Tom Onslow-Cole delighted with “fantastic” Thruxton showing

Tom Onslow-Cole said an intimate knowledge of Thruxton and the hard work of his Tony Gilham Racing team helped him to a trio of top results at the super-fast Hampshire track.

One of the undoubted stars of the meeting, Onslow-Cole took third in race one, went one better in race two and finished off with fourth place in race three – all in a Volkswagen CC which is barely eight weeks old.

But he sounded a cautionary warning, saying work will need to be done to make the car equally competitive at other tracks.

“We have the pace to run in the top five, which is fantastic, and to get the podium in race one is a brilliant result,” said Onslow-Cole to TouringCarTimes after the first race.

“We have still got a lot of work to do to be able to run at this pace everywhere we visit, but this is a fantastic moment for us to be this high up so early on with the car. It really just spurs us on to work harder, keep developing and keep pushing to climb higher.

“The car’s longer wheelbase is very good at the higher speed circuits, and I think Thruxton is a very individual circuit compared with the other ones we visit.

“I love this circuit, I really do. I have been working here since I was 17 for the race school, and I have done thousands and thousands of high-speed laps giving people passenger rides, and it’s paid off. I know every bump.

“I prefer the faster tracks – that is part of it as well. I really like that you can hustle the car round here.”

The 25-year-old was equally upbeat at the end of the day.

He said: “It’s a shame to not quite make the podium [in the final race] but I’m not complaining at all.

“We have had a fantastic weekend and proved there is some real potential in the CC. It is all very exciting. There is lots of very hard work to be done for Oulton Park but we are positive with what we’ve got at the moment.”

Asked how the car performed with weight on, Onslow-Cole said: “We’ve permanently got weight on – she’s a little large around the hips at the moment! That’s something we’ve got to work on for Oulton Park.”