Team sunshine out of luck at Donington

Team sunshine.co.uk were lacking luck at Donington Park for rounds 7, 8 and 9 of the championship as for the first time this year the team failed to score a top ten finish.  After drivers Martyn Bell and Paul O’Neill scored points finishes at Brands Hatch and Thruxton respectively this year, Donington Park proved to be a somewhat frustrating meeting for the team.

In qualifying O’Neill suffered a misfire which meant that he could only qualify in eleventh position, although he still lapped within a second of the pole position time set by works driver A ndrew Jordan. Team-mate Bell also had a troubled qualifying session that saw him make contact with the tyres at Goodards, causing damage to the driveshaft of the car and forcing him out for the rest of the session. “I was on for a really good time but I clipped the tyres at Goddards and it ripped the driveshaft out, so I didn’t set a time and started 20th,” admitted Bell.

Race one was held in soaking wet conditions and was proving difficult for all drivers. Despite running wide at Redgate and dropping to 12th, O’Neill was soon back fighting for points and was running in sixth position when Jonathan Adam’s BMW tagged the back of him heading up to McLeans. O’Neill was pitched into the gravel and out of the race. “I was making good progress back up the field after that [the mistake at Redgate] and picking people off until the incident with Adam,” said O’Neill. “One minute I was defending my position, the next I was in the gravel…”

Martyn Bell had a difficult opening race, with contact being made with the Team AFM Racing BMW of Nick Leason causing steering damage. Bell battled on in the ill handling Integra, but could only manage 15th position.

Race two saw O’Neill again out of luck as contact at the first corner meant he had to race on with a damaged front splitter and suspension. On his finishing position, O’Neill commented: “The suspension and splitter were damaged and I lost downforce through the fast corners, so eleventh was okay.”

Bell spent much of the second race battling with the improved Ford Focus of Alan Morrison, although ultimately he was unable to find a way through. A later spin also cost him time and he finished behind fellow Honda Integra racer John George.

The team gambled on running O’Neill on slick front tyres and wet rear tyre for the third race of the day, although before the race even began he was forced to pit for a tyre change as a result of a vibration on one of the wheels. O’Neill’s tyres got stronger as the race went on, similar to double winner James Thompson, but he was ultimately unable to make the most of the gamble as there were not enough laps in the race. After having posted fastest lap in the race, O’Neill commented:  “In race three, we took the gamble with the tyres. I made a mistake and went off once as I was pushing so hard, but it was the right call - we just ran out of laps. The fact I set the fastest lap showed we’d have been right up there if the race had been a little bit longer.”

Martyn Bell summarised his third race of the day by saying: “In the final race, Tom Chilton hit me so hard at the first corner that it damaged the steering again and gave me a puncture. I came in and we stuck slicks on the front, but with the damaged steering there was no chance of me making any progress up the order as the car was a real handful.

“We’ve shown that the sunshine.co.uk cars have the pace and now we just need the luck. But we’ve scored some more Independents points for the team and our confidence is continuing to grow.”