Croft, North Yorkshire, July 25th, 2004

Final Race Redeems Weekend for Collard - Hampshire racer rounds off with a top ten finish

A difficult weekend at the Croft circuit in North yorkshire for reigning Independents Cup Champion Rob Collard. The latest three races of the 2004 Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship finally came good as he finished ninth in the final race.

With an engin eproblem on Saturday, July 24th, hampering his qualifying, Rob was knocked out of a strong finish in Sunday's race one before striking mechanical problems in race two. From the back of the grid he gained 11 places in race three, winning Dunlop's award for the Independent driver gaining the most places in the three races.

From the moment the Collard Racing Vauxhall Astra first turned a wheel in Free Practice on Saturday morning, Rob and the team knew they had a problem, the car lapping Croft slower than it had the year before. The newly-refurbished engine was the subject of their attention and a series of parts were changed, but things were no better for the afternoon's qualifying session.

"We're no further forward with the car than we were this mroning," said Rob, immediately after qualifying 17th on the grid for the first race. "The engine just doesn't want to pull - it feels like it's running on diesel and we are slower then we were here last year."

"We've had the specialists in to look at the car and they can find nothing obviously wrong, so it is a case of changing parts and a process of elimination. It's frustrating as we have just spent a lot of money on the engine, but it now seems to be under-performing and we are four or five miles and hour down in the speed traps."

"I followed another car for a lap, and he was pulling 30 metres on me on the straight, though I could catch him on the corners. We do have a spare engine, but it is a 2001-spec unit whereas the one in the car is 2003-spec and really should be better."

Overnight the team were fairly sure they had finally pinned down the engine problems to a faulty sensor, and on the out lap from the pits to the grid for the first race Rob already felt an improvment. In the race he gained places in the early laps but a clash with a rival when running 11th saw him drop to 15th by the end.

"I didn't get a good start, the engine bogged down off the line," said Rob after that race, "but into the first corner there was a lot of commotion and I went round the outside of a few cars and made up some places. The car took a few knocks but we got through, and in all it was an eventful first four or five laps as we came up through the field."

"Unfortunately, due to some of those early knocks the steering got a bit damaged, and I was trying hard to catch the cars in front, but the steering problem overheated the tyres and they started to go off. I was trying to just bring the car home from 11th when James Kaye caught me and I had to defend really hard."

"He made a huge lunge down the inside into Sunny and took us both off - which cost us both as he was out and I rejoined in 15th. The Astra is a bit battered and bruised ,but it will be OK for the next race and at least the engine feels good now. I'd like to have been higher up the grid for the next one, but we'll just have to go for it again."

As the clock ticked down to the start of race two the team suddenly hit another problem, the gearbox stubbornly resisting being reassembled. The crew finished the task before the start, but Rob was forced to start from the pit-lane at the back of the field. His race proved short lived as a combination of gearbox problems and damage to a front wheel saw him pit after just two laps.

"I went over a kerb and the car bounced hard," explained Rob, "and that put a flat spot on the rim, it was making a noise which made us think it was something more serious, but the gearbox still wasn't right and I just had to come in."

The non-finish put Rob at the back of the grid for the final race of the day, and he put in one of his characteristic storming drives to come home a superb ninth - from 20th across the start line. Gaining places through the 15-lap race Rob finished the weekend with a smile on his face with a deserved top ten finish.

"I couldn't even see the start lights from that far back," said Rob, "so I made a bit of a duff start. The first corner was good and I made a few places up there, then some more at Tower corner. That put me in 15th at the end of the first lap -which I was pleased with"

"I battled my way through and picked off some cars, then caught the main train of cars battling for seventh. I made a mistake which let one car back past, he got underneath me at the hairpin and had more power in a straight line."

"I'm glad we finished with a strong race - just disappointed in general that we have had a poor weekend. We had high hopes of doing well here, and that just hasn't happened."

"It all goes back to the problems we had on Saturday - you start the weekend on the back foot and that hurts you all meeting. We're looking forward to Knockhill now"