Stormy ride for Rob at Oulton Park

Rounds 10, 11 & 12 of the 2005 British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park
June 18/19, 2005

Changeable conditions unleash havoc on Cheshire track

To say that conditions at Oulton Park were changeable would be an understatement. For all of Saturday and most of Sunday, the Cheshire circuit was bathed in sunshine. But for a short period on Sunday, the heavens opened, drenching the circuit and completely catching the paddock by surprise.

Qualifying on Saturday saw Rob and the West Surrey Racing team struggle to find a setup that suited the MG ZS around the Oulton Park Island circuit. The result was a tenth place grid spot for the first race of the weekend.

"We had the wrong setup in qualifying, which made it hard. We were on the back foot after that", commented Rob.

On Sunday, the first race saw Rob make a solid start, immediately moving up to ninth position. After an early battle with Colin Turkington for eight spot, both Rob and the Astra Sport Hatch ran wide on the second lap. A few laps later and Rob was able to find a way past the Irish driver. Rob remained eighth through to the chequered flag, fending off attacks from Seat's James Pickford.

While the first race ran in bright sunshine, the clouds had started to descend in time for the second race of the day. However, no more than a few drops fell during the race. The track temperature was an astonishing 42 degrees ahead of the race.

Starting eighth, Rob made another of his impressive starts, passing both Luke Hines and Gavin Smith in the early stages of the race. Lap four saw Rob pass an Astra Sport Hatch, just as in the first race, although this time it was Gavin Smith who succumbed to the MG. Running comfortably in fifth, Rob benefited from a coming together between long-time rivals Yvan Muller and Jason Plato, which saw Plato tapped sideways and drop through the pack. This was enough to lift Rob to fourth position, where he remained until the end of the race, behind Matt Neal, Yvan Muller and Dan Eaves.

As if the reverse grid were not enough to stir up the third race of the day, the storm that had been threatening finally unleashed its power on Oulton Park ahead of round 12. Being used to slippery surfaces from his hot rod days, Rob made a storming start on the soggy circuit, jumping straight up to third position from seventh on the grid. When race leader Jason Plato went straight on at the chicane, Rob found himself at the front of the pack, having also passed Tom Chilton's Honda Civic.

A series of incidents left cars scattered around the track, forcing the safety car to be brought out and reducing Rob's lead to nothing. The race restarted on lap nine, by which time the rain had eased. Now right up on Rob's tail, Tom Chilton was in position to steal away the lead when the MG followed in Plato's tyretracks and went straight on at the chicane. As Rob struggled with the drying track, he was also passed by Matt Neal, ending hopes of claiming the elusive first victory.

"The car was awesome at the start when it was really wet", said Rob. "We had a really, really good setup. As the track started to dry out, we just didn't have the braking performance of the other cars. I couldn't brake anywhere near as late as Plato and Matt Neal could. They just got past me so easily."

Plato also managed to sneak past Rob, leaving the Hampshire racer frustratingly outside the podium positions at the end of the race.

"It's just nice to have a good strong weekend like we've had here. Two fourth places puts us back up into fifth in the Drivers' championship, which is good, and we've shown we had a lot of pace in the dry here. We've just got to take the positives out of it."

"We would have liked to have had a podium in the second race, and in the last one really, but it's going to come. It's only a matter of time now."

"We've got to look forward to going to Croft now and hopefully we can have a good result up there."