The AmD Milltek Racing.com team left their home circuit, Brands Hatch, in good spirit last weekend despite failing to score points in round nine of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Martin Byford, who took over at the wheel of the turbo-charged Volkswagen Golf prior to the Snetterton round of the season, showed good pace throughout the weekend but problems and collisions thwarted the progress of the AmD Milltek Racing.com driver.

“It’s been tough weekend for us this weekend,” he said. “I think I’ve been on the pace and have driven well but track position is vital when the series is as competitive as it is at the moment. Without the problem in race one, we’d have probably finished around eleventh of twelfth which would have really set us up for two good results in the following races and we could well have broken into the points.”

A problem in race one with the coil pack on the car and collision with the SEAT Leon of Dave Newsham in race three dropped the local driver down the order and scuppered his chances of scoring his first points in the BTCC.

Looking back on the weekend Martin was able to take positives from his and the teams performance. “To get three finishes is good as it’s more mileage for me in the car. I feel more at home in the Golf every time I go out on track. It’s just a shame there is only one race weekend to come before the season ends.”

Shaun Hollamby, Team Boss of AmD Milltek Racing.com was also pleased by the pace shown by Martin during the weekend. “Martin has shown good pace again, but we’ve just not come away from the weekend with the results to match,” he said. “We would probably have been on the cusp of the points finishes in race one and its frustrating that it was a relatively minor thing that meant we had to bring Martin in for a pit-stop, but the coil pack failing is just one of those things that happens sometimes.”

“To come from 22nd to 15th in race two was good and showed the pace in the car and it was a solid performance in race three considering that the brakes were going spongy on the car and making it more difficult to drive. We’ve just got to go to Silverstone for the final rounds and focus on trying to end the year on a high.”

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.