Rollercoaster end to maiden year for United Autosports

Brands Hatch turned into something of a rollercoaster event for United Autosports, as the Anglo-American squad brought the curtain down on its first season in the BTCC.

Saturday yielded a season’s best seventh in qualifying for James Cole – the best result in the championship to date for both driver and team. But an unfortunate chain of events saw Cole and team-mate Luke Hines clash in the first race, leading to yet more damage for the team to contend with.

At mid-distance in race one, Cole and Hines lay a promising ninth and 14th respectively, before Cole was pushed wide and lost six places on lap 14. He then encountered Hines’s car, which had been nudged into a spin by Marc Hynes and was facing the wrong way in the middle of the track. Unsighted, he hit his team-mate at unabated speed, causing substantial damage to both cars.

Despite a herculean effort to get both cars on the grid for race two, Hines and Cole retired with a puncture and suspension damage plus overheating respectively. The sodden final race netted a double finish, with Hines in 17th and Cole 19th.

Reflecting on the weekend, Cole said: “Considering the lack of running prior to qualifying, a seventh place grid start was a fantastic effort especially taking into account the tricky conditions running on ‘slicks’ on a drying track. It was great to record United’s first BTCC top-10 race start.

“Race One began positively and shows that when you qualify at front you can stay there. But with around four laps remaining, the grip disappeared and I was overtaken by a train of cars before unfortunately crashing into my team-mate’s car that had been spun around.

“The engine began to overheat in the second race while in the last race, I initially made a fantastic start, overtaking five or six cars in the wet, but tried a little bit too hard and went off in to the gravel. Visibility was poor but the car felt quite good.

“Definitely a positive weekend. We have made big progress throughout the season although the results do not necessarily show that.”

Hines added: “The team continues to move forward with its BTCC programme by working hard. There was more time in the car and I in qualifying. It was the first time I’d every driven the Toyota in wet or damp conditions and I was caught out with the red flag.

“We didn’t achieve the [race] results we wanted or deserved today but there are many positives to take away. James and I could easily have recorded top-15 finishes in each race but incidents occur in touring car racing.

“I got tapped into a spin in the opening race when a top-12 looked an odds on result. The Toyota felt really nice in the second race until it had a suspension problem quite possibly as a result from the first race. The third race in the rain was a lottery. I have enjoyed the experience with United over the last two BTCC events.”

Team owner Richard Dean said the misfortunes encountered at Brands were a reflection of the season.

He said: “Once again we haven’t got through a weekend without substantial damage. It was all looking so promising for James when he qualified seventh after a really good job. It was a big lift to the team and it’s first real reward for all of the year’s hard work.

“In race one when one of our cars is spun around only for our other car to hit it is typical. In many respects that incident summed our year up. We certainly justified a top-10 finish today and could easily have recorded other top-15 finishes. We have a lot to take from the season.”