Airwaves Racing Look to Forget Rockingham Troubles.

Airwaves Racing suffered their second consecutive troublesome weekend during the eighth weekend of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire.

Arriving in Northamptonshire as the leaders of the Independent Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships, the Motorbase run outfit remain right in the thick of the battle for the drivers title as well as the Independent honours – despite the team feeling that they are out of contention.

Qualifying proved to be a relative success for the team as Mat Jackson qualified ninth in a car carrying 27kgs success ballast plus an additional 20kgs ballast which TOCA applied prior to the trip to Rockingham.

From row five on the grid, Jackson made a good start and found himself seventh at the hairpin, ahead of Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden. The following corner, Yentwood, saw the field concertina up and Jackson was collected from behind – and the car he hit crushed his turbocharging and intercooling systems, an instant retirement for Jackson.

The second race of the day also saw Jackson forced into an early retirement after contact with the Audi A4 of Rob Austin forced his rear door open. He was shown the Black and orange flag due to the flapping door, so he had to pit for repairs. He was sent back out but the door reopened itself with a few laps remaining and this forced Jackson to retire in the pits. He had been up as high as twelfth before the incident with Austin.

Jackson had to start in twentieth for the final race and he managed to work his way up to thirteenth by the flag, but he failed to score a point and it has been six races on the trot without a top ten finish for Jackson, who led the Championship leaving Snetterton.

Jackson can’t believe the luck he has had at Rockingham as he doesn’t feel it could have been any worse than it was at Knockhill. He refuses to throw in the towel though: “I really didn’t think things could get any worse after Knockhill, but this weekend proved me wrong. Even coming here we still had a chance of salvaging our challenge for the title and I just can’t believe we’ve had such a shocker again, it’s just is the way things are going at the moment. We’ve just got to knuckle down, focus and work hard as a team to finish as high up as we can. This is the way it goes sometimes in motorsport, but we never give up.”

Liam Griffin failed to complete the qualifying session after going off and bringing out the red flags. He worked his way up the order during the opening race to secure a sixteenth place finish, and the second race saw Griffin leading the Airwaves pack for a while when he was running thirteenth. He ultimately finished sixteenth. Griffin brought the #66 Airwaves Racing Ford Focus home nineteenth in the final race, but ahead of Gordon Shedden.

Griffin is pleased with a progressive weekend for him at the Rockingham Motor Speedway:  “Apart from my little excursion during qualifying, I’m relatively happy with this weekend. I had three good solid races and finishes and enjoyed a few good battles out on the track and I feel as if I’ve made a step forward this weekend. I’m just gutted for Mat and the team that the weekend didn’t go better for them and the Championship.”

BTCC Debutant Michael Caine qualified nineteenth in the #6 Airwaves Ford Focus, and he converted this into a top ten position by the chequered flag. Just before the Safety Car was deployed, Caine proved that his role within the team was justified as he moved ahead of Andy Neate.

Once the Safety Car was withdrawn, Caine was able to take advantage of the mistake made by Tom Chilton to move into the top ten, and he stayed there until the flag to secure a point on his BTCC debut and the accolade of being the highest placed Ford driver.

The second race saw Caine suffer with turbo problems and this saw him drop down the field, and he was unable to avoid contact with the BMW of WSR’s Rob Collard – the contact damaged his rear wheel and this saw him fall further down the field until he retired on lap ten.

Rockingham’s third race saw Caine struggle with tyre wear and he had to hold on after picking up a puncture – he took the flag in twentieth.

“What an experience! It was fantastic; everything I expected it to be out there and just as tough as it looks! I picked up a few bumps and bruises on the way, which is to be expected in the BTCC and unfortunately we had a couple of problems with the turbo in races 2 and 3, but the Motorbase boys gave me a great car and I’m delighted to have been out there racing, let alone to have scored a point in my first race. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to get back out at Brands Hatch and we can come back stronger with a better weekend’s results.”

Team Manager Oly Collins can’t believe the luck the team had at Rockingham and he admits that Jackson’s outright Championship challenge is over.

“Well, another awful weekend for us, there’s not really much that I can say about it. On the plus side Michael [Caine] had a great first race in the BTCC and managed to score our only point of the weekend, also Liam [Griffin] had a good race day, showed promise and managed to finish all three races. Unfortunately this weekend’s results have put an end to Mat’s [Jackson] outright Championship challenge.”

