CarStore Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble was left to wonder what might have been in the eighth instalment of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (26/27 August) after enduring a bruising three races around Donington Park’s Grand Prix circuit.
Hot on the heels of a triple-points scoring showing at Knockhill, the Vauxhall Astra driver returned to the scene of his series debut and maiden Independents’ victory in high spirits and keen to make his mark on the GP layout – which the BTCC was racing on for the first time since 2002.
Unfortunately, Doble’s Saturday got off to a less than ideal start as a mechanical issue midway through opening practice left him beached in the gravel at Redgate.
Getting a handful of laps under his belt in the second free practice session, the front-wheel-drive ace went into qualifying on the back foot, however, a committed lap saw him run inside the top ten at one stage before ultimately going on to clinch 16th on the grid.
Blasting away from the eighth row, Sunday’s opening race – which was held in wet conditions – saw Doble showcase his skills as he battled tooth-and-nail to take the chequered flag in 16th.
In Race two, contact-related damage to his car left him nursing it to the finish in 17th. While he then brought the curtain down on his weekend with another gutsy drive – which saw him in the thick of the action once more – to claim 16th in race three.
Yet despite this, Doble's consistent performance across the season has kept him firmly in the fight for the Jack Sears Trophy, just 14 points behind team-mate Andrew Watson, who leads with a total of 359 points. Out of the 24 rounds completed, Doble has collected four JST wins, five second place finishes and five third place finishes; now, he looks towards Silverstone (23/24 September) to get stuck back in the fight.
Mikey Doble, Carstore Power Maxed Racing: “It’s was one of those weekends when you’re left to wonder what might have been. The pace was in the car but things just didn’t fall our way so that we could show it from our side.
“We endured a really torrid Saturday with technical issues scuppering us in FP1 and then limiting how many laps we could do in FP2. Going into qualifying we were on the back foot so to end up 16th wasn’t as bad as it perhaps could have been.
“Race one was difficult though as the conditions were tricky and we were still battling to get a feel for the car. To come close to the points was frustrating and that theme just continued as we suffered more technical issues following damage in race two. Then in race three we brought it home again in 16th.
“Overall it’s been a frustrating weekend but we’re still firmly in the hunt for the Jack Sears Trophy. We’ll dust ourselves down, hit the reset button and make sure we’re ready to hit the ground running at Silverstone next month.”
