Top ten result for Daniel Welch at Donington Park

Daniel Welch took his first top ten result of the season for Welch Motorsport in race three at Donington Park.

It was a welcome reward for the Welch Motorsport team after the amount of work required to repair the Proton Persona as a result of the extensive damage sustained in race three at Brands Hatch. Welch had come close to breaking into the top ten at that round, with an 11th in race two.

Welch was plagued with power steering issues during Saturday’s qualifying session at Donington Park, with the Proton driver finishing the session in 13th. These issues re-emerged during the first race on Sunday, with a power steering failure. In spite of this Welch was able to cross the line in 12th.

However his list of issues lengthened in race two with gearbox problems. On the fourth lap of the race Welch made contact with a rejoining car at the Old Hairpin. His race came to an end on the follwoing lap after an off at Goddards as a result of a brake calliper problem.

Starting from the back of the grid in the third race Welch put in a strong performance to finish eighth, in spite of the recurrence of brake issues: “We had a bit of contact with Chris James on the first lap, I think he’d been turned round, and we damaged the front of the car so the engine was running hot. We knew we were down on power the whole race, but then with six laps to go we totally ran out of brakes. So at that point we had to coast it home. It’s nice but we could have easily have been sixth I think. We’ve not had the best of weekends but it’s nice to finish in the top ten”

Daniel Welch currently sits 13th in the independent driver’s championship after Donington Park and is looking forward to the next round at Thruxton: “We’ve still got plenty of work to do on the car but it’s not as bad as last time so we’re pretty happy with that. Thruxton is my favourite circuit, we enjoy it there and hopefully we’ll have the engine to get us around there.”