Facing Your Demons !!!
It was with uncertainty that the team at TH Motorsport brought their newly purchased Honda Integra Type R touring Car back to Brands Hatch on Tuesday morning.
They last ran a touring car at Brands in September when their driver and friend Cornish born John George crashed heavily at the start of the last round of the BTCC race weekend destroying the car and leaving them watching on as their driver was flown out by Air Ambulance to the trauma unit of Maidstone Hospital.
John had flown in from his Guernsey home to test the new car and said he was looking forward to the challenge , secretly the team were all hoping it wasn’t going to be a step to far and were expecting to be off the pace in only the second teat of the new car.
Nothing was further from the truth, TH spent the first hour of the day setting up the car and making sure the safety kit was spot on, then they sent their driver out with instructions to push on after 5 laps, what happened then put a smile on all their faces with times dropping fast and their car in 10th place during the morning session.
Trevor Humphries then took the decision to face their demons and called the car in for fresh tyres and instructed John to go out and set a qualifying time “trust the car and get on with it “ were his parting words. Three laps later they set a time sub 50 seconds the fastest time they had ever achieved and almost 1.5 seconds quicker than they qualified at the start of 2008.
John commented “I was over the moon with the result on Tuesday it was better then we could have expected, the guys had worked flat out on the car in the two weeks since they took delivery and it was such a positive test I just couldn’t believe it . That was the fastest lap I have ever done around Brands Hatch in a Touring car, and after the way I left the place the last time I was here that was just brilliant “.
Team Manager Humphries said “it was a very strong showing for the team we ran all day with no problems on a tight budget we did great consistent times and really showed what a reliable and quick package we have been able to put together in such a short time. Sometimes in this sport you just have to face the demons and get on with it “
That was the last test for TH Motorsport before the opening rounds of the 2009 British Touring Car Championship on 5th April at Brands Hatch.
Date: 26/03/2009