The penultimate weekend for the BTCC takes place at Airwaves Racing local track of Brands Hatch, on the Grand Prix loop over the 1^st/2^nd October. They will look to put the luck of Knockhill and Rockingham behind them and to close up in the battle for outright honours as well as Independent honours.

Triple Eight Celebrate as Nash wins at Rockingham.

Triple Eight Race Engineering with Collins Contractors have continued their record of securing at least one victory a season as James Nash secured his first victory of his BTCC career during the third race of the weekend at Rockingham, race twenty four of the season.

This win, coupled with the results in the earlier two races and the no score from his nearest rival for the Independents title, Mat Jackson, mean that Nash has taken over at the top of the Independent drivers’ standings while Triple Eight have moved ahead of Airwaves Racing in the Independent Teams’ Championship.

Nash has also retained an outside chance of the outright drivers’ Championship with his maiden victory. He has closed to within one point of fourth placed Jackson.

Nash said after he had secured the victory: “About time. We’ve got close a few times so now to win is really good. It’s also nice to keep up Triple Eight’s amazing record of scoring a win in every season bar their first. The third race was quite tough. I got off the line well and I had to get in front quickly and build a gap because I knew Rob Austin in the rear wheel drive Audi would come back at me towards the end. I also had a vibration to contend with for the last 6 or 7 laps. It was a tyre wall and I was thinking that the tyre might blow at any second. Thankfully though it lasted the race but it was definitely on its last legs at the end.”

“I’d like to thank my parents and family. They’ve always supported and believed in me. The team too for their hard work and endeavour and also to my management team Drive.”

Ian Harrison is pleased that Nash has joined the winners roster, both in the BTCC and for the team – his names now ranks alongside drivers such as Jason Plato, James Thompson and Fabrizio Giovanardi.

It was Giovanardi who secured the team’s last victory, at Thruxton last year and Harrison is pleased that their record of a victory every season has been continued: “I’m really pleased that James has finally scored his first win for us. We’ve had some big winners here before and James has now joined them. Save 1997, we’ve won a race every season so to get this win is pretty good too.”

“The day started to come good for us in the second race. James drove really well all day though and I thought that in the third race he and Rob Austin showed the others how good close touring car racing should be done. There was barely anything between them at times but they didn’t touch once.”

Next up for Nash and the team is a trip to Brands Hatch and the Grand Prix circuit on the 1^st/2^nd October, the penultimate race weekend of the season.

Lynn makes History as Rowland Secures His Maiden Victory.

Rockingham saw Fortec Motorsport secure both victories during rounds fifteen and sixteen of the 2011 CERTINA Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship, with Oliver Rowland securing his maiden victory while Alex Lynn equalled a seventeen year old record for the amount of victories in a season – James Matthws’ achieved eleven victories during the 1994 campaign.

Rowland dominated the opening encounter as he secured a light to flag victory and he took the chequered flag some ten seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, team-mate Mitchell Gilbert.

He kept his composure during an early race safety car period, caused by Jack Hawksworth (Atech Reid GP) and Josh Hill (Manor Competition) – both Hawksworth and Hill were out on the spot.

“To win this race is absolutely mega,” said Rowland. “I struggled off the line and it looked like Gilbert had got in front, luckily I managed to fight back on the inside and get back into first on the second corner. From then on it was just about pushing as hard as I could, which worked perfectly.”

Gilbert briefly led the first race of the weekend but he was unable to match the pace shown by Rowland and he had to defend his position in the latter stages from Cypriot racer Tio Ellinas (Atech Reid GP). Ellinas would finish third in the opening race.

“I thought that I could take the lead at the start as I got off the line brilliantly,” said Gilbert speaking after his first race. “I guess that I didn’t close enough and unfortunately that allowed Rowland to go back through on the inside. As the race went on I struggled for pace and it soon became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to catch him. I’m happy to get second.”

Fourth was Dan Wells (Atech Reid GP), securing his best result to date while rounding out the top five was Daniel Cammish (Mark Burdett Motorsport).

