Lea Wood was thrilled to notch up a third points finish of his 2014 British Touring Car Championship campaign at Croft, as the season reached its halfway mark.
The Houseman Racing driver was wary of any wild predictions coming into the weekend with just one previous points score at the Yorkshire circuit, which is traditionally kinder to smaller and more nimble cars.
But after qualifying in 25th, a lightning start allowed Wood to finish 18th in the day’s opening race, before dragging his Toyota Avensis up the order in the next two races, with a 14th-placed finish his reward for steering clear of trouble in the day’s final encounter.
That result means the 29-year-old is now 21st in the championship standings – a major success given the team’s lack of preparation coming into the season – and Wood was delighted to see the hard work that he and his squad had undertaken before the weekend pay off.
“It was a relief to finally get a few good results at Croft!” said Wood. “We put in some extra work to make it happen by spending time in the simulator at Silverstone last week. The settings were customised for a touring car and the Croft layout, so I had a bit of a head start in that respect.
“We tried a lot of things out here to get the Avensis feeling right, adjusting the springs, steering geometry and several other settings. As ever, I’ve got to thank the Houseman Racing crew for their hard work throughout the weekend.”
“Croft tends to favour smaller cars – which the Avensis certainly isn’t – so it was never going to be our strongest track. As such, scoring points in the overall championship was a real bonus.
And off the back of the Croft result, Wood was raring to go racing again at Snetterton in five weeks’ time, a circuit that he has run well at in the past.
“After a bit of a break we’ll be racing again at Snetterton in early August. It’s quite a departure from Croft – I’ve had some strong results there in the past and it should be better suited to the Avensis, so hopefully we can continue our good work.”