Team sunshine.co.uk ends impressive campaign at Brands

Fri 16th October 2009 Team sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport brought the curtain down on an impressive HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship campaign at Brands Hatch to finish the season in fifth place in the Independents’ teams championship.

Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell returned to action for the season finale alongside Widnes ace Paul O’Neill as the team concluded its racing campaign with a first outing on the famous Brands Hatch GP circuit – which returned to the calendar for the first time since 2005.

The weekend marked Martyn’s debut on the GP loop and he qualified in 18th place for the first race of the weekend. Although he was only able to make up one place during the race, Martyn was able to lap impressively with his best time being quicker than champion elect Colin Turkington.

A good start in the second race came to nothing when Martyn was forced off into the gravel by former F1 racer Johnny Herbert and his season came to an early end following a fuel pressure issue in race three – although the popular Lincolnshire racer refused to be too downbeat at the end of the weekend.

“It was a tough end to the season for me, but overall, the team has had a fantastic year and we can be proud of what we have achieved,” he said. “It was a shame that I wasn’t able to battle my way into the points in the final weekend, especially in the second race when I felt I had a really good car and made up places off the start, only to be fired off by Johnny Herbert. There was a fuel pressure problem in the final race which led to me retiring, and while that was disappointing, it meant I had one of the best seats in the house to watch the championship battle decided!”

Paul meanwhile – on the weekend where he contested his 100th BTCC race - secured another brace of top ten finishes from the three races, although he too was forced out of the final race of the year.

However, having taken a popular podium finish at Snetterton and been voted as the BTCC fans favourite driver, Paul was happy with how the season had gone.

“I never know what to think in racing, but it’s been one hell of a year,” he said. “It’s been the best year of my life this season and the whole team has been fantastic – I couldn’t have hoped for more. It was tough to be out of the loop for so many years and I wanted to prove a point to myself this season. I can come away from the year knowing I have done the best job I could have done and I proved to myself that I can still run inside the top ten in the BTCC, which is one of the best touring car series around.

“We got a podium finish at Snetterton and the only slight disappointment is that we didn’t get a win, but you have to aim high in this championship. The team and sponsors worked hard to get me in the car this season and working with Martyn has been brilliant. We turn focus to 2010 now and we need to start next year with the speed we ended this season with.”

Tech-Speed team manager Marvin Humphries admitted he too was happy with the campaign.

“It’s been a good season and we have achieved what we set out to achieve at the start of the year,” he said. “The good thing is that we have shown what you can do with an older car and a smaller budget and I feel the BTC car is still a competitive machine. I’d like to think that if we bring the Honda back next season that we would be able to keep fighting for the podium.”