Team Aon had a challenging yet productive weekend during the fifth round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship at the twisty Hungaroring circuit in Hungary.
James Nash secured a top twelve start for both the Hungarian races and was inside the top seven during the ninth race of the campaign before dropping back down the order as his knowledge of the circuit lacked in comparison to his rivals.
Round ten saw Nash retire late in the race but the 2011 British Touring Car Championship Independent Champion is determined to fight back in future events.
“This weekend has been a challenge,” explained Nash. “In Free Practice we struggled to find a balance and then in Qualifying we threw everything into a single banzai lap which at least got us into Q2.”
“I made a great start in the opening race and got up to 7th but I just couldn’t hold on thereafter. Then in race two we were forced to retire the Team Aon Ford Focus with just a lap to go which was frustrating but it happens, even to the best of us.”
“Possibly after showing good speed in Slovakia people expected more from us but remember, nobody had driven the Slovakiaring before and we weren’t disadvantaged by being new to the WTCC. That wasn’t the case this weekend.”
“Nonetheless, all considered not a great weekend but we’ll come back stronger.”
Team-mate Tom Chilton once again failed to get out of the first part of qualifying but was able to work his way up the order during round nine, despite light damage to the rear of the #23 Ford Focus.
Chilton took the flag fifteenth overall at the end of round nine and the weather stayed the same for round ten of the campaign.
At the start, Chilton had caught up with the #14 Team Aon car and was able to avoid contact with his team-mate and the two of them circulated together until Nash pulled off and this promoted Chilton to fourteenth overall.
“The weekend was struggle for us; we arrived in Slovakia with a new suspension set-up which was clearly very strong there, but didn’t quite work for us in Hungary,” added a philosophical Chilton. “We’ve learnt a huge amount for when we’re here again next year however, and we always knew that there would be challenges like this in our first season.
“Aside from that, the car still feels great with a very good balance. I made two decent starts as well, and made up places during the rolling and standing starts. I didn’t get any points, but we’ve come away with a lot of knowledge which will help us in the future.”
Next up for the team is a trip to Austria and the Salzburgring over the 19/20 May. Salzburgring is the second of four circuits which makes their WTCC debut in 2012 and the two races mark the half way point of the season.