Despite a tough weekend at
Donington Park, Michael Doyle was at least able to make the long trip home to Scotland having opening his account in the Independents' standings of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Having been forced to sit out the second free practice session with a gearbox issue that materialised during the first session, Doyle was able to make it out for qualifying and posted the 23rd fastest time despite a coming together with John George that saw him return to the pits after just seven laps.
With the car repaired for the opening race, Doyle battled to a hard-fought 15th place finish – picking up a point in the Independents' class in the process – despite a series of issues with the car.
However, an engine issue then forced him to be pushed off the grid ahead of race two and also ruled him out of race three to end the weekend in disappointing fashion.
"It's been a really disappointing weekend," he said. "We've had a lot of problems with the car and to be honest I don't know how we managed to come home in the points in the first race. We'll stay positive though, as soon as these niggles are sorted out I'm confident we'll be able to move up the grid and challenge for some good results.
"
Thruxton is next on the calendar in a couple of weeks, you definitely need a strong engine there so hopefully we'll have everything sorted out and be able to show what we can do. I still feel optimistic and I'm looking forward to it."
