Team Halfords fought courageously throughout the second Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship round. After a series of mechanical failures, the team celebrated a second place podium for an incredible Feature race by Tim Harvey, only to later discover they were subject to a 25 second penalty for technical infringements during a pit stop.

Qualifying saw an unlucky start for the Halfords squad, as two-time Oulton Park Gold Cup winner, Tim Harvey, lost all electrics in his car. He managed to qualify 6th for the Sprint race, but after only 8 laps was out of the session and missed qualifying for the Feature race.

Dan Eaves was hot on the heels of teammate Harvey, and qualified for the Sprint race in 7th. Then, at the start of qualifying for the Feature race, Eaves put in several flying laps and moved up to 4th Position, only to incur a TOCA ride height infringement penalty (the car’s height was below the minimum requirement due to the suspension being knocked out by hitting a kerb). Without time to rectify the problem, Eaves found himself at the back of the grid keeping Harvey company for the start of the Feature race.

Race day dawned with an optimistic team raring to go. As the starting lights of the Sprint race turned to Green, Harvey shot into 3rd place round the first bend, but soon had to submit to the MG’s of Reid and Hughes. The carnage of the first bend took its toll on the pair of 406 Coupes, as both cars picked up front end damage.

The safety car was deployed before the end of the first lap and the slow moving pack caused the Team Halfords engines to overheat. Oil pressure soared, leaked on to Harvey’s rear wheel and created a near impossible driving situation. When Harvey’s electrics failed only four laps from the finish line, the No: 8 coupe was forced to retire.

Eaves, who was suffering the same oil pressure problem as Harvey, span off at Lodge. Despite an engine cut out, he successfully restarted and fought his way through the back markers to finish in 13th position.

Eaves’ run of bad luck continued into the Feature race. Despite his initial thrust in getting from 16th to 9th, a reoccurring power steering problem forced him out on Lap 6.

Harvey, however, used his extensive experience and skill to manoeuvre his way from the back of the pack. After a frantic pit stop on lap 6, Harvey exited the pit lane into 6th place, in close pursuit of Turkington. Making short work of the Team AK car, Harvey tussled with Warren Hughes for the last four nail biting laps, made his move and left Hughes for dust, roaring home in an outstanding 2nd position. The two leading Astras, who had looked set to finish the race well ahead of the rest of the pack, ended up watching Paul O’Neill, Harvey and Hughes romp past to victory from the sidelines.

Harvey’s glory was short lived as Team Halfords received the news that they would incur a 25 second time penalty for not changing the front right wheel during the pit stop. This devastating penalty left Harvey in 6th position.

Team Halfords Principal Vic Lee commented: ‘When Tim came in for his pit stop on lap 6, the right wheel was jammed on. I made the decision for the car to go back out, hoping that there would be a safety car period sometime during the rest of the race so we could bring the car back in and try again. The safety car was not needed for the rest of the session, and we were penalised with a time penalty. It’s just one of those things, you make a decision and you either win or lose, unfortunately on this gamble we lost, but we’re certainly not defeated!’