Rob Collard believes that some of the younger drivers in the British Touring Car Championship should follow his lead and ‘calm down’ in order to avoid constant contact in the mid-pack.
Although Collard managed to move through the field to fifth position from 17th on the grid in race two, the WSR driver was on the receiving end of much contact in the first race, which resulted in a point-less finish for the championship challenger.
Collard called the first race, a follow on from a difficult qualifying session, a ‘disaster’ and slammed some of the less experienced drivers on the grid.
“Some of the driving standards at the moment in touring cars are terrible,” said Collard to TouringCars.Net. “You’ll either see really bad accidents, or accidents that possibly could happen because of the way in which people are driving – they’ve got to just calm down a little bit.
“I’ve just come from 17th to fifth and there isn’t really a scratch on my car. People can overtake in this championship, and there’s a lot of young drivers out there that are so fired up who think they’re so great and that the only way they can drive is by hitting people.
“Race one was a good example of that, and now people should watch what I do in race two and see how you can overtake without hitting.”
Collard admits that part of the problem which has put him at risk of being on the receiving end of contact has been his poor qualifying.
“Yesterday was a disaster and race one was a disaster; to finish outside the points was a real cruel blow.
“Now it’s just about the focus for race three, we’re second on the grid and have got the soft tyre and half the weight that we had this morning, so we should get away well.
The pre-event championship leader also added that he isn’t fazed about the prospect of leading the championship again and carrying maximum ballast to Rockingham if he goes well in race three from second on the reversed grid.
“To me in this championship you’ve got to score every point you can whenever you can; there’s no gamesmanship in that respect. I’m driving as hard and as fast as I can every time I put my helmet on this year.
“Maybe I’m driving too hard on a Saturday in qualifying and over-driving, that’s the only thing we can put it down to because I want it so bad this year
“My racing’s proving how focussed and how determined I am and I think I’m maybe pushing too hard in qualifying and it’s actually coming back and biting me in the arse.”