Last weekend, on 14th and 15th of October, T Sport Racing went to Pembrey in South Wales for the penultimate race weekend of this year’s British Truck Racing Championship. It is the time, when normally the tension in the paddock starts to raise as all competitors are fighting to grasp the last points available! It was definitely a worthwhile weekend for T Sport Racing and Terry Gibbon who manged to get through the weekend without any major contact and finishing all four races within the top seven!
On Friday afternoon, all teams were given the possibility to participate in four training sessions. The track was wet, but we wanted to make the best out of it and sent Terry out to get himself and the truck ready for the weekend ahead.
There was one free practice scheduled for Saturday morning, followed by the qualifying for the first race of the weekend. At first Terry was 5th in the qualifying. After a heavy crash of Oly Janes with his Freightliner Buggyra race truck, however, which was followed by a long recovery, the qualifying was restarted. Unfortunately Terry couldn´t keep his position and dropped down to 7th. Oly´s truck was damaged too heavily, he was out for the rest of the weekend.
The first race of the weekend was a steady race without much action. Terry finished on the same position he had started from – on 7th place.
For Sunday, three Division 1 races were scheduled. At the first race, Terry was pushed out wide at the second corner. Therefore, he lost some places, but managed to move back up throughout the race. Due to a 20-second penalty Shane Brereton was given, Terry ended up on 5th place!
The second race on Sunday was an exciting one for T Sport Racing. Terry had a really good start and took an early lead which he kept it for most of the race! At the very end, however, he was overtaken by more powerful trucks lining up behind him. Hence, he finished the race on 5th place again!
The final race of the weekend turned out to be a very short one. Ray Coleman and Shane Brereton ended up in the barrier at the first corner during the second lap. This brought the red flag out. Nevertheless, the stewards decided it was a points-scoring race. Terry finished 6th!
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend in South Wales – we consistently scored important points which made us move up one place on the overall standings!
We are looking forward to the grand finale of the 2017 British Truck Racing Championship which will take place at Brands Hatch in three weeks, on 4th and 5th of November!
Last but not least, we would like to congratulate Mika Mäkinen for winning the title of Division 2 Champion at the penultimate round! Congratulations!
Make sure to stay tuned for the grand finale in 3 weeks. We will keep you informed!