HMS Racing’s Rob Austin was pleased to secure silverware to end his first British Touring Car Championship season with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta on a positive note.
Austin scored the maiden podium for the car on its debut weekend on the Indy layout in April, but has struggled to match that success since.
Speaking to TouringCars.Net, Austin believes having a clean race contributed to the solid result, but admitted he lacked the front-end grip to compete with Ash Sutton and Josh Cook ahead of him.
“I think this is the first round of the year where I’ve not been fired off or had a stone through the radiator or something like that,” said Austin.
“I really wanted that win but I just didn’t quite have the front end and Josh managed to tuck up underneath me exiting Paddock.
“And then to be fair that Subaru is just monstrous in a straight line – he just came past me in a straight line – but Ash obviously drove very well.”
With development of a new car the focus for the 2018 campaign, Austin believes potential has been shown with flashes of pace, and looks to winter testing to make the Giulietta a regular feature at the sharp end next year.
“We’re getting there with this Alfa – we’ve got some fantastic support from Duo, Close Brothers and the whole HMS team – so hopefully a good winter test programme and we’ll get it nailed down,” he said.
“Because when we hook it up, it’s undeniably very fast, we’ve topped so many sessions this year, it’s just learning how to dial it in for each session and make those little tweaks.
“Hopefully we can get that sorted and we can do this more often.”
Austin also admitted he may have “underestimated the development curve” of getting a new car up to speed, particularly as he feels this season has been exceptionally tight.
“We’ve deserved more podiums than we’ve had, but you know that’s touring cars isn’t it?!
“I probably underestimated the development curve that was required and nobody could have predicted just how intensely close this championship was going to be,” Austin said.
“A couple of tenths, a little bit the wrong way, normally that costs you a couple of places on the grid, this year it’s costing you ten to 15 – it’s crazy stuff.
“But I’m looking forward to next year and we want to be stood up there where Colin [Turkington] is stood – that’s everybody’s goal.
“But we’re going to have to do some serious work with the car.”