Rob Collard drove through the field to win the Independents category in round twelve of the British Touring Car Championship at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire today. The victory was Rob’s fourth of the season, and he now heads the competitive Independents championship by twelve points.

Rob was forced to start at the very back of the grid after his car lost its oil in the opening race of the day, the sump of his Collard Racing Astra being damaged on the first lap of that event. He made a storming start, and within a lap had passed the entire Production Class field, and then proceeded to pick off his class rivals one by one, finally coming out on top after an epic battle another private Astra.

“That was a hard drive!” said Robin from Eversley in Hampshire. “It was difficult being the last car on the grid and having to come through the pack. I made a brilliant start, but then it got very hard and at one point I was frustrated being held up behind one car for ages, he was blocking me like we were battling for the lead on the final lap!

“Once past him I really pushed hard, and in the final laps when I was looking to take the lead, and I just felt that if I could push the driver in front hard enough he would make a mistake. That is what happened, he ran wide at a corner, and I was able to get underneath him.

“After the disappointment of the first race this was exactly what we needed. It’s good to leave Croft leading the championship – that was always our main aim of the weekend – it’s just a shame that we didn’t score points in the first race. We have some real momentum now, that’s three wins out of the last four races.”

The first race had been a short one for Rob, who parked his Vauxhall Astra part way round the opening lap to save it from further damage.

“I was absolutely gutted after that race,” explained Rob. “I got squeezed a little in the first corner, but was inside one of the MGs and was sat behind another Astra. I went over the same bit of track that he did, flat a bit of a thump underneath, and that holed the sump and we lost the oil – we were lucky it didn’t damage the engine.