Rob Austin is looking ahead to an even better 2014 British Touring Car Championship after signing off the 2013 campaign with a mixture of problems with ‘Sherman’.
“But all we’re thinking about already is 2014,” explained Austin. “We’ve obviously had some terrific highs this year with our first pole position and first victory and now we’re going to spend the winter going over everything again and putting together a solid test and development programme so we are really well prepared for the new season.”
In a season which saw Austin secure his maiden pole position at Knockhill, his maiden victory at Rockingham plus a further four podium finishes to finish 11th overall, he was on for a strong weekend on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
After his race one retirement – he locked up at Paddock Hill and slid into the tyre barrier – Austin subsequently had more problems which restricted him to a sole 18th place finish in the final race of the season.
“Sherman has been poorly all weekend and we’ve not been able to put our finger on it,” continues the Evesham based racer. “Only after qualifying did we discover there was something amiss with the front end of the car and then the prang in race one caused problems in races two and three. Normally you can keep improving a car over the three races but our lack of laps in the first two precluded that.
“On top of that I’ve done the muscles in my neck and won’t be able to look right for a few days. I’m not annoyed, just disappointed we’ve ended the season like this when we know the car is very definitely good enough to be top ten everywhere.”
Austin had praise for the fans and his loyal sponsors for all of their support throughout the 2013 campaign.
“Above all I’d like to thank all our great sponsors and partners, particularly WIX who have been just the best title sponsor you can imagine and also Exocet who put their name to our other car for the first time this weekend.
“Similarly our fantastic fans who have shown the most incredible support – think back to the first round here in March when Sherman took a big hit and it was the kind generosity of those fans who helped fund the repair which enabled us to go on and have such an encouraging season. They have been magnificent,” Austin concluded.