Hook speedster Rob Collard has voiced his frustration after being shunted out of a podium position for the third consecutive event at last month’s meeting at Croft in North Yorkshire.Collard almost snatched victory in race one, crossing the line just three hundredths of a second behind the eventual winner but rounds 14 and 15 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship proved a nightmare for the Hampshireman.
Having made a solid start Collard was sitting comfortably in third place but when Matt Neal made an ambitious move he shunted Paul O’Neill into Collard, who was forced to rejoin the race in 21st position. Some top driving saw him claw back a respectable eighth place but it was another miserable moment for the West Surrey Racing driver. In race three he made another good start and made up several positions and Collard was tearing through the field, moving up to third by lap ten. A bizarre turn of events saw Collard lose all his electrics, forcing him to coast into the pitlane. The freakish incident was caused by a piece of debris hitting the master switch on the exterior of the car and although he was able to get going again, he was well out of contention.
Collard said: “We started the weekend so well – we were immediately quick in free practice and continued to improve the BMW, exploiting its full potential in qualifying. We were very positive going into Sunday that we had a race-winning car and very nearly pulled it off in race one. Maybe at that point I should have just gone home! In race two my strategy was to look after my tyres in the early laps then make my move for the lead. However once again I was the innocent victim of other drivers’ actions.
"This is the third event in a row that I have been taken out of a podium position in the second race of the day through no fault of my own. It’s very frustrating, but we will regroup in the long break and look to maximise our results in the second half of the season.”
Team manager Dick Bennetts added: “It was a very frustrating weekend, as going into it we were confident of both drivers being right up there in the points. Rob has now been taken out of four podium positions this season through absolutely no fault of his own.”
