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The Inside Track with Power Maxed Racing: Donington Park - our best weekend to date

By Power Maxed Racing / MJP Media | 23 April 2015

We came, we saw and we so nearly conquered - our best weekend yet and boy are we pleased!

Well everybody, how about that for a brilliant team effort! Donington Park was our most successful weekend of racing to date in the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Our pair of Chevrolet Cruze Saloons and their pilots (well, they were flying!) chalked up a pole position start, two top 10 positions in qualifying, three top 10 race finishes, a glut of overtakes and a Jack Sears Trophy win.

Race one saw Josh and Dave start 6th and 10th respectively after a magnificent qualifying session for us - the highest starting positions of the season for the pair of them and the team which was an incredible feeling after all of the hard work that we put in. Both got a great start with Dave tucking in behind Josh as they got to the first corner. The team-mates then swapped places a few times in the opening laps putting Dave up to 8th. Josh was unbelievable before his soft tyre started to go off and caused him to lose places later in the race along with all the other soft tyre runners. Dave kept pushing with a great overtake on the Honda of Matt Neal and the Mercedes of Adam Morgan to finish a season-best 6th with Josh Cook just outside the top ten in 13th. A truly great result for us.

The grid for race two is set by a driver's fastest lap in race one meaning Dave started 9th and Josh started in 13th. Both drivers had a storming first two laps and found themselves in 7th and 11th respectively. By the middle of the race Dave and Josh were 9th and 10th until the pair switched places on lap 11. Dave was taking a real working over from Andy Priaulx who, for the second meeting in succession, passed Dave in a rather robust fashion. Josh was able to maintain his pressure on the leading pack and put in some seasoned overtakes to climb the field and finish in a career-best P7 with Dave coming it home in 11th. Yet another great points haul.

Josh benefited from the luck of the draw as his number was pulled from the hat for the reverse grid and started race three on pole. He went on to provide one of the most entertaining races of the year to date, losing out into the first corner to Rob Collard, only to retake the place a few laps later. Josh vigorously defended the lead but an unfortunate error from Aron Smith saw both cars leave the circuit. Josh controlled the car in true Clio Cup style and managed to re-join with only a few places lost. Josh crossed the line in 7th, clinching the Jack Sears Trophy honours for that round. Unfortunately for Dave, on the soft tyre option and after starting 11th on the grid, an incident saw him slip down to 15th by lap 3. Whilst pushing hard for places he was unceremoniously dumped out by a very apologetic Mike Bushell who has since been awarded 3 penalty points and a 5 place grid penalty for the incident.

Adam Weaver, Team Principal, commented "Another great weekend for Power Maxed Racing. It is yet further confirmation that we have the right formula and I'm confident that the team will keep performing well and providing both drivers with great cars that have the ability to win races."

Both Dave and Josh were rightly proud of the team and their weekend. Josh said "What a great result for me and the team. To be this competitive already is a testament to the car, to Martin, Adam and all the team." Dave was equally upbeat as he described the weekend as "Brilliant. The car was good, the team was fantastic, but I will have to keep a close eye on Josh!"

We'll see you all at Thruxton and let's see what we can do there shall we?

Power Maxed Racing

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