Following last weekend’s opening round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch,
Rob Austin has said he is now focusing on putting a championship together for the rest of the season.
Speaking to Girlracer.co.uk, the Exocet racer says; “I’m not just hoping for a good result (at Donington), I want points on the board – I want to put a championship together.”
The Evesham based driver was disappointed not to get the points he wanted last weekend. Austin finished fifth in the first race, before a “heart breaking” issue before race two put him on the back foot.
“Overall, the weekend went extremely well – it’s just a shame we didn’t get the points haul we wanted.
“I’d had the handbrake engaged, as Brands is quite hilly, so as I was on the way to the grid, I released it 0.003 seconds too early, which shock-loaded the prop shaft,” Rob explained. “It was my fault.”
Austin drove through the field during the third race, coming back from 28th to 11th, however does believe he could have done better.
“I was a bit miffed at the safety car – I didn’t get any warning. I couldn’t see the lights on the safety car and by the time it came over the radio at the end of the lap everyone was starting to go.
“I lost three seconds on the restart and so without that I think we could have got up even higher into the top ten, but to get to 11th is something to be proud of I think. And I passed Andy Jordan on the outside of Druids which I was quite chuffed about as well. I know he was struggling a bit with 45 kilos on but hey – I started 28th!”
Rob has stated that he is very confident going into Donington Park in three weeks’ time and believes the team can produce high results at every round.
“I’m definitely going for more than a couple (of wins),” Rob says. “You aim to win every one but it’s never going to happen in the BTCC as it’s just far too competitive.
“I don’t want to build up expectations too much – I’d rather keep them to myself. But I’m very, very confident that, certainly, a couple of wins are on the cards I think.”
After our interview with Rob, it was announced on Tuesday 2nd April’s Tin Top Tuesday that he would be joining fellow driver Robb Holland in this weekend’s Nurburgring 6 Hours, with Rotek Racing fielding two cars. By Nikki thompson , Photos by Marc Waller
