British Touring Car Championship 2008

Motorbase stars with podium finish at Snetterton

Motorbase Performance scored its finest result so far when Steven Kane took second overall in round 18 of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton on Sunday (13 July) after a great race in the BMW 320si. The team's ambition was to score a podium finish in the second half of the season, but this result now shows that a race victory is within the team's reach.

Kane qualified an excellent eighth on Saturday, while less than half a second behind Steve, after being held up by Mat Jackson on his best lap, was Rob Collard in the second Motorbase car. However, that difference left Rob seven places down the hugely competitive BTCC field.

"The team has kept up good progress from Croft and we've qualified on a par with the leading BMW of Colin Turkington," said Kane, who shared the fourth row of the grid with Turkington. "Our cars always go well in the race, so we can be quite happy with that."

Team boss David Bartrum was equally pleased with the team's showing, but was disappointed that Collard's best run was inadvertently messed up by another car. "Rob was going very well, and we've certainly carried on from where we were at Croft."

Race day started well with eighth and ninth places in the opening race, but the results were even better in the second race when Rob charged through to a mighty fourth place, as Steven took sixth.

The team then carried that momentum into the third and final race, and it was Kane who starred with a fantastic race to second place, sandwiched between Mat Jackson and Fabrizio Giovanardi. Before the race, which was screened live on TV, Steven had said that a podium was achievable and his mature and controlled drive duly gave the team it's best result to date. Collard slipped back a little in some fierce battling and ended the race in ninth.

"It's what we've been working for all year and I was glad to bring it home second for the team," said Kane. "The car was excellent; I was catching Mat, but Giovanardi was behind me and I didn't want to risk losing second place by challenging for the lead. Later on, I could see that Fabrizio wasn't able to attack me, so I pushed again and closed the gap to Mat."

After scenes of team jubilation in the pit lane, Bartrum paid tribute to the work of everyone in the team. "This has been a long campaign to get here," he said. "Today was a great vindication for the team and all the hard work. I just want to thank every member of the team; they've really earned this result."

The team will be back in action for the next three races at Oulton Park on 26/27 July.

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