Paul O’Neill has said that he is seeking more podiums when the British Touring Car Championship races at Knockhill this weekend. On the back of his and the team’s strongest result of the season last time out at Snetterton, in which O’Neill took a second placed finish, the Independent racer is buoyed by his strong result.
“Whereas in the past I’ve said the aim is to be inside the top ten, I’m going to Knockhill aiming to be in the top six all weekend,” said O’Neill. “I hope to come away from race day with at least a podium finish to my name. It’ll be a big ask, but we showed as a team at Snetterton that we are more than capable of fighting at the front.”
O’Neill believes that the team have finally been able to get their ex-works Chevrolet Cruze to the stage that they wanted, after suffering from a lack of pre-season testing.
“Before the season started, we didn’t do much testing which meant we were on the back foot a bit through the first half of the year, but we have worked hard on the set-up of the Chevrolet to get it better suited to my driving style. That played a part in our results at Snetterton and on paper, Knockhill is a circuit that should suit the Cruze. The first goal is to qualify well and that will hopefully set us up for three strong races.”
John George, in the second of the purple Cruze’s, is feeling confident ahead of the trip North of the border after finally feeling fully recovered from his hand injury sustained at Croft.
“I had a really good weekend at Knockhill in the Honda last year,” said George. “Battling with Gordon Shedden was a real highlight and showed it’s a circuit that suits me. We went well on the Indy layout at Brands Hatch earlier in the season, which is another short and twisty circuit, and I’m confident of a good weekend in Scotland.
“Even though I didn’t get the results at Snetterton last time out, I was a lot happier in terms of the pace we showed, as I was able to compete against the turbo cars. Heading to Knockhill, I really feel this is the weekend where I can break my duck for the season and get into the points.
“If I was a betting man, I’d say Knockhill is my best chance yet of a top ten finish and I hope I’m proved right at the end of it.”