Welch Motorsport had its strongest weekend to date in the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), demonstrating solid reliability as in previous rounds and moving nearer the pace on the Silverstone National circuit (26-27 September).
The debilitating and perplexing reliability issues that stalled Welch Motorsport’s progress in 2014 and at the start of the current season appear to have been cured through sheer persistence and determination.
A re-homologated engine from the experts at D.T.W Engines Ltd was introduced at Oulton Park in June and a string of trouble-free outings buoyed the plucky Hampshire-based team, particularly as solutions to the straight-line speed deficit are on the horizon.
There was more optimism within the Welch Motorsport camp than at any time this year during the build-up to the ninth instalment of the 2015 BTCC at Silverstone and the squad has been using the limited time between race weekends to further improve its revised power unit before embarking on an intense winter testing programme in conjunction with D.T.W Engines.
Now the power unit is fully optimised, the team steadily creeps towards the sharp end of the 30-strong BTCC field and, while the pack was tightly bunched during first practice on Saturday (26 September) morning, the team’s driver, Daniel Welch, had a relatively slender deficit to the pacesetters with a best time of 1m00.034s.
Sadly, an alternator failure, which also resulted in a damaged radiator, prevented Welch from featuring in FP2 and the lack of mileage placed him on the back foot heading into the critical 30-minute qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.
The first half of qualifying was spent bedding in engine components and it was only once the session was resumed following a brief red-flag stoppage that the Hampshire driver emerged from the Silverstone pit lane to complete a flying lap.
Track space was at a premium on the 1.64mile Silverstone National circuit and achieving a clean, unimpeded lap was almost impossible, but Welch steadily upped the pace and took his Proton Gen-2 to 24th on the timing screens with a best lap of 59.328s.
Silverstone was once again bathed in sunshine on raceday (Sunday 27 September) and the atmosphere was also bright within the Welch Motorsport camp when a stonking opening lap saw Welch climb four places to 20th.
Mike Bushell was the next target and a well-executed overtaking manoeuvre followed, Welch slipping underneath the AmD Milltek Ford Focus while negotiating the high-speed Copse Corner for the third time.
Welch continued ascending the timing screens as others faltered, but, despite running with the Eurotech’s Jeff Smith and Martin Depper for a time, was unable to make an impression on the Eurotech Honda Civics.
Bushell, meanwhile, stayed on Welch’s coattails and performed a retaliatory move on the sixth tour, before James Cole in the fast-paced Motorbase Performance Ford Focus simply powered past.
Places were traded with Smith when the Midlander had a wild and wayward moment at half-distance, but Welch then ran a relatively lonely race thereafter to receive the chequered flag in 19th.
In race two, Welch fluctuated up and down the order during the opening laps and eventually finished 18th, but what was the team’s strongest showing of 2015 ended with heavy damage, a tap from the rear causing a secondary, unavoidable impact with Hunter Abbott’s Audi A4 that took both cars out of race three late on Sunday afternoon.
Both cars were sidelined with terminal damage following the shunt and, as an extensive rebuild is required, Welch Motorsport will be forced to field its spare Proton Gen-2 at Brands Hatch’s season finale (10-11 October).
“I can’t be too enthusiastic about finishing just inside the top 20, but it has undoubtedly been our strongest performance of the year, with a revised engine from D.T.W,” said Welch. “The car has handled beautifully all weekend and I’m able to match the best of them through the corners, but we’re still lacking on the straights and it’s very frustrating watching cars just surge past you. We did our best and tried to stay out of trouble, but that wasn’t possible in race three.
“There was a chain reaction of events on the opening lap, as I basically got caught up in another incident, as somebody swiped me at the rear before I received a secondary collision from Hunter Abbott. There’s significant damage to the car and repairing it will impede our progress with the engine between now and Brands Hatch.”