It’s taken the 30-year old six rounds of the season but Rob Austin and his Rob Austin Racing team scored it’s first points of the season as they took to the Snetterton circuit for the latest round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Rob openly admits that he and the team are constantly updating and developing the NGTC Audi A4 and says that there’s still a lot to come.

“We are developing the car all the time, we’ve made huge steps forward but there’s still so much left to try,” said Austin. “Unfortunately we went the wrong way with setup in qualifying. Sure we were extremely disappointed to be 14th but that’s racing, you’ve got to try things.”

Rob ended the first race in a spirited 15th place following a collision with Nick Foster which spun the Audi driver around after he was driving in as high as 11th at points during the race.

Race two would be a low point of the weekend for Rob and the team. The collision with Foster in race one had taken it’s toll on the Audi’s chassis with driveshaft failure as early as lap two of race two forcing the Worcestershire based driver to an early retirement. However during the first two laps, Rob recorded the fastest lap of the race and in doing so scored the teams first points of the season.

Starting from the back of the grid, Rob showed the pace of the NGTC-spec Audi A4 and the future of the British Touring Car Championship by moving through the field to overtake 14 drivers and finish 10th and ahead of the Team Aon Ford Focus of Tom Onslow-Cole.

Speaking after the third race Rob said, “It didn’t come together for us this weekend but we have some huge positives to take from it. We have not only proved that once again we have the fastest NGTC car but we have a car that can be the fastest car full stop! I can’t begin to explain how hard the team has worked this season, honestly its madness! They have taken an over weight, undeveloped and frankly slow car and turned it in to one of the fastest and best cars on the grid! Yet there’s still so much more to come, I’ve never been so excited to get to Knockhill!”

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

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.