Oulton Park driver quotes - round 20

21 September 2003

Rob Collard - Collard Racing - 7th place

Hilton Independents' Champion 2003
I just kept it together and on the island! I got a good start, then just kept my head down really. There was no point me trying to race against Gareth so I just sat two seconds behind him and bought the car home. I was being told on the radio that I was forty or fifty seconds ahead of James Kaye so there was no need to push any harder.

It's been very hard this season, the whole team's been through the mangle. Our emotions have been up, down, everywhere. There's a lot of volunteers on the team and I think it means as much to them as it does to me - they were more nervous than me before the race!

I've worked very hard for this, I've come up through the classes. To come here this year and run with the top drivers - even to out qualify them on occasions - has been very good for me. Now I'm going to give out as many business cards as I can to team managers in the hope that they'll contact me over the winter. If not we'll just have to work hard and get ready for another attack next year. I'd dearly love to be a works driver, it would take the pressure off financially and allow me to just concentrate on my driving. It's probably worth three or four tenths per lap if you're not worrying about who's paying the bills!

Matt Neal - Honda Racing - 1st place

"That was the win I enjoyed most this year, it was a proper team effort.”
Matt Neal

I thought it was all going Pete Tong, starting from the middle of the pack here - it's very busy and I thought it was going to go horribly wrong. It was all down to the start basically, I made a good getaway and got into some clear space which always gives you half a chance. The team greased the sides of the car before the start of the race!

It's one thing finishing 3rd in the championship, but six wins means an awful lot to me. That was the win I enjoyed most this year, it was a proper team effort. I was saying that I wanted to pit late and Alex my engineer said "no, get in now!" which was a good call. Then the boys just turned the car round in no seconds flat! Starting 12th on the grid I just never thought this would be possible.

Watch for the full Matt Neal interview on the site soon

Yvan Muller - VX Racing - 2nd place

I haven't decided on next year yet. I decided a few weeks ago to not think about it until the end of the last race. I might start to think about it tomorrow if my mind is clear, maybe on the plane home. But not before! Don't try to call me tomorrow!

Paul O'Neill - VX Racing - 5th place

It's bitter-sweet. I had a chance to come 3rd [in the championship] but it was taken away from me with an engine change. I can't complain - I've only DNF'd twice this year. But I'd have loved to have finished third. I really wanted it but I just got stuck in traffic and, to be fair, Matt drove very well.

A pipe in the car came off which wasn't that much of a problem at first but then my engineer wanted me to rip it off. So instead of having a foot of pipe I had six feet of pipe flapping about. Nightmare! It could have been worse.

What else? Oh yes, I had tremendous oversteer, I kept going through Druids like I'd never been sideways before!

Watch for the full Paul O'Neill interview on the site soon

Tom Boardman - Team Varta - Production winner

Since I've not won the championship I had to get more wins than Luke! I was hoping to have won the first race but with my suspension failing I couldn't, and I was absolutely gutted. So I had to go out and win this one.

Luke Hines - Barwell Motorsport - 2nd in Production

It was very close racing for a good few laps. I just didn't quite have the pace and it was hard to keep Tom behind me. A touring car split us up which was slightly frustrating, but I can live with it. James Kaye made a fairly desperate move, obviously thinking about his championship and desperate for those points.

Jim Edwards - Team Varta - 3rd in Production

"I was hoping that these two guys would play silly buggers and take each other off!”
Jim Edwards

I'm delighted to get on the podium for the team. They were working right up until the last minute to get the engine changed. I got a good start, settled into forth place behine Michael Bentwood and had a good scrap with him before managing to sneak past. I think I was travelling at the same speed as these guys but by then I was too far back.

I'm just delighted to be on the podium after the tough weekend I've had. I was hoping that these two guys would play silly buggers and take each other off! But they behaved themselves unfortunately - Tom's very quick, and Luke might not know how to wear a hat properly but he can pedal! A good day.





Text by Dave Brockman. This page © 2003 www.BTCCinfo.co.uk.