Airwaves racing had their best weekend of the British Touring Car Season by securing five top ten finishes.

Not only did their NGTC cars net five top ten finishes Aron Smith managed to bring home his Ford Focus in fifth place in the final race of the weekend.

There was further success in the Jack Sears Trophy for Addison-Lee focus driver Liam Griffin who won one of his three races at the weekend.

After disappointment in their first two races of the weekend it looks like the teams hard work has paid off as they have found a set-up that gives them good race pace.

Qualifying on Saturday was a little disappointing for both Airwaves drivers with Smith in 12^th place and teammate Mat Jackson in 13^th place.

Race one was a solid one for the two Airwaves boys with Smith coming home in 9^th place and Jackson 7^th for Jackson