AMD Aiming For Return To Point Scoring Ways
The AmD Milltek Racing.com team are targeting a point scoring return at Knockhill as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads north of the border this weekend.
The team failed to score last time out at Snetterton as driver Martin Byford made his debut in the championship with a best finish of 14th coming in the first of the weekend’s three races.
Prior to his first BTCC race meeting Byford had spent just one day behind the wheel of the team’s Volkswagen Golf but now that he has a little more experience he is hoping to utilise it in order to open his championship account.
He said: “Looking back at Snetterton now I’ve had time to really reflect on it, I think it went well as a whole. I know I pushed a bit too hard in qualifying and its shame we were forced to retire in race two with a gear linkage issue, but we made good progress throughout the weekend and I couldn’t have asked for much more – apart from a point!
“I’ve now had a weekend to get used to the car and to get to know the team a bit more and I’m going to Knockhill trying to unlock more of the potential that I know is in the Golf. I’ve raced there quite a lot in the past and it’s a circuit I enjoy, and it’s also one where I think the Golf will be strong. The car carries speed through the corners well, which is something you need at Knockhill but you can’t afford a mistake as the lap is so short that the smallest of mistakes is going to cost you positions. I’m looking forward to my second weekend in the BTCC and hopefully I can continue the progress we made at Snetterton and push towards the top ten.”
Team principal Shaun Hollamby is also hopeful that the long trip north will see the team rewarded with its fourth top ten finish of the season.
He said: “We had a few small problems at Snetterton that meant we didn’t score points when we probably should have done, but at the same time, there were some things that we discovered that we will now benefit from. I was pleased with how Martin performed in his first weekend and how well he fitted in with the team, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he does at Knockhill, it’s a real drivers’ circuit and he is a good driver.
“The gearbox issue in the second race at Snetterton probably cost us points but hopefully we’ll put that right next weekend. The Golf is now performing well on all kinds of circuits and we went well at Knockhill last year, so we’re aiming to break back into the top ten again.”
Live coverage of race day can be seen on Sunday on ITV4 from 11:30am until 6:00pm.
Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (http://www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)
Thomas Surgay
