Honda Racing experienced mixed emotions in rounds three and four of the British Touring Car Championship staged today (Sunday) at Oulton Park, Cheshire. Both drivers Andy Priaulx and Alan Morrison produced encouraging performances on what was only the second event for the promising new Civic Type-R but Priaulx was cruelly robbed of a potential podium position in the afternoon’s longer Feature Race by an electrical fault.

Qualifying: Despite starting Saturday’s qualifying with very little experience of the Oulton Park circuit, the two Honda Civic Type-Rs performed creditably with lap times improving throughout the session. With no testing permitted by the regulations after the opening two races at Brands Hatch, the team and its drivers had just two 40-minute acclimatisation sessions on Saturday morning not only to perfect the new power steering system fitted since Brands but also to fine tune the Civic’s chassis to the intricacies of the challenging Cheshire circuit.

Adding to the degree of difficulty, the first of these familiarisation sessions was held on a damp track and brought to a premature halt when one the BTC Production competitors crashed heavily. However, rising to the challenge, Priaulx qualified 11th for the Sprint Race and improved to ninth for the Feature Race. Team-mate Morrison also set faster and faster times claiming 14th and then 12th grid places for Sunday’s two showdowns.

Sprint Race: Despite early morning rain, the Sprint Race was held on a dry track and produced two encouraging top ten finishes for Honda Racing. Priaulx consolidated his 11th starting position during the early laps before mounting a stirring charge towards the front.

Underlining the Civic’s increasing competitiveness, the gritty Guernseyman lapped faster than in qualifying as he battled his way through the pack. The fast finishing Honda had already made up three places before the start of the last lap and then a thrilling move on the final corner saw Priaulx snatch seventh position from David Leslie’s Proton – the pair were separated by less than 3/100ths of a second as they flashed passed the chequered flag side-by-side.

With the benefit of more track time, Morrison also became an increasingly potent force as the race developed. After making a safe start, the Ulsterman made consistent progress up the leader-board to claim his first top ten finish of the season and thus earn Honda some more points towards the Manufacturers’ Championship.

Feature Race: Bright sunshine greeted the competitors as they lined up for the longer Feature Race and the two Hondas once again rose to occasion in style. Priaulx made significant progress in the opening few laps and rejoined the fray in a fighting fifth place following his mandatory mid-race pit-stop for new tyres.

However, having just set his fastest lap of the weekend, the Channel Islander was sidelined by an unidentified electrical fault. Adding to his frustration, both the leading Vauxhalls suffered mechanical problems in the closing stages of the race and Priaulx would have scored the team’s first top three finish had he retained his track position.

There was good news for Morrison, however, who produced another battling performance fighting his way through from a lowly starting position to claim a confidence building sixth place – his best result of the season.

Alan Morrison (Driver – Civic 27): "We are learning all the time and I’m delighted to have achieved two good finishes today. While other teams have prepared in private before joining the championship, we are doing our testing in public and we need as much mileage as we can get. The Honda has run perfectly all weekend and the information gained will help us in the rounds to come."

Andy Priaulx (Driver – Civic 28): "The Feature Race was a missed opportunity. I was in front of Tim Harvey and setting faster lap times than him when the car stopped. He went on to finish second… but that’s motor sport. However, as our lap times show, we got faster and faster with every extra lap and we are now starting to challenge the front-runners. What’s more, I know there’s still plenty of speed to find in the Civic once we’ve fine tuned the new steering system and had more track time to develop the package further."

Mark Davies (Honda UK): "Although Honda always races to win, there are times when we must be patient. Timing was always going to be tight as the Civic Type-R only arrived in the showrooms at the end of last year and now we are faced with regulations that restrict testing and thus severely limit our ability to develop the car between races. However, apart from the problem with the steering which the team is well on the way to fixing, all the early signs are very encouraging. The car is proving quick and reliable and both drivers are delighted with the engine and chassis – that’s why we have every confidence that Honda will become increasingly competitive in the coming races."