Go-Mobile.co.uk with Tech-Speed headed into the third round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with great optimism following there recent displays in the opening rounds of the season but unfortunately, things never got going for the team.

Paul O’Neill, who had amassed five top ten finishes out of the first six races was confident that he would be able to score well at the high-speed Thruxton circuit at the wheel of the Chevrolet Cruze. However a tricky qualifying session meant that the Widnes-racer could only qualify in 13th place despite setting a time equal to the best time of last year set by Jason Plato.

Paul’s weekend was spent behind cars in which he just could not pass, making it a frustrating weekend for the fans-favourite. Paul ended the first race where he started after a puncture by Jason Plato meant that he would come home in 13th place.

Problems in race two halted the progress of Paul in his Chevrolet Cruze after he managed to climb up to 9th following a good start. Gearbox issues allowed both Boardman and Gilham pass, dropping Paul out of the points for the second successive race.

Paul then exchanged battles with Collard, Smith, Onslow-Cole and Neate but unfortunately came off the worse after suffering with understeer problems. O’Neill came home in 14th marking his worse weekend this season.

Despite not scoring a point, Paul remains in the top-ten after his brilliant displays earlier this season.

“I genuinely though we would be fighting for the podium this weekend and without the gearbox problem towards the end of race two, I would have got the reverse grid and things might have been different in race three,” said Paul reflecting on the weekend.

“As a team, we go out there to do our best in every session but I don’t feel I got the best from the car this weekend. I hold my hands up to that, but mark my words, there will be no repeat at Oulton Park and I’ll be going there to grind out the best results I can for everyone who has worked so hard to put this programme together.”

“We just have to put Thruxton firmly behind us and after the bad luck we’ve had in recent races, put all our focus into coming out fighting at Oulton Park next month.”

John George also had a tough weekend finishing with a 15th, 16th and 17th place finishes in all three races.

Despite John still hunting for that elusive first point he was encouraged by the performance of the car and the team.

“The car didn’t miss a beat all weekend and the team did a fantastic job as always,” he said. “We made some set-up changes after the first race which meant the car was totally different for races two and three and my times came down as a result, but the speed traps show how much all the normally aspirated cars were losing out to the turbos.

“I was able to keep the BMW behind me in race two and race three which was the big positive from the weekend and we’ll keep doing the best job we can.”

Teams now have a short break before heading to Oulton Park for round four of the season on June 4/5.

Photo Credit: Steve Kilvington

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.