Scottish racer forced out while fighting for win

Gavin Pyper announced his return to the British Touring Car Championship by battling for the Production Class lead in the opening race of Thruxton’s Bank Holiday meeting. The Scot had returned to the series two weeks before at Oulton Park, but been knocked off on the opening lap of both races, so the high-speed Thruxton circuit gave him perfect opportunity to show the all-action style the crowd has come to expect from the Alfa Romeo driver.

Pyper qualified third and second for the two BTCC races at Thruxton, despite his late deal to race meaning a lack of testing in his Gary Ayles Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156. In the opening event Pyper battled for lap after lap in a thrilling battle with the eventual winner, only to spear off the circuit when the two clashed on the final lap. The GA Motorsport crew repaired Pyper’s Alfa in time to make the grid for the second race, but handling problems, an after-effect of the first race incident, saw him pit and lose any chance of a good result.

“The first race was very good,” said Pyper, from Blairgowrie in Scotland, and based in Surrey during the race season, “until the other car collected me and finished my race!

“The Alfa was quick and we could stay with the lead Honda. He was quick through the fast corners and we were quick through the tight twisty chicanes. My view is he seemed to overcook it going into a corner; I saw an opportunity and went down his left-hand side. It was a bit of a late move, but he just basically drove into the side of me and ripped a wheel off - end of race.

“In the second race we had problems with the car. It just got finished in time, the guys did a great job just to get it out there, but we had some handling problems which meant I didn’t finish where I wanted to. We’re just starting to develop this car, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t soon be quicker than the Honda.

“In qualifying and testing we proved we were quick, in the race we were quick, and we did lots of laps - it’s just a shame we don’t have the trophies to come home with.”