Toyota trio looking forward to Donington

The Toyota trio of Frank Wrathall, Tony Hughes and Adam Morgan are looking forward to this weekend’s round at Donington after enduring a tough start to the season at Brands Hatch. Each driver is looking to put in a strong performance Toyota’s home round, with the manufacturer’s factory nearby.

Frank Wrathall is the highest placed of the Toyota runners in the Championship after the opening round. He endured a difficult weekend, having to retire from the first race after only a few laps for a gearbox change, which also saw the Toyota Avensis in the garage for race two. Wrathall’s good start to the third race was undone when the race was red flagged and he couldn’t fire up on the restart. He was able to recover to finish 13th, scoring three points which see him currently 20th in the Championship.

Wrathall is aiming for top ten finishes at Donington: “The plan is to get close to an ideal set-up for the Avensis, and then we should be able to get near the front at Donington. I want to qualify in the top 10 again, as I did at Brands Hatch, and then three top-10 race finishes are what we need – if we can do any better it will be a bonus. I’m feeling the pressure to go well because I know that a lot of people from Toyota’s Burnaston factory will be coming down.”

Adam Morgan’s BTCC debut was a disastrous, through no fault of his own. His first race only ran for a couple of hundred metres after he was sent into the gravel on the first corner of the first lap after contact. The Speedworks Motorsport Team worked hard to get Morgan back out on the grid for the third race, only for his Toyota Avensis to go into the gravel again in the opening laps as a result of spilt oil.

Morgan’s full focus is on Donington: “I have put Brands Hatch behind me and moved on. At Donington I want to build on the confidence I gained from my qualifying performance and hopefully get a bit further up the grid, out of the middle of the pack, and then try to stay out of trouble and get a finish. I have had some good results there in my Ginetta days, and it is quite a fast circuit, which I prefer.”

Tony Hughes was the only Toyota driver to compete in and finish all three races at Brands Hatch, taking his first-ever Championship point in the third race in which he finished 15th. The Speedworks driver is looking forward to more power at Donington: “My engine at Brands Hatch was definitely down on power and they have taken it away to investigate. I like Donington, the Toyota is in good shape, and with more power I think I can go reasonably well and hopefully score a few more points.”