Rob Collard’s 2004 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship campaign suffered two blows at Silverstone this weekend – the first when knocked out of the opening race when holding fifth, and the second when his engine failed as he left the pits for the third, and final race. In between, a strong drive from the back of the grid in race two saw him lap Silverstone quicker than ever before in his Collard Racing Astra – an indication of what might have been in a frustrating weekend.

Rob, from Eversley in Hampshire, put in his best performance of the season so far in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, taking seventh overall on a track that started wet and dried as the 30-minute session went on. Times tumbled in the final seconds – Rob briefly second with less than a minute left – but he was pleased with the performance of the Brackenwood Windows-backed Collard Racing Astra.

"We found a lot of speed this afternoon,“ said Rob after qualifying, “though your grid position was a bit of a lottery depending on when you crossed the line. I’m pleased to qualify seventh and well inside the top ten overall - we could have gone quicker with another lap – but I’m happy.”

The first of Sunday’s races saw Rob gain a place early to move into sixth. Holding that position on lap five, Rob’s race was suddenly brought to an end by a rival Astra.

"He just came from nowhere and T-boned me,” exclaimed Rob when he got back to the pits, “there was no way he was ever going to stop. He rammed me on the front wheel, and that was that. We were sitting in sixth place and looking on for a good finish, and the car was going well. I looked in my mirror, he was well behind me, so I turned in and whack!”

Rob’s crew rapidly re-built the car before race two, but the non-finish meant that he had to start at the back of the grid. Rapidly climbing through the order, Rob brought his car home 12th, the Astra was performing better than ever before around the Northamptonshire circuit.

"The car was working really well and I did my quickest ever lap of Silverstone in that race,” said Rob. “It was really strong at the start of the race and I was able to make up quite a few places off the start and in the first couple of laps. It was enjoyable race – the pace was really high and we were lapping quicker than all the leaders. These 16-lap races seem to go very quickly.”

With the car right on the pace, and Rob starting further up the grid, hopes were high for the final race of the day, but the team’s hopes were swiftly dashed. Rob explains:

“We warmed up the engine, I drove up the pit-lane and it went bang at 45mph and very low revs. We don’t know what happened. The car was going really well and we were bang on the pace in the race before, so it’s a major disappointment.”