Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan says his podium in race one of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton has been a “long time coming” after enduring a torrid first half to his 2019 campaign.
The seven-time BTCC race-winner has struggled so far this season, but a shake-up in the engineering structure within the team has immediately paid dividends as he qualified on the second row and came home third in the opening race.
Returning to the team this weekend is Paul Ridgway – who was involved in the build of the Mercedes in 2014 – and Steve Farrell, who engineers Morgan’s car.
Morgan told TouringCars.Net the result provides his team with a much-needed boost and rewards their hard work.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Morgan.
“It’s not been the season we’ve hoped for at all. But it’s just great to have the car back on the podium, it’s a great boost for the team and everyone.
“Everyone has been working incredibly hard and I think we deserve that. So it feels very good.”
Morgan continued to hail his Mercedes A-Class as “absolutely mega,” and felt he could have extracted even more if he wasn’t looking after his Dunlop rubber on the opening laps in particular.
“The car felt absolutely mega,” he said.
“I was cautious on the tyres early on, and then I was driving to the tyres. I think there was a little bit more that I could have given.
“We’ll bare that in mind for the second race, we’ve got a bit of weight to carry now but we’ll go out there and give it a go.”