Rob Austin praises Handy crew after breakthrough result

Rob Austin was full of praise for his Handy Motorsport team after the Toyota squad fought back from a disappointing qualifying session to secure a first BTCC podium finish at Snetterton.

Austin had been left languishing well down the order after a suspension issue that meant he was unable to extract the maximum performance from the car during Saturday’s session, and left him with work to do on race day.

Despite being well and truly on the back foot, Austin battled his way forwards into the top ten by the end of race two; just missing out on the reverse grid pole for the final race of the weekend.

That wasn’t to prevent his charge for the podium however, and having moved from ninth to fourth on the opening lap, Austin soon found himself in a podium position when Mat Jackson was forced to retire.

Although unable to match the pace of the two cars ahead, Austin was able to keep Jason Plato and the chasing pack at bay to take his first podium of the year and a first for the team.

“The gaps really opened up for me this weekend, and it was great to bring home a podium at the end of it,” he said. “We’d turned a corner with the car in the test so I expected us to be up inside the top ten in qualifying but when we then had the suspension issue, I was on the hunt for razor blades; I just couldn’t believe it.

“My head was really down but when the guys found and fixed the problem, I knew we had a good car for race day. To come from where we did on the grid to finish on the podium was fantastic, and I’m really pleased that we did it without using the reverse grid as it showed we got the result on merit, rather than people saying it had been handed to us.

“There was no way I could challenge Rob [Collard] and Gordon [Shedden] as they were just too quick and you always have to be wary when you have Jason behind you – especially as my mirrors had been folded in and it was hard to keep track of where he was.

“There was one moment where I think I went defensive too early and it allowed Jason to close in, but he was under pressure from Andrew Jordan behind and it meant I could make a break and secure the position. I’m delighted.”

Austin will now hope to build on the result when the series heads to Knockhill, and he said he was confident of a strong performance on the annual trip to Scotland.

“I’ve had some good results at Knockhill in the past and have qualified well there, although that has been helped by the fact that it’s a rear-wheel drive circuit,” he said. “Saying that, Knockhill is alongside Thruxton as my favourite circuit on the calendar and I’m confident that we can go up there and do a good job.”