Collard continues 'David versus Goliath' battle.

With the crowd out in force on a warm and sun drenched afternoon at the Croft circuit in the North of England, there was one man who was especially hoping that the sun would be shining on him at the weekend following a year of promise and disappointment.

Unfortunately for West Surrey Racing's Rob Collard, Croft would not prove the moment when he stepped up to the top of the podium for the first time, with fourth the best he could achieve in the ageing MG ZS in race two.

It was disappointing for both the driver and the team as they continually struggle to gather the money for testing and upgrades, while Collard himself was hoping to secure a podium position in at least one of the races. The weekend started badly when a difficult qualifying session where Collard, needing to conserve the car for the race on the way to posting the ninth fastest time, meant race one was immediately compromised.

"We really struggled in qualifying," Collard admitted to Crash.net. "It really put us on the back foot, just like at Oulton Park."

Nevertheless, Collard made the most of his decent race pace by picking off a couple of the drivers in front of him until the race was red-flagged while he lay in seventh place. Starting from that position for the second race, Collard made an excellent start and before long was comfortably positioned in fourth place as his rivals began to fall off the track around him.

"We've managed to have decent pace in the race and we've come up through the order," he said. "The fourth place finish in the second race was pretty strong."

Benefiting from his trademark good starts, Collard jumped up to third from seventh by the end of the first lap in race three, before a problem with the brakes meant he fell back to fifth place by the chequered flag, something which he believes cost him a podium finish.

"I felt we should have had a podium in the last race," he said, "but we had a lot of imbalance with the brakes and a couple of times I locked and went wide. It's very frustrating."

The battle for Collard and West Surrey Racing goes beyond the race weekend though, with a distinct lack of money stymieing the progress the team can make on the increasingly dated MG saloon.

Although testing is limited in the BTCC anyway, the ZS is still very similar to the car that raced last year in the hands of Colin Turkington and Anthony Reid and even then the development process was slow. Collard knows all too well about a lack of money from his days as a lone Independent runner, but admits it is hard going compared to the well funded works teams like VX Racing and SEAT Sport, as well as arch privateer rivals Team Dynamics.

"We're desperately talking to as many sponsors as we can," he said. "Really, we need to get some money on board to go testing and develop some parts to go on the engine, if we can afford them."

Indeed, Collard is adamant as to the ZS' failing.

"Our biggest loss is our engine power," he said. "The MG was known to be down on power last year compared to the works cars and the works cars have all gone another league forward this year and our engine has not been touched. You can see when you are out on the straights that the SEATs and Hondas have pulled ahead of a couple of car lengths, so you are then trying to outbrake them or get on the power a bit earlier and eventually that kills the tyres."

Those tyres are another concern for Collard, claiming that he is struggling to get the best out of the standard Dunlop tyre that is shared with his rivals.

"The new Dunlop tyre is a great tyre, but it has quite a small operating window, so after four or five laps, your lap times start to go away," he said. "When you lean on the tyre, you really work it very hard and we have been working it perhaps a bit too hard and our lap times at the end of the race show that."

Still, hopes are high that Collard and MG can belie their lack of development at the next round at Mondello Park, a track where no testing takes place for the BTCC runners. MG have a good record there too thanks to the many twists and turns that aid the ZS' decent handling and don't rely on its lack of straight line speed.

"We are confident of a good display," Collard admitted. "Mondello is not a power circuit, so the MG should fare well. The car had a good set up last year and went well. I like the circuit too, so we have to aim for the podium."

Having slipped behind Colin Turkington in the overall standings, there is nonetheless plenty of confidence going in the second race of the BTCC double-header at Mondello Park, but with the money in limited supply and sponsors desperately needed, Rob Collard really is the David amongst
Goliaths.