Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble experienced the ‘mixed emotions’ of motorsport at Silverstone, going from clinching his first-ever British Touring Car Championship pole position to having to stage a recovery drive.
Doble had sensationally put his Vauxhall Astra on pole position in qualifying – with both of his best laps being good enough for the top spot – securing his first-ever pole in the series.
But at the start of Sunday’s opening race in changing weather conditions, a miscommunication from the team saw him start a second formation lap – with only one permitted at Silverstone – effectively forfeiting his pole.
From the back of the field, Doble charged through to 11th to take home some consolation points, but the damage to his weekend was done, and whilst team-mates Andrew Watson and Árón Taylor-Smith went on to score podiums, Doble could only respectively manage a 15th and 14th in the following races.
“I’m not sure how to put into words the mixed emotions we are feeling coming away from Silverstone,” said reigning Ginetta GT5 Challenge champion Doble.
“It was unfortunately the perfect storm with the mixed weather conditions leading into race one, that an unfortunate mistake resulted in me taking a second green flag lap.
“We fought hard to come through the field from last to 11th, followed by some fraught midfield battles in races two and three resulting in two further points finishes.
“Moving forward I hope the events which occurred today will not overshadow the remarkable achievement for me and the team of scoring a pole position in my rookie season, a statistic which no one will ever be able to take from me.”
Doble has lost a further four points to team-mate Watson in the battle for the Jack Sears’ Trophy this year, and he sits second overall in that classification heading to next month’s season finale.
“We are still very much in the hunt for the Jack Sears Trophy title and there couldn’t be a better venue to bring the curtain down than Brands Hatch GP, we’ll be going there fighting as hard as ever.
“Thanks – as always – must go out to the entire team for all their hard work and to my friends, family and sponsors who came to support me.”