MONDELLO PARK - ROUND 2 - RACE REPORT

Rounds 4, 5 & 6 of the 2006 British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch
April 22/23, 2006

Disappointment for Rob in Ireland

Mondello Park in Ireland was the venue for the second round of the 2006 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Ahead of the meeting, Rob was hoping to rack up championship points in the Team RAC MG ZS, but it was to prove a testing weekend.

Qualifying saw Rob eighth on the grid for the first of Sunday's three races, and it was a position that he held away from the start. The pace of the MG was soon apparent as Rob challenged the works Vauxhalls of Fabrizio Giovanardi and Tom Chilton ahead of him. Holding his ground and carefull awaiting an opportunity Rob was in a strong position when he suffered an engine failure on lap eight.

"The engine just died", said Rob on his return to the pits. "I don't know if it was the result of picking something up on the circuit or what, but we'll change it before the next race."

Starting from the back of the grid for race two, Rob quickly made up places in the opening laps, moving up to ninth before the safety car was deployed in lap two. When racing restarted, he quickly found a way past Dave Pinkney and James Kaye, going around the outside at the first corner. Next up was the Honda Civic of Mark Proctor, followed by Mike Jordan's Integra.

It was an impressive run from Rob that saw him in fifth position and challenging Gordon Shedden. No sooner had he passed the Integra, than Rob lost drive in his MG, dropping him down through the field once again.

He said, "We had a mystery electrical problem. The car just started misfiring. I got past Shedden, but then the car started to misfire. About half a lap later it cleared and I was able to continue."

Able to recover to finish tenth in race two, that was to be Rob's starting position for the final race of the day. It was another quick start for Rob, and he climbed to sixth on the opening lap. A drive-through penalty for Jason Plato gained him another place. The early pace was confirmed when Rob set the fastest lap of the race on lap two.

Now up to fourth, there was a battle developing as Rob fought with Fabrizio Giovanardi. The pair ran close lap after lap until the clashed tenth time around at Turns 7A and 7B.

Rob said: "I got past Giovanardi earlier and he just bulldozed me off the track. I sat behind him then for quite a few laps. My car was running very hot and he was backing me up and Matt Neal was catching us. Matt got very close a couple of times and I knew I really needed to put a manoeuvre on Giovanardi. I followed him and I knew where he was weak."

"I thought I was up the inside of him enough for him to concede, but he just shut the door and changed direction and it hit my car with such force that it split the tyre and damaged the wheel."

It meant retirement again, and an early end to a weekend that did not go to plan for Rob: "Mondello's not really been that good to me in the past and today has just added to that. We struggled a little bit yesterday in practice and free qualifying and we haven't had the results we would have liked."

"I think I got fastest lap in the third race, which is no consolation really. I just need to get some consistency. I'm looking forward to Oulton Park. I normally go quite well there and I much prefer the faster flowing corners. These tight twisty tracks don't suit me as much as the faster tracks."

Rounds 7, 8 & 9 of the championship take place at Oulton Park, Cheshire, over the weekend of 13/14 May.