Honda Racing claims first BTCC victory

Honda Racing today claimed their first race win since returning to the Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship at the beginning of 2002 with Andy Priaulx taking first place in a thrilling 40-lap feature race characterised by rain and difficult racing conditions.

Qualifying: Priaulx’s weekend started well when he put the Honda team at the front of the grid for the first time by taking pole position in both the sprint and feature races.

In warm, dry conditions, Priaulx confirmed the form of the Civic Type-R by moving up from third fastest to pole in the last two minutes of the opening qualifying session, beating championship leader James Thompson’s quickest time by 0.157 seconds. Team-mate Alan Morrison grabbed a second row position with fourth.

The duo then had a nerve-wracking break as Warren Hughes’ MG was removed from the tyre wall, reducing the second qualifying session to just over eight minutes. With only a few laps available, Priaulx claimed his second pole of the day, 3/1000s of a second ahead of the MG of Anthony Reid. Morrison suffered mechanical problems but managed to qualify tenth.

Sprint race: Steadily worsening weather greeted the cars as they lined up on the grid for the sprint race, prompting all teams to take the last-minute decision to change onto wet tyres. Both Honda drivers dominated the opening laps with Priaulx pulling away from James Thompson, while Morrison gained a place at the start to put the Vauxhall driver under pressure for second place. After a four-lap safety car period on lap 19 while Howell’s and Hughes’ MGs were retrieved from separate parts of the circuit, Morrison moved up into second place behind his team-mate. However, Honda’s one-two positioning was cruelly short-lived as Morrison was nudged off the track by Anthony Reid’s MG, robbing the

Ulsterman of two crucial places. Shortly afterwards, Matt Neal used Taylors Hairpin to overtake the leading Honda and Priaulx then appeared to suffer the same fate as his team-mate at the hands of Reid’s MG. The two Civic Type-R drivers battled valiantly to regain places but crossed the finish with Morrison in fifth and Priaulx in seventh.

Feature race: Conditions had deteriorated further for the start of the feature race and the first five laps were controlled by the safety car as the race cars tried to clear some of the water from the track. As the cars were released, Priaulx immediately went in for his mandatory pit stop, returning to the track in eighth place, still theoretically in the lead. He then held this position as the rest of his competitors completed their pit stops until he was out in front, maintaining an approximate six second advantage over his nearest challengers, the two factory Vauxhalls driven by Yvan Muller and James Thompson. In a moment of high drama on the penultimate lap, Priaulx hit some standing water at the chicane and appeared to lose control of the back end of the car but managed to keep it on track and cross the finish line in first place, two seconds ahead of Muller.

Team-mate Alan Morrison experienced disappointment as he was shunted off on lap six by Gareth Howell’s MG, returning to the race in last place. He then put in a good drive to claw his way back to eleventh position.

Andy Priaulx (Driver – Civic 28): “It’s a good result and one I think the team deserves. There’s no question that the car’s been on winning form all weekend, especially in this afternoon’s feature race when we’d tweaked the set-up to match the weather conditions. I can’t describe how I felt when I hit that standing water on the penultimate lap and thought I might lose it having led the race all that way but I’m glad that we converted one of the pole positions into a win.”

Alan Morrison (Driver – Civic 27): “It was a shame about the sprint race because I was running well and losing those two places when Reid shunted me off proved crucial. I was also pretty confident about the feature race but it was on the first bend after the safety car had released us that I tried to go down the inside of Howell and he didn’t see me and pushed me off. When I came back on in last place I felt sure there would be a safety car period that would help me catch up but I think that this was one of the only races this season that a safety car hasn’t come on, which is unbelievable considering the weather and the number of cars that went off! But it’s a great result for Andy and the team so I’m pleased about that.”