British Touring Car Championship 2008

Kane bags sixth place for Motorbase

Steven Kane gave Motorbase Performance its best result of the season to date at Donington Park on Sunday (4 May) in the third event of the season in the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.

By taking his BMW 320si to sixth overall, Kane came within an ace of scoring victory in the Independents Trophy in round seven of the BTCC during an incident-packed day of racing. Unfortunately, Rob Collard had a nightmare day when he was twice put out of races by the action of other drivers.

It was not to be a great weekend for the entire BMW contingent in the BTCC. "We struggled a bit in qualifying and that was the first time we've struggled to get the car on the pace in qualifying," said Kane. He qualified 16th, while Collard was consigned to the back of the grid after a gearbox problem ruined his session.

Collard's poor luck carried into the first race on Sunday when he was tipped into a spin at the Old Hairpin as he tigered his way up the order. Unfortunately, the Honda Integra of John George then hit the stationery BMW very hard and inflicted major damage to the previously undamaged car. Rob was out on the spot and any chance of starting the second and third races seemed slim.

"There was a lot of damage to Rob's car," said team boss David Bartrum. "The guys worked flat out to get it fixed as much as we could, and we got him out for the third race of the day."

Meanwhile, Kane was having a storming opening race and charged up from 16th on the grid to run as high as fifth overall in a remarkable drive. "We changed the car set-up overnight and came back and had a brilliant first race," said Steven. "The first race was the best race I've had so far; there was a lot of action and it was an exciting race!"

Into the final lap, Steven was fifth overall and leading the Independents' Trophy. Unfortunately, he was hit by the BMW of Stephen Jelley at the Old Hairpin and had to back off the throttle. "Stephen Jelley spun across me and I had to hit the brakes, so going up the hill from the Old Hairpin Andy Jordan got the run on me. There was nothing I could do about it. We could have won the Independents' Trophy," said Kane.

"The second race was all about tyres," said Kane. "I got a brilliant start and got up to third." But then it started to spot with rain and the conditions became incredibly tough, particularly for the rear-wheel drive BMWs. "There was hardly any rain, but the track was so slippery. It was like driving on ice," explained Kane. "I came in and we put the wets on, and it went a wee bit better. But the front-wheel drive cars are just in a world of their own when the conditions are like that," he said after finally finishing 12th.

Collard rejoined the grid for the third race, but his luck was no better as contact from another car at Redgate on the third lap left the BMW in the gravel trap with broken suspension. "Rob really deserves a change of fortune," said Bartrum. "He's been driving strong, clean races, but he keeps getting hit off by others."

"In the third race I started on wets and got another great start," said Kane. "The first few laps were brilliant and I was getting involved. But we'd had a problem with the front wheel hub and I got a stop/go penalty because the guys were still working on the car on the grid at the three-minute signal. So my race was really over and we used the rest of the laps to do a bit of testing."

The Motorbase team now has two weeks to prepare for the next BTCC event, at Thruxton on 17/18 May.

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