Tom Chilton gutted by missed opportunity

Tom Chilton admitted he was disappointed to come away from the Rockingham weekend with only one podium to his name after missing out on the chance to fight for a first victory of the season.

The Motorbase driver went into the weekend well placed in the standings as a result of a consistent campaign to date with three podium finishes to his name at the wheel of his Shredded Wheat-backed Ford Focus RS.

Chilton qualified in a solid seventh place for the opening race of the weekend and avoided the chaos that developed at Deene on lap one to find himself running second to Adam Morgan.

Although unable to keep the Subaru of Ash Sutton at bay as the race wore on, third place provided Chilton with his fourth podium finish of the season.

Fighting hard with ballast on board in race two, Chilton secured tenth spot which then put him on pole for race three thanks to the reverse grid draw.

A fantastic start when the lights went out would ultimately come to little however with Chilton sliding wide in the tricky conditions at Deene before being collected by Matt Simpson’s Honda and then tagging Andrew Jordan’s BMW as he attempted to rejoin – putting both drivers out of the race.

“We nearly had two more podiums this weekend,” he said. “Sadly we only managed one in the end, but I guess it’s quite nice to be disappointed with a podium!

“I got a cracking start in the last race but then I got massive oversteer on the banking, went wide and then the contact ended our race. The team have done a great job this weekend. We’ve developed the car again and moved up in the Championship.

“I’m gutted for everybody that I didn’t get a second podium and that magical win.”