Battle-scarred Rob Austin Racing ready for raceday

The battle-scarred Rob Austin Racing team is hoping for a more straightforward Sunday at Donington Park after a damage and drama-filled qualifying day.

Hunter Abbott sustained significant rear-end damage in first practice after being hit in the rear by Triple Eight Racing’s Jack Goff, an incident which landed Goff with a fine and two points on his licence.

And then Rob Austin’s propshaft exploded during qualifying while he was flat out in top gear, just yards from the driver’s seat.

Nevertheless, Austin qualified 12th around what he calls his bogey track, and says he thinks he can mix it in the pack on race day.

He said: “I am very happy with 12th around here which has always been a bogey circuit for us. For once at Donington I feel we’re properly in the mix going into tomorrow’s three races – and remember it’s always in the races when we are at our strongest. This really shows the huge strides we’ve made in developing the car during the winter break back at base in Pershore. Sure we still need to find that bit more but this is really rewarding.

“The propshaft? Yeah… a big hole. There was no real warning, just a big bang. Yes, it is just a few inches from where I sit but I’m OK so no worries.”

Abbott qualified 21st after sitting out second practice, while the team repaired his Audi A4.

He said: “I can’t thank Jack Goff at all for what he did in practice to my car but I also can’t thank my team enough for getting me on track in qualifying. We just thought there would be no way and what they’ve done is miraculous.

“It ain’t pretty and it’s probably still a bit crooked from the impact it took – the steering wasn’t quite bang-on straight and I had quite a bit of oversteer on turn-in – but I know they will work on the car tonight and it will be as good as it possibly can be for tomorrow’s races. I’m still definitely aiming for decent points in all three.”