Motorbase man secures top six at Donington, but tough weekend all round for BMW team.
On a weekend where the BMW teams found the going tough, Steven Kane was able to battle to his best result of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park.
The Carrera Cup graduate qualified down in 16th place as the low-grip nature of the Donington circuit worked against the rear-wheel drive BMWs
Steven Kane gave Motorbase Performance its best result of the season to date at Donington Park on Sunday (4 May) in the third event of the season in the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.
However, a storming drive in the opening race saw the Northern Irishman climb up to fifth place and leading Independent runner. On the final lap of the race, Kane came under pressure from Stephen Jelley but when the Team RAC man spun across the front of the Motorbase car at the Old Hairpin, it allowed Andy Jordan to get a run on the BMW and take the Independent win - although sixth was still the best result to date for Kane.
In race two, Kane quickly climbed to third place but with light rain falling, he was forced to switch to wet tyres and could manage only twelfth place and he then picked up a stop/go penalty in race three which meant the team was left to use the race as little more than a test session.
"Stephen Jelley spun across me in race one and I had to hit the brakes, so going up the hill from the Old Hairpin Andy Jordan got the run on me," he said. "There was nothing I could do about it. We could have won the Independents' Trophy.
"The second race was all about tyres. I got a brilliant start and got up to third. Although there was hardly any rain, the track was so slippery; it was like driving on ice. I came in and we put the wets on, and it went a wee bit better. But the front-wheel drive cars are just in a world of their own when the conditions are like that.
"In the third race I started on wets and got another great start. The first few laps were brilliant and I was getting involved. But we'd had a problem with the front wheel hub and I got a stop/go penalty because the guys were still working on the car on the grid at the three-minute signal. So my race was really over and we used the rest of the laps to do a bit of testing."
Team-mate Rob Collard endured a difficult weekend as he spun off at the Old Hairpin in race one and was then collected by John George; the resulting damage then putting him out of race two.
Having hoped to make an impression in race three, Collard was then forced to retire when contact from a rival put him off the track at Redgate with damaged suspension.
"There was a lot of damage to Rob's car after race one," team boss David Bartrum said. "The guys worked flat out to get it fixed as much as we could, and we got him out for the third race of the day.
"Rob really deserves a change of fortune. He's been driving strong, clean races, but he keeps getting hit off by others."
Win VIP hospitality at Thruxton!
Crash.net has teamed up with John Guest Racing to offer one lucky person that chance to win VIP hospitality to the next BTCC round at Thruxton.
For more details and to enter, CLICK HERE
