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James Nash secures the first Yokohama Trophy for bamboo

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With a sixth and fourth place finish overall today at Macau, James Nash becomes the first British driver to win the Yokohama Trophy for independents in the WTCC, and also secured third place in the drivers’ standings, moving ahead of former team-mate Tom Chilton.

The 27-year-old, who won his first two races in the WTCC at Salzburg and Porto this year with the Silverstone-based team, was elated to secure the independents’ title, with team-mate Alex MacDowall completing a 1-2 for the team in the standings.

“It’s been very tough and I’ve not hidden that I’ve struggled this year with my driving, and to come away with a third overall is phenomenal,” said Nash to TouringCarTimes. “I don’t believe an independent driver has done that before, and there’s a big trophy now to go and collect in Paris.”

Before the start of race two, with Tarquini starting from the pit lane, if Nash had been able to win the race, second in the standings was still a possibility.

“That was going to be a lot tougher,” said Nash. “If we’d carried on with the first start when I was behind (Tom) Coronel, there might have been a chance of that, but after the few restarts my tyres were struggling and I saw Pepe (Oriola) coming through and he was hitting people on the way, and I wasn’t taking any risks.”

FIA WTCC Yokohama Trophy Standings 2013 (Provisional)