WestCoast Racing’s Jessica Bäckman says she is keen to leave the events of Castle Combe behind her, after she had contact in the pair of TCR UK races yesterday [15 July].
The Swedish racer enjoyed her best qualifying result in the series to date, lining up fourth on the grid for the opening contest at the Wiltshire circuit.
WestCoast Racing stable-mate Dan Lloyd got a poor start ahead of her, and Bäckman made a similarly slow getaway, dropping places into Quarry Corner before contact with Finlay Crocker ended her chances of a strong result.
She told TouringCars.Net she could do little to avoid the back of Crocker’s Honda as she locked up past the kink into Quarry.
“Dan [Lloyd] didn’t have a good start, I didn’t get such a good start either but then a lot of cars drove past me,” said Bäckman.
“Then into the kink there was three people in front of me and there were cars everywhere and then one car broke a bit and I locked up and went into the barrier.
“After that the car was damaged so I couldn’t go as fast. The car was shaking a lot. I don’t really know what it was but there was something wrong with it.
“It was not a good race when I had a good starting position.”
Bäckman was running in fifth for the majority of the reverse-grid affair behind her sibling Andreas, before a late lunge from Stewart Lines resulted in contact at Camp Corner, ending her race prematurely.
Following the race, Bäckman said she was disappointed with the lack of solid results given her qualifying pace, and was keen to put this weekend behind her to focus on Oulton Park next month.
“I’m very disappointed with today because I knew I had good speed as I had a good qualifying,” she said.
“In race one I couldn’t do so much, I just locked up and went into the barrier and now in race two I just got smashed off so I couldn’t do so much about it.
“It’s a shame because I had good speed. I just have to leave this weekend behind me I think before the next one.”