James Cole believes the performances he is currently turning out behind the wheel of the Subaru Levorg GT are the closest he has come to proving he deserves his place in the British Touring Car Championship.
First competing in the series in 2013 with Team.HARD in a Vauxhall Insignia, Cole’s learning curve has been a disruptive and varied one. After parting ways with Tony Gilham’s outfit, Cole completed a season with the midfield United Autosports outfit in 2014, before a half-season with Motorbase Performance in 2015 prior to his move to Subaru this year.
As a result, he has been forced to ply his trade in four different models of car in both front-wheel drive and, as is the case now, his more familiar rear-wheel drive format.
Cole has failed to start six of the eighteen races he has entered so far this season, retiring from a further four, but in recent weeks has seemed to turn a corner in his performance and scored an impressive tenth place finish at Snetterton a fortnight ago [30th-31st July].
A driveshaft issue curtailed his attempt to further improve in the second contest before a fighting display in race three gave him another top twenty finish.
Cole suggests that his improvement is down in some part to sharing a garage with double champions Jason Plato and Colin Turkington, along with the engineering excellence attracted in recent seasons to the super-team at Silverline Subaru BMR Racing.
“The relationship between the engineers and the four drivers is very, very good,” said Cole. “Everything is kept open and it’s never in question.”
“Colin and Jason are both very accepting of questions that I ask, as well as any Warren [Scott] has.
“They have years and years of experience which you would be silly not to try and use. They understand it’s for the greater good and if their help brings us along then it’s going to help them because it’ll push them along too.”
“It’s a process, and our aim is a 1-2-3-4 on the grid and in races just to annoy everyone else! We’re not quite there yet but we’re definitely getting closer.”
“I still feel I haven’t yet proven myself in the championship but this is the closest I’ve been. My strategy for Snetterton was working out well until a driveshaft failure put me out of race two. Sometimes things happen and you just have to get on with it.”