Alain Menu cut a frustrated figure after making an early exit from the final British Touring Car Championship weekend of the season at Brands Hatch, with a race two retirement ‘summing up his season’.
Having qualified in 13th ahead of the final three races of the season, Menu finished race one in the same position, but only after he was involved in the first-corner pile-up that eliminated five cars, as he was left with nowhere to go and flew into the back of his teammat Jack Goff.
And that was as good as things got for Menu as race two brought the double champion’s comeback season to a premature end, when a slip at Paddock Hill bend on lap one saw his Volkswagen CC slide backwards into the infield barrier, wrecking the rear end of his car beyond repair.
As a result of that crash, Menu was then prevented from challenging his teammate Árón Smith for ninth place in the drivers’ championship, while he was also helpless in preventing Dave Newsham from usurping him in the Jack Sear Trophy standings, which the Swiss had led for some time.
Speaking to TouringCars.Net after the race, Menu – who finished 11th in the overall standings – was irked to have ended his season with a crash, but said it was characteristic of his year.
“Yes, for sure,” said Menu, when asked if he was disappointed to end the season early. “I was just telling the boys that I don’t remember having a shunt like this in the last Sunday of any championship really so it’s a shame to have saved my big one for the last day.
“It’s a shame to finish like this but it just sums up my season really.”
Moving onto an assessment of his campaign, the 51-year-old lamented the bad luck that had plagued him in the earlier rounds of the season, but remained satisfied with his on-track performances.
“Until today I was very happy with the way I have driven but we’ve been very unlucky. In the first seven race weekends I was punted off or I had issues so in that sense it’s not been a great year but working with Team BMR, that was great.”
Speaking about his plans for 2015, Menu seemed uncertain about whether or not he would be on the grid, but insisted that he had enjoyed his return to the series with Warren Scott’s BMR Restart outfit.
“Yes, we’ll see,” said a hesitant Menu. “There’s nothing yet but it would be nice [to be here next year].
“It’s a good championship – it’s very competitive at the front, it’s packed with huge crowds, and similar to how it used to be in the ‘90s. I still say some of the drivers are a little bit too aggressive at times but apart from that it’s a great championship.”