Challenging Weekend For Triple Eight Drivers
Triple Eight drivers James Nash and Tony Gilham endured a challenging weekend at Croft, with mixed results for the team coming away from the North Yorkshire circuit.
James Nash took a gamble in race one by running slick tyres on the front of the car, and wet tyres on the rear. The majority of the other drivers were running wet’s all round with the pre race rain having made the track very wet in places. Going backwards at the start, a safety car and a drying track towards the end of the race helped Nash run to an 8th place finish. Race two saw him finish 11th after a first lap spin dropped him to the back of the pack, but he stormed through in the final race of the day from 11th on the grid to finish a respectable 5th.
He said afterwards; “I really enjoyed the last race. Until then it had been quite a trying day with one thing and another. We changed the set-up on the car quite a lot for the third race and for the first time today we found ourselves right on it. I can’t remember where I made some of the passes I did, but having a car I could really push with was great.”
“I feel that we’ve made a bit of a breakthrough with the car today that hopefully will serve us well for the rest of the Championship. Certainly, we now know that to get the maximum out of it we’ve got to be quite aggressive on the set-up.”
Tony Gilham registered a DNF in the first race after spinning out while battling for a top 10 position, but recovered in the second race to finish 12th behind his team-mate Nash. His best drive came in the final race where he enjoyed a battle for position with reigning BTCC Champion Jason Plato in his Chevrolet. Eventually finishing just outside the points in 12th, he would have hoped for more from such a productive drive.
Gilham commented; “I’d had a good start in the first race and had made up seven places. Unfortunately though in the damp conditions I locked up going into a corner and there was nothing I could do to keep the car out of the gravel trap. Race two was about keeping things tidy, while in race three I could go for it and had a lot fun staying ahead of Jason Plato for much of the race.”
“We’ve got a few issues though to sort with the car because it still feels very ‘understeery’. We have got a bit of a break before Snetterton in a few weeks so we’ve got the time to get to the bottom of things which should enable us to better next time out.”
The weekends results see Nash lying third in the Independent Drivers Championship just six points behind Andrew Jordan in second. The team lie third in the Independent Team’s Championship behind Airwaves Racing and Pirtek Racing.
Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)
Richard Devine
