THE AmDTuning.com team secured its first points finish of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season after emerging unscathed from a wild weekend of racing at Thruxton.

The West Thurrock team headed to the quickest circuit on the calendar looking to build on the flashes of speed shown in the opening two rounds of the year, with driver Ollie Jackson confident about fighting his way towards the top 15 places.

A top 20 showing in the opening practice session showed the potential of the Audi package but a fuel supply problem in qualifying would leave Jackson down in 25th place on the grid for the opening race.

Aware of the need to manage his tyres around the abrasive, high-speed circuit on race day, Jackson stayed out of trouble to take the chequered flag in 17th place in race one, which was brought to an early end by a multi-car accident exiting the final chicane.

The decision to shorten races two and three to 12 laps due to high track temperatures forced the team to make set-up changes to the Audi, with Jackson taking the chequered flag in 21st in the second race of the weekend.

But race three saw Jackson’s best result of the year with a solid run through to 14th place, giving him his first points finish of the campaign and allowing AmDTuning.com to score with the Audi for the first time.

“The final race was a good way to end the weekend and I’m pleased to bring home a first points finish of the season,” said Jackson. “If I’m being honest, I don’t think I got the best out of the car in the opening two races, so to come back and get a result for the team and some points on the board in race three is really good.

“We’ve had a challenging start to the season, so it was important for us to open our account and I wanted to reward the boys for the work they have done so far. I know we have one of the best prepared cars on the grid and now we have picked up some points, hopefully there are plenty more to follow.”

Team boss Shaun Hollamby was also pleased with the fact that the team was able to pick up a first points finish of the year, even if the shortening of the final two races race and the earlier red flag prevented Jackson from adding more to his tally.

“It was good to end the day with some points on the board, although it’s a shame that we weren’t able to benefit from the set-up work we’d put in on Saturday,” he said. “We had worked on having a car that was good for 16 laps in hot conditions but other, very experienced, teams chose not to take the advice of Dunlop and the weather forecaster, hence the race length was adjusted to their level of preparedness. When the races were shortened, we then had to look at making changes to go more aggressive on the set-up to make the tyres last for twelve rather than 16 laps.

“The BTCC is probably the most competitive it has been in the modern era this season so to score points isn’t easy. Ollie has driven solidly this weekend to pick up three decent finishes and put some points on the board so we have something to build on going to Oulton Park and a circuit that I think will suit the Audi well.”