Home Frustration For Ronan Pearson At Knockhill
Rising star Ronan Pearson endured a frustrating home outing in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship but ended the Knockhill weekend on a high with one of the drives of the meeting in the final race.
The young Scot from nearby Dunfermline went into the seventh round of the season keen to rebound from a tricky meeting at Croft two weeks earlier, with his goal being to try and fight towards the sharp end of the grid.
A solid run through the two free practice sessions saw Ronan just outside the top ten at the wheel of his Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N, leaving confidence high heading in Saturday afternoon’s critical qualifying session.
Running in the highly competitive second group in Q1, Ronan missed out on progressing to Q2 by just 0.038s, which left him to take the start of race one of the weekend from 16th on the grid.
Choosing to run the slower medium compound tyre in the opening race, Ronan fully expected a tricky start to race day in his Macklin Motors-backed machine, and so it proved as he was unable to make forward progress up the order, instead having to settle for 17th place at the chequered flag.
Ronan’s tyre strategy however meant he was then free to run the quicker soft tyre in race two and he took full advantage as he showed top six pace to work his way forwards into the points.
His charge towards the top twelve - and the potential reverse grid - was undone however when a power steering issue saw Ronan run off the road and collect a trackside advertising hoarding, leaving him with no option but to retire the car to the pits.
That consigned him to the back of the grid for race three and with only two cars running the medium tyre, a tough battle lay ahead if Ronan wanted to end the weekend on a high.
A fine start however saw Ronan storm through into the points scoring positions within five laps, and by the mid-way point of the race, he held 13th spot when the safety car was called out to replace a trackside barrier at the chicane.
On the restart, Ronan continued to race his way forwards and picked his way through to tenth place by the finish to give his watching fans reason to cheer - with the ten position gain equalling the biggest seen across the weekend.
“If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck, which was sadly the case again this weekend,” he said. “Making the short trip up to Knockhill, my goal was to try and repeat the results I gained last season, and battle for a place on the podium, but I knew that was going to be difficult after qualifying.
“The margins are so fine in the series this season that a fraction of a second would have put us through to Q2 and higher up the grid for race day, which could have led to a different outcome. Instead, I had to try and play the long game and focus on trying to get myself to the front for the final race.
“On the medium tyre, race one was pretty much a write off but I knew we could then make up places in race two, which was what we were doing until I had an issue with the power steering - which is one thing you really need at Knockhill.
“That left me at the back for race three and the fact we came through to tenth place showed what might have been with a bit more luck on my side. It wasn’t the results I was hoping for at my home event but there is nothing that matches the experience of racing in front of the Scottish fans, and it was great to have so much home support.”
Next up is Donington Park in two weeks time.
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