Sprint Race

Both MGs started the sprint race from row six of the grid and battled midfield for the majority of the race. The race, won by Matt Neal, was interrupted twice during the latter stages with the safety car being deployed.

The tight circuit of Mondello Park was a new challenge for MG but Anthony Reid, having qualified 11th, drove a steady race and made places to gain valuable points for the Championship. Anthony said: "It was back to the touring cars of old and good fun. It was hard work for the last five or six laps when the safety car came out. With the extra weight (54kg) the tyres started to suffer. I’m pleased as finishing fifth is better than I’d hoped for."

Warren Hughes’ race was full of incidents in which the MG was in contact on a number of occasions. Warren explained: "I had a very good first lap but later on I took a few knocks to the side of the car. I was disappointed with qualifying so it was always going to be difficult fighting in midfield."

Before the start of the feature race the weather changed, so both MG ZSs were equipped with wet tyres. Anthony Reid lead impressively for most of the race but following his pit stop found himself fighting to make up the places to reach third. On the last lap an incident with Matt Neal resulted in Anthony slipping to fourth place. Anthony explained: "It was one of the most exciting races so far this season. On the last lap I was forced wide by Matt (Neal), which allowed him to get past. I finished fourth but disappointed not to get third. "

It was another battle for Warren Hughes after a disappointing qualifying session the previous day. On the race Warren said: "It was full of action. Qualifying scuppered my weekend so it was always going to be difficult to make progress. I only got seventh but I genuinely believe we could have done a lot better. It was a real lost opportunity this weekend so I’ll be looking to Croft to make up some points."

Rob Oldaker, managing director, MG Sport & Racing said: "Interesting qualifying with the Team Atomic Kitten cars doing better than the works cars but the weather played its part. Gareth and Colin achieved excellent results but it was a great shame that Colin was unable to race. Nevertheless, we got better results than we could have expected from the works cars today. We’ve picked up a few more points and not too much ballast for the next round."

Dick Bennetts, managing director, WSR said: "The MG Hot Wheels Racing team had a frustrating qualifying which wasn’t helped by the weather. Both Team Atomic Kitten drivers worked hard to secure excellent results but it was unfortunate that Colin (Turkington) was unable to race. Overall, it was not a great weekend although we have managed to gather valuable date from this, our first visit to Mondello."

Team Atomic Kitten drivers, Gareth Howell and Colin Turkington, put in a tremendous performance in qualifying. However, Colin Turkington, on his home turf, was denied the chance to continue his impressive performance when being struck down with suspected food poisoning, preventing him taking part in any of today’s action.

Gareth Howell had a mixed weekend when his was unable to capitalise fully on his impressive qualifying positions. He said: "After such a successful qualifying with Colin and I securing strong grid positions, we failed to challenge in both races. I was hoping to bank valuable points and looked favourable for a podium position in the sprint race when we failed to finish due to a fuel pressure failure. We paid the price in the feature race as we selected the wrong tyre (slicks) at the start."