O’Neill takes emotional podium at Snetterton

Paul O’Neill delivered a first ever podium result for Team sunshine.co.uk at Snetterton last weekend, taking third in race one. He then followed it up with another two strong points-scoring finishes, taking a fifth and sixth in races two and three respectively. Despite O’Neill being the sole driver for the team, with Martyn Bell watching at home whilst he recovers from a knee injury,it was an excellent weekend for the team as they took points finishes in all three races for the first time this season.

Race one saw O’Neill starting from eighth on the grid. In an eventful race where others had incidents around him, he was soon up to fifth by the time the safety car was deployed due to James Thompson’s slowing Honda. On the restart O’Neill benefited when Andrew Jordan, running in second, made his own mistake entering the Esses and spun off the circuit. O’Neill sensed the opportunity of a podium finish and applied pressure to Jonny Adam, eventually passing him on lap 12.

“Tech-Speed and Sunshine.co.uk have given me the best car possible and all I could was go out there and try to get the best results possible,” said O’Neill after the weekend. “I believe the car is capable of running in the top six at any circuit, but the work we carried in the test really helped. To run inside the top three and get a podium was unbelievable. We thought it could happen, but its brilliant that it actually did.

“There are so many people who have put a lot of effort into getting me back into the BTCC, and they didn’t need to do that. They could easily have gone for a driver who could bring some money into the team and who had a large budget, but they have stuck by me and bringing home some silverware is the best way possible for me to repay them all. That’s why there was so much emotion on the podium and this result is for them – it’s not for me at all. I couldn’t wish to have a better team around me.”

Race two saw O’Neill starting from third on the grid and whilst he lost out at the start, dropping to fifth, he soon found himself in another podium position. However unlike in race one he began to struggle with tyre wear and the task of keeping former champions Thompson and Plato behind, both of whom had had a storming drive from the back of the grid. He eventually finished in fifth.

For the final race of the day O’Neill would again start from the position he finished race two in - fifth. After initially dropping back a place, he ended up in fourth when the safety car was deployed for the accident between Rob Collard and Stephen Jelley. However O’Neill was unaware of its quick deployment and had to slam on the brakes to avoid a big accident, hitting the rear of Colin Turkington’s BMW and flat-spotting his tyres. When the race resumed O’Neill struggled and felt that without the incident he could have challenged for a win, although he ultimately finished in 6th.

“Of course there is some disappointment with what happened in race three and I’m sure Colin wondered what the hell I was doing when I ran into the back of him at 120mph!” said O’Neill. “Without that, I think we could have got a win as I feel I had the pace to get ahead of him and James but these things happen and I can’t complain after the result earlier in the day.”

Meanwhile Martyn Bell got a new perspective on a BTCC weekend as he watched the races live on ITV4 at home. “If that’s what we put our sponsors and fans through every weekend when they are watching on, then I feel sorry for them as it was tense watching on TV!” he said. “It’s fantastic for the team to finally get some good luck and show that we have the speed in the car without the reverse grid. Paul drove brilliantly. I’m proud that the team did such a great job and can’t wait to be back out on track again myself.”