Nic Hamilton: ‘Everything happens for a reason’

Nic Hamilton admitted that he felt ‘everything happens for a reason’ after the Team HARD driver scored the best result of his BTCC career in front of older brother Lewis and father Anthony at Donington Park.

Hamilton heads into the new season having extended his stay with Team HARD into a fourth year, but went into the opening weekend of the year with realistic expectations after limited pre-season testing opportunities.

Having finished just outside the top 20 in his Cupra Leon in race one, Hamilton was amongst those drivers to gamble on a switch to wet tyres prior to the start of race two in the hope of weather conditions worsening.

When rain did indeed get heavier, Hamilton was able to rise through the field to run as high as fourth, and looked set to secure a remarkable Independents’ class win having gone wheel-to-wheel with the Vauxhall of Mikey Doble in the closing stages.

Although Doble was able to get ahead at the final corner, seventh place still marked Hamilton’s best result by far in the series, and he would then be promoted up into sixth when Ronan Pearson was excluded.

Whilst race three would see Hamilton shuffled back to 21st spot, the result earlier in the day would be one he admitted was his ‘best ever drive’ – and particularly emotional with his family in attendance to cheer him on.

“I don’t really know how to feel to be honest – the weekend has been a real rollercoaster of emotions,” he admitted. “Going into race two I didn’t feel very confident as we were struggling with the balance of the car and with raw pace, but we made some changes and the weather looked to be on our side when we took the gamble on the tyres – and all credit to my engineer for that.

“After the safety car, I knew I was running P6 and we needed decent pace if we wanted to stay there. The car was strong, and the last thing I wanted to do was throw it off as I’ve never been so high up the grid. I had some quick drivers behind me who could have fired me off, but the racing was clean and it was just an amazing experience.

“It was great to score a decent result and I was crying in the car at the finish. My family was there watching on, and I believe that everything happens for a reason. Lewis hasn’t been to a race for three or four years but he was here this weekend and was able to see me get my best-ever result – and see my best-ever drive.”