ANDREW Watson says he completely trusts the process he is in despite enduring a nightmare weekend at Donington Park for rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.
A wrong tyre call for a weather-affected qualifying session on Saturday meant the Donaghmore man failed to make it out of Q1 in his Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla GR Sport, and so he started Sunday’s Race One from 19th on the grid alongside Restart Racing’s Scott Sumpton.
However, with a full allocation of hybrid for the opening sprint, Watson quickly made up ground before a high-speed, side-on impact with a tyre stack at The Essess chicane on lap four lifted the car off the ground and catapulted it into the gravel trap.
With the UK-built machine recovered, mechanics then faced a race of their own as they rushed to check the engine and running gear, and replace any damaged panels, so it could join the grid for Race Two.
Although they succeeded, there was no chance to fine tune crucial aspects such as the ride and balance, and with Watson conceding he did not have the confidence to push, he crossed the line in 14th.
In the day-ending reversed grid contest, Watson took the chequered flag in twelfth, his pace putting him within two seconds of a top ten result. All told, the reigning Jack Sears Trophy champion remains 14th in the Championship standings on ninety one points.
“None of us in the team got any trophies at the weekend but we pick ourselves up – everyone is looking forward to the final two weekends, as Silverstone and Brands Hatch are two great tracks,” he said.
“We just want to end the season on a bit of a positive because we all know the pace is there – but this Championship is not easy. We are still confident and know that, in motorsport, things go this way sometimes and a lot of things are out of your control.
“You just have to trust the process and keep working away because we are in this position, we deserve to be here - in this Championship and with this team - so we will keep working and aim to end the year on a high.
“Qualifying caught us out, track conditions were all over the place, and it was pot luck who got a lap in and who didn’t and unfortunately we didn’t,” he added. “It was a difficult session and in hindsight we could have made some different calls but it was just really difficult. It was a disaster of a weekend; we just have to delete it and move on.”