Adam Morgan was delighted to return to the British Touring Car Championship podium at Rockingham, after the Ciceley Motorsport driver enjoyed his first trouble-free weekend since Thruxton.
Morgan continued to show the strong pace he has demonstrated all year in qualifying, putting his Mercedes in sixth on the grid for the first race.
The Lancashire racer then managed to avoid a repeat of the problems he has encountered in recent meetings by scoring top ten finishes in all three races, culminating with a second in race three – his first podium since Donington Park in April.
“It’s mega – it’s been a really good day for us,” said Morgan to TouringCars.Net. “An eighth, a sixth and a second, a good haul of points and some silverware – that’s what we’re aiming for now.
“We just want to enjoy ourselves, get some points in the bag, get some trophies and just have fun.”
Morgan ran second for the entirety of the final reverse-grid race, but he was unable to mount a serious challenge to race winner Andrew Jordan. A poor final safety car restart ended Morgan’s chance of victory as he had to defend from a determined Jason Plato behind.
“I was one of the only front-wheel drive cars up there and once the safety car went in, the tyres had cooled a little bit and I just lost the front grip, and I was under loads and loads of pressure from Jason.
“I drove a pretty shocking lap myself, missing apexes and out-braking myself, so I’m just happy to bring it home in P2.”
After a fire at Oulton Park, an electrical issue at Croft, a driveshaft failure at Snetterton and a power steering issue at Knockhill, Morgan admits that having a trouble-free weekend at Rockingham came as something of a relief.
“It just hasn’t been our run,” continued Morgan. “The pace that we’ve shown today has been in the car for the last four rounds, but we just haven’t been able to prove it with the results.
“There’s been things out of our control which have really hampered our championship, especially in the Independents, but it’s just not been our year. It’s one of those things.
“We’ve got the pace, we know the car’s quick, so hopefully we can come back stronger next year.”