Alex Toth-Jones endured a tough weekend on track when the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge headed to Thruxton for the third round of the year.
The Thruxton meeting saw the series join the British Touring Car Championship package for the first time this season, with Alex looking to impress in front of a bumper crowd at the fastest circuit in the UK.
The Richardson Racing driver went into the weekend chasing an upturn in fortunes as, despite showing strong speed in the opening two meetings of the year, a number of unfortunate incidents had prevented him from showing his true potential on track.
Despite a high-speed trip across the grass at the fearsome Church corner, Bradford racer Alex qualified in tenth place on the grid for the opening race, which took place on Saturday evening.
Running as high as eighth after the opening lap, Alex saw his chances of a strong top ten finish come to an end on the fourth lap when he was involved in a number of clashes with one of his rivals that demoted him to the back of the field
Crucially losing the tow to the cars ahead, Alex had to work hard to catch up to the rest of the pack and had to settle for 22nd place at the finish, despite his pace being more than a match for the drivers within the top ten.
With the result of race one determining his grid slot for race two, Alex was left with work to do but a storming start saw him rocket up the order to 13th by the time the opening lap was complete.
After a brief Safety Car period, Alex’s forward charge towards the top ten continued and by the end of lap nine he had worked his way up to ninth spot.
A unfortunate spin whilst making his move for eighth at the final chicane would then cost him places on lap ten, but he kept his head down to take the chequered flag in 14th place.
“This weekend has been tough, and we certainly didn’t have luck on our side,” he said. “We had the pace to be right up there in the races but we didn’t get a chance to show it after the off in qualifying that caused some damage to the car, and then all the incidents in race one that dropped me to the back of the grid.
“It was great to come through the field in race two and we looked good for a top ten finish but then I just pushed a bit too hard trying to make up another spot and had a spin.
“Despite the way the weekend panned out, it was fantastic to be back on the TOCA package again this weekend with the huge number of fans that were watching, and I can’t wait to race in front of them again later in the year.
“They say that bad luck comes in threes and I’ve certainly had my fair share at Oulton Park, Rockingham and Thruxton so hopefully that means that when we get to Silverstone for the next round, things will finally go my way!”
Big thank you to the team, my family Lodestone Projects and Proceed Group for your continued support couldn’t do this without you guys!
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