MV TRUCK RACING RETURNS TO BRANDS HATCH
Despite the glorious sun over the Brands Hatch Circuit over the Easter Weekend and a fantastic opening qualifying, Team MV Truck Racing was left heartbroken after a disastrous crash in the final race of the opening round of the British Truck Racing Championship.
Despite the glorious sun over the Brands Hatch Circuit over the Easter Weekend and a fantastic opening qualifying, Team MV Truck Racing was left heartbroken after a disastrous crash in the final race of the opening round of the British Truck Racing Championship.
Under clear skies and crisp air, the qualifying round of the race saw the five tonne MAN take to the track with thunderous power from its brand-new engine, as pilot, Tom O’Rourke, pushed it to its limits and securing one of his best qualifying times at the track, as well as pole position for the opening race. Elation quickly turned to disappointment however, post-session technical infringement resulted in all his times being disregarded and the #86 having to start both Saturday’s races from the pit-lane.
Despite having cold tyres from no warmup lap and starting almost ten seconds behind the rear of the pack, Tom steadily climbed up through the packed 19 truck grid, weaving through the Division Two trucks and taking on the Division One pack, earning fantastic times and invaluable on track data to feed back to the race engineers.
Starting at the back of the pack for the first two races on Sunday’s action saw Tom picking off his fellow competitors as he climbed the ranks and secured a second position start for the final race of the weekend.
Image credit to Colin Boucher.
With thousands of fans packed into the circuit to watch these behemoths tear up the 1.2mile track, victory looked within grasp of Tom, however disaster struck a cruel blow as impact between him and Martin Oliver at the first corner saw both trucks crashing into the safety barrier and bringing the weekend’s racing for Team MV Truck Racing to close in an early close. Both drivers climbed out of their trucks, shook hands before a cheering crowd, and turned their sights on the next race in Pembrey on May 20th and 21st where the action begins again.
The first five races from the BTRC 2023 season are available to view on the British Truck Racing Championship YouTube channel HERE.
