gamble saw his weekend draw to a premature end, while a mistake from a rival would result in an off-track excursion for Morgan, dropping him down the order. Recovering to 15th, further contact on the penultimate lap put paid to his progress and Morgan’s weekend too ended with a DNF.
“This has been a really tough weekend and one from which we need to look at the positives,” admitted Commercial Director Ash Gallagher. “We had good pace, both drivers raced really well at a track at which overtaking isn’t too easy in the BTCC, and our engineers and mechanics worked brilliantly to keep changing parts and working on the cars to give Adam and George the best chance on track. It was one of those weekends when teamwork shone through.”
With just two events remaining in the 2022 campaign, Morgan now lies 11th in the Drivers’ Standings with Gamble 13th, while they are second and fourth in the Independent Drivers’ Championship. Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport holds eighth in the Teams’ Standings and second in the Independent Teams’ competition, while Gamble sits second in the Jack Sears Trophy.
The next rounds of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship are set to be hosted by Silverstone’s National circuit on 24/25 September with qualifying shown live on itv.com/btcc on the Saturday and all the race-day action on Sunday on ITV4.
