BROWN BROTHERS® sponsored Aiden Moffat has a frustrating start to the 2017 season!

Aiden finished the 2016 season with an excellent podium finish and the Laser Tools Racing team arrived with the Mercedes – Benz A-Class with high expectations.

Unfortunately the weekend started badly when a regulation component failed, causing the car to lose a wheel in free practice session one. The team managed to repair the car for the second session and the car’s pace was excellent, and Aiden’s best lap was just 38 seconds behind the fastest recorded lap.

This meant Aiden headed into qualifying with optimism.  However, qualifying turned into a lottery as 32 cars tried to find clear track space on the 1.2-mile circuit. Aiden found the task was made even more difficult by being sandwiched between cars that weren’t lapping fast enough and he was unable to find clear track space. However, before his tyres had warmed up properly the session was red-flagged. After a 20 minute delay, they all set out to restart, only to be red-flagged again after a matter of minutes. When the session finally restarted the heavens opened and heavy rain fell. At that point Aiden was in 23rd position and we, like many other teams, called it a day and returned to the pits.

This then left the Mercedes mired in traffic for the opening race and Aiden was frustrated by his starting position. Nevertheless, he made early progress from 23rd on the grid and was working his way steadily up the order in what was a frantic race. Aiden had reached 14th place when contact with Josh Cook’s Ford Focus dropped him back to18th spot. So, start again and battle back into contention, only to be assaulted by Daniel Lloyd’s MG6. So, back to 18th again! However he was confident that the speed was there ready to be unlocked in Race two.

The second race was stopped after a start-line crash and after a delayed start, Aiden was pushing hard to haul the Laser Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class up the order, only for another errant rival to end his chances. Ash Sutton’s Subaru tried to pass and hit the kerb which bounced him into the side of the Mercedes. Aiden ended up off the track and the impact damaged the front suspension and bodywork so, unfortunately, it was game over.

However, the Laser Tools Racing team managed to repair the car within a very limited time frame. Within two hours the car was repaired and back on the grid for Race 3! Aiden started race three at the back of the grid but Aiden displayed his good starting skills and got a good run off the line. Aiden was making fantastic progress until he was hit by Lloyd once more as his MG swerved to avoid a spinner. This impact damaged the tracking but Aidan carried on but the engine died just four laps from home.

Aiden commented: “It certainly hasn’t been the weekend that we were hoping for and it is frustrating that so many other drivers, and their standards of driving, have affected our weekend. Still, we will fight back. On the plus side, we can't have another weekend as frustrating as this! We take the positives to Donington Park in two weeks’ time, knowing that we have a good set-up, good balance and a fast car. Donington is traditionally a good circuit for our car and I am looking forward to going there and show what we are capable of.”

The next rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship are at Donington Park, Derbyshire, on April 16/17.