Silverstone brings out the very best in Collard (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Silverstone brings out the very best in Collard

1:00pm Tuesday 8th September 2009 in Sport

HOOK British Touring Car driver Rob Collard put behind his recent bad luck firmly behind him as he returned to the podium at Silverstone with a second place in the final race.

The Hampshire-based driver enjoyed a thrilling race-long duel with Mat Jackson in the last race at the Northamptonshire circuit, eventually finishing just two tenths of a second behind the Chevrolet that dominated the entire race meeting.

Collard, having started the race on pole, led for the first 12 laps, before Jackson eventually edged him out.

The Hook driver then tried his hardest to get past the eventual winner in the final laps, making it a really exciting finish to the meeting.

Collard’s third podium of the season saw him complete the race as the highest-placed BMW driver.

It was a timely return to form for the Kent-based team, which was glad to see its BMW 320si’s collect top-ten points finishes in all three races after a couple of tough race weekends recently.

In race one, Collard made a great start from second on the grid to take the lead from Jackson heading into the first corner at Copse.

However, The Airwaves BMW driver was unable to combat the dominant Chevrolets of Jackson, Jason Plato and James Nash - who enjoyed a huge performance advantage over the rest of the field around Silverstone’s National Circuit.

The Hook driver was forced to relinquish his lead to Jackson on lap four, just before the safety car appeared after an incident involving Tom Onslow-Cole and Anthony Reid.

That incident erased Collard’s gap over the Chevy’s behind him and he had to defend strongly from Plato and Nash when the race resumed on lap 10.

Despite his best efforts Collard was powerless to prevent Plato and Nash eventually making their performance advantage count and passing him on lap 15.

Shortly after, Colin Turkington also managed to slip past the Hampshire man, leaving him placed in fifth with team-mate Jonny Adam just behind in sixth.

The race was then disrupted again as the safety car reappeared due to an oil spillage on the track, and the Airwaves BMW duo – whose tyres had lost their optimum performance temperature - fell into the clutches of reigning BTCC champion Fabrizio Giovanardi and Collard had to settle for sixth.

In race two, Collard made up two places away from the start line as he jumped up to fourth.

Three laps in and Collard was in the thick of the action as he pushed to try and get past the rival BMW of Turkington in third.

However, reigning champion Giovanardi was on his case and, as they tangled, Collard was forced to save a massive slide and lost places, dropping to down ninth.

As the track became increasingly wet, the order of the field changed lap after lap as drivers battled with the slippery conditions and Collard climbed up to seventh.

On lap 17 Collard just managed to avoid collecting the rival BMW of Stephen Jelley as the Team RAC driver spun across the track, but, forced to go off the track, he lost places and ended up finishing tenth.

The reverse grid put Collard on pole and he capped a fine day by finishing second.

A jubilant Collard said: I’m absolutely delighted for the team to be able to bounce back like this after the run we’ve had.

“The car was stunning and we can’t complain about the results, it’s been a really good day’s work.

“It was a great fight with Mat in the last race and if I’d had just one more lap I’m sure I would have had him as his tyres seemed to have given up on him.

“All credit to him though.

“He hung on tight, and at the end of the day I was happy to pick up another trophy for the Airwaves BMW team after all the hard work the guys in the garage put in to get us back in contention.”

The next round of the British Touring Car Championship is at Rockingham on the weekend of September 19/20.