Alex Lynn started the opening race from the back of the grid after a mistake in qualifying and he had worked his way up the order to fifth before he spun again, which dropped him to the back once again. He crossed the line tenth overall.

“I’m slightly disappointed that it finished the way,” said Lynn. “I got up to fifth and we were very fast.”

He bounced back in the second race as he started from Pole Position and was able to celebrate his birthday with his eleventh win of the season. He produced a typical Lynn race, by getting a clean start off the line and producing a clean opening lap and then made no errors despite the pressure from team-mate and race one victor Rowland.

“I’ve been pushing hard all weekend,” said Lynn. “My start was really good, we got the gap into the first corner which I needed and for the whole race I maintained the gap back to Ollie and just played with the gap, pushing all the way, so it was a great victory.

“I think Ollie’s done a really good job and he’s pushed me really hard this weekend. My spin in qualifying was a mistake by me – without it I think we had the pace to be on pole. Then I spun in this morning’s race which is what it is, and I needed to win the second race and I did that job.”

Rowland, who is backed by the Racing Steps Foundation scheme, was a thorn in Lynn’s side, the two drivers constantly exchanging the races fastest lap and ultimately, Rowland finished just a second behind Lynn.

“Race two was really good,” said Rowland. “At times, Alex stretched his lead and at times I caught up. Alex was driving really well, I know he was pushing hard to get a gap and I was pushing really, really hard to try to catch him.”

Rowland’s double podium finish was a poignant moment in his life after events of recent weeks: “A first and a second is my best result of the year. I’m really happy and it needed to come; getting towards the end of the season is when rookies start to blossom. I’d like to dedicate my win today to Martin Hines who recently passed away. He did a lot for me and my career.”

Ellinas backed up his race one podium finish with another third place finish in the second race to keep himself in the hunt for the Championship with four races of the 2011 season remaining.

“To be honest I’m pretty happy with two P3s today,” said Ellinas. “I’m thirty four points behind Alex but it’s still possible to go for the championship.

“I really like Brands GP and Silverstone National so we will try very hard in all four races. I know the gap I need to make up, so I’m working hard with the team.”

After his second place finish on race one, Gilbert completed the top six finishers in the second race, finishing behind Hawksworth and Cammish – Cammish’s second fifth place finish meant that the Mark Burdett Motorsport outfit had reason to cheer leaving Northamptonshire.

Jordan King secured a seventh place finish in the second race after coming home ninth in race one, where he spun while under pressure from a charging Lynn. He finished over two seconds behind Gilbert in the afternoon encounter.

Looking for a positive result in race two after his race one retirement was Josh Hill (Manor Competition). He made a promising start and ran behind Oscar King (Atech Reid GP), who had started from a career best, fourth on the grid. Both their races were over on the second lap after they tangled going into the second corner. Both cars were out on the spot.

CERTINA Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship debutant Alex Walker secured a sixth and ninth place finish at the Challenging Rockingham circuit. He currently sits second in the Intersteps Championship standings.

Rounds seventeen and eighteen of the 2011 CERTINA Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship take place at the world famous Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit over the 1^st/2^nd October.

AmD Milltek Racing.com Sees Strong Pace Unrewarded at Rockingham.

The eighth race weekend of the season saw AmD Milltek Racing.com produce strong pace at the Rockingham Motor Speedway but their pace was unrewarded as they failed to score any points.

Shaun Hollamby admitted after the race weekend that he was frustrated to have seen the pace go unrewarded as it was one of the strongest weekend’s to date for the Volkswagen Squad.

“In the BTCC, you need to basically treat the three races as one because they all have an effect on each other – given that you’re starting positions are dependent on earlier results,” he said. “You’ve got to finish, and finish well, and we were on the back foot after the first lap of race one which was a shame. The pace Martin showed on track was really good, especially in the second race, and he made the most of the fact that we have a strong chassis with the Golf. What we now need to do is make sure we get all we can from the engine, as we just lost out a bit through the speed traps.”

Martin Byford was making this third appearance in the Volkswagen Golf Mk5 and the 2007 Clio Cup Champion had his strongest weekend to date, as he qualified the car inside the top ten.

His weekend was compromised on the opening lap of the first race as he was caught up in the concertina effect at Yentwood; he had contact with a rival which dislodged the bonnet on the turbocharged Volkswagen.

Byford was able to recover to the pits despite the bonnet obscuring his view and he was able to rejoin the opening encounter and took the chequered flag twentieth but a lap down.

As in the opening race, Byford was again the innocent party in an accident which happened ahead of him. The contact which happened ahead of Byford meant that he in turn had contact with the Chevrolet of John George and this left him with a broken bonnet catch.

This forced Byford back to the pits but once he was back in the race, he managed to catch up with the rest of the field and finished eighteenth overall, but with the sixth fastest lap of the race proving the team’s raw pace.

The final race of the weekend saw Byford drop down to twentieth after opening lap contact but he started to work his way up the order, even though he was caught up in the midfield traffic.

Running nineteenth for the vast majority of the race, Byford was soon able to battle ahead of BTCC debutant Michael Caine and Gordon Shedden, who was struggling in the Honda Racing Honda Civic.

Byford took Knockhill race winner Tom Chilton on the final lap of the weekend to secure sixteenth – he once again showed strong pace during the race even though he had bodywork damage from the previous race which affected his straight-line speed and spending the whole race distance in traffic.

“It was difficult to come back from what happened in race one,” he said. “Race two was equally frustrating given the pace we showed in the car and then in race three, I lost out when I got hit at turn two and it meant I was in a train of traffic throughout. It’s a real shame because the car was really strong this weekend and in the final race, when I got ahead of Caine, I was able to pull away and make up places; it was nice to get ahead of someone like Tom Chilton before the end. Although we lost out a bit on the oval, we had genuine pace in the car and with a better result in race one; we would have been in the points.

“The team has done a really good job this weekend and has taken a methodical approach to working through the programme we had. We’ve been on the pace since qualifying and we have unlocked a lot of potential in the car, we just weren’t able to make the most of it.”

Next up for the team is a trip to Brands Hatch and the Grand Prix circuit, the home race for the team. Hollamby believes that Brands Hatch GP should suit the Golf and is hoping for a strong weekend: “It’s disappointing that we haven’t scored points this weekend given the steps forwards we have taken again, but Brands Hatch GP circuit should suit us down to the ground and as our home circuit, we’re hoping for a strong weekend there.”

Chatin doubles up at Paul Ricard and Secures Championship Advantage.

Paul-Loup Chatin completed the perfect home race weekend for him in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Season as he secured his second victory of the day and third of the weekend from Pole Position to move into a two point championship lead with a trip to Spa-Francorchamps remaining over the 1^st/2^nd October.

“For me it was a fantastic weekend,” declared Paul-Loup Chatin.”In Race 2 I was able to quickly take a big lead and then I managed to keep the first position. Now I’m leading the championship and in 15 days I will face the last race in Spa, a circuit on which I had already run before.”

Following Chatin home was Vittorio Ghirelli for his best result in the series. The One Racing driver finished third in the first race of the weekend, and lined up second on the grid for the second race, alongside Chatin. The opening few laps saw third row starter Federico Gibbin (Viola Formula Racing) lying third, just ahead of Yann Zimmer (Arta Engineering) and Javier Tarancon (Tech 1 Racing).

Lap three saw Gibbin demoted back to fifth as Zimmer and Tarancon moved ahead while up at the front, Chatin was flying away and he set the fastest lap of the race. The battle for second was intense as Ghirelli, Tarancon, Zimmer and Gibbin were all racing as one and at the flag, Chatin completed the perfect home weekend with an advantage of 12.2s over Ghirelli.

Ghirelli said after the race: “I had a good start and at the first few corners I tried to attack Chatin,” said Vittorio Ghirelli. “At the end I preferred not  to take  risks and  I  queued  behind,  defending  myself  against  the  attacks  from  Zimmer  and  Tarancon.  After the podium in Budapest and in Race 1, that one obtained in Race 2 at the Paul Ricard is my third podium of the season and I’m completely satisfied.”

The other One Racing driver, Edolo Ghirelli, was also involved in the battles for position and he came out on top of the battle for sixth with Russian driver Roman Mavlanov (Boetti Racing Team).

The final rounds of the 2011 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Series takes place over the 1^st/2^nd October at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, and Chatin heads to Belgium leading the Championship by two points from team-mate Tarancon.