Rob Collard hails West Surrey Racing work after promising FP1

Rob Collard hailed the work of the West Surrey Racing team as he took to the Brands Hatch circuit for FP1 just two weeks after an almighty crash left his BMW 1-Series in a sorry state.

A collision with the Motorbase Ford Focus of Jack Clarke at Silverstone launched Collard in to the air and pitched him in to multiple rolls, ending his weekend early and putting his involvement at the season finale in doubt.

“The car’s been completely apart, it’s fully rebuilt,” Collard told TouringCarTimes after the completion of FP1. “WSR as a team are just outstanding. Willie Poole, the guy who did the roll-cage, is a legend, an absolute legend.

“I’m OK, just a little bit tender. I had a massage yesterday which was the first one I’d had for ages. They said give it 10 days before you had a massage, and I thought I was fine but I had a sports massage and within a couple of minutes of being laid on the couch I felt how tender my back was, and when they pulled the belts on me this morning you can feel yourself being compressed in the seat and it’s a little bit uncomfortable. Generally I’m alright, generally I’m OK.”

Collard set a time good enough for 14th in the opening session of the weekend, a result he admitted he was not expecting as the team battled with a misfire that had appeared in a shakedown from the previous evening.

“We’ve got a misfire with the engine at the moment that we can’t seem to cure. We had it last night on a shakedown and we’ve still got it this morning. I can’t get more than half to two-thirds throttle without the engine misfiring so I’m quite surprised we’re where we are on the times, I was expecting to be bottom of the sheets.

“I think we should qualify in the top 10 subject to no dramas. We’re battling for a podium for sure. Race two and race three I want to be on the podium, for sure.”