Dream win for Adam after nightmare start

Scots youngster Jonathan Adam recovered from a nightmare opener in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch to celebrate a dream victory in the final race of the day on his debut outing in his new BMW.

The rookie 24-year-old from Kirkcaldy, who was punted off the track just 30-yards after the start of race one of yesterday’s triple-header at the 1.2-mile Kent circuit, was ecstatic as he celebrated his dominant win.

“It’s awesome, just awesome,” Adam, who won back-to-back Seat Cupra Championships in 2007 and ‘08, beamed today as he was hugged by team boss Dave Bartrum.

“This is a dream come true. I’d always wanted to make it to the British Touring Car Championship, but to win a race at my first meeting is really beyond my wildest dreams.

“I’d always thought a podium was a realistic possibility this weekend, but when I got passed Jason (Plato) at the end of the first lap and took the lead, I knew the race was there for me to win.

“All I had to do was stay cool, hit all my braking points and keep the car on the track. Thankfully that’s what I managed to do. But God, what a day. My first British Touring Car outing and I win. It really hasn’t sunk in yet; but I have to say a terrific thanks to the team.”

Adam, who lined up for the final race second on the grid behind former champ Plato’s  Chevrolet, had started the day’s second race from a distant 19th on the grid but battled through to finish ninth.

But the opening race was a horror for the young Scot. Starting sixth, within 30-yards he had been pitched off on to the grass by the Honda of fellow Fifer Gordon Shedden. The Dalgety Bay man though was incensed.

“Bloody Stephen Jelley,” Shedden fumed. “First race of the season, first start and within yards he’d ploughed his BMW into the right-hand side of me which threw me into Jonathan. He’s stupid; just absolutely stupid.”

Though both Scots retired from the first race, eventually won by Vauxhall’s Matt Neal, Shedden returned to finish sixth in the second race — won by Adam’s BMW team-mate Rob Collard —and fifth in the final race.

There was further good news for the Scots when Glasgow-based Clyde Valley Racing, making its BTCC debut, saw its drivers Adam Jones and Dan Eaves finish as high as fifth and no lower than ninth in their bio-ethanol-powered Seat Leons. 

And while Neal heads to the next round at Thruxton leading the championship by seven points from the BMW of  former Knockhill race instructor Colin Turkington, Adam heads to the Hampshire track fourth, 19 points behind the lead Vauxhall driver.

JM 

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