After two tough meetings in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, Martyn Bell ‘turned the corner’ at Oulton Park as he says in his latest exclusive Crash.net column.
I was chuffed to bits to qualify on the second row at Oulton, although I admit we had luck on our side. I got a banker lap in and I think I have Tom Chilton to thank for where I ended up. Of course it’s great that he was alright, but he went off early on and then the rain started to come down. Having said that I was P1 with just three minutes to go and then Plato and Thompson in the SEATs must have put in some storming laps because it was so greasy out there - then again they are a pair of good drivers aren't they!
In the morning in the wet we ran in the top ten for a while which was pleasing, and then we went well in second practice so we were making massive leaps again and it was good for us. However we have to be realistic though and milk things like this as we never expected to be at this end of the grid at this time of the year. After Mondello Park I was so despondent - I don’t think I’ve been so drunk – so it was pleasing to bounce back.
Mike Jordan has done it this year and won a race but we knew that there would have to be a lot of rain for us to repeat that. But I can guarantee that there was no-one trying harder than me on the run to the first corner and if I could get away off the line then I knew that I might have a little bit of glory!
Going into that first race we ran at the front for a lap or so and it was good to run at the front. But that blasted gearbox came back to haunt me again as I’m still running with the H-pattern gearbox, and not just a regular one, but an endurance gearbox. It’s the only one that we could get from Schnitzer because there is a shortage of gearbox parts which means that not only do I have to use the H-pattern box, but I have to use one that isn’t suited at all to this kind of racing.
