Moffat fights to strong top 10 finish at Oulton Park
Laser Tools Racing’s Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race ace Aiden Moffat hauled his Mercedes-Benz A-Class to 9th place in the final race at Oulton Park, Cheshire, on Sunday June 30.
Aiden ran well in free practice but then suffered a turbo issue in qualifying meaning that his pace was stymied. Also, with the circuit getting slower as the 30-minute period wore on, Aiden dragged the car to 20th on the grid but knew that there was work to do on raceday.
“We identified a turbo problem so I know that there was more pace in the car. We know what the problem is, so now that is cured I can look to make progress, but this is a tough track to pass on, so I’ll be getting my elbows out!”
From 20th on the grid, Aiden was hit by another car early in the race, which affected the geometry of his car. It left him with huge understeer and he dragged the car home to 18th place. “Do you know, I was trying to keep out of trouble? I was trying to keep out of the way and then attack after the first few corners and instead I was hit and that obviously affected the handling of the car! I have no luck sometimes… It made the race difficult but let’s see what I can do for race two.”
Aiden started race two from 18th on the grid and fought up to 14th place, in the points and also as the top Mercedes driver, just as he had been in race one. Aiden enjoyed a fierce fight with fellow Benz battler Dan Rowbottom but fended him off to win the Mercedes fight.
“That was a better race. I could race well and make progress and I didn’t suffer damage, which was a relief! Dan and I had a good fight towards the end but I was able to fend him off and I’ve made some more progress up the grid for the third race, so let’s see what I can do in the final race.”
Aiden was 14th on the grid for race three and his race started with a bang – literally. In the scrum at the first corner, there was a hit from one of the Team Hard Volkswagens, which, again, gave Aiden the understeer he had suffered from in race one! However, ever the fighter, Aiden hauled the Laser Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class up to ninth place and was content with his pace.
“I had decent pace all day and the car became better and better. I was hit at the start of race three in a braking zone which affected the car but from where I qualified, I’m not sure I could have done much better. The Mercedes-Benz is an older car on the grid now and it is up against more modern machinery with different tweaks so to be 10th against the newer cars is pretty good. This isn’t a circuit at which the Mercedes normally goes well so all in all I’m happy.
“We’ve got tyre testing at Snetterton in July before we go racing again. That will allow us to try a few things and implement some ideas we have to move up the grid again, so I am excited for the second half of the season.”
The next rounds of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship are at Snetterton, Norfolk, on August 3/4 with qualifying live on itv.com and the raceday action live on ITV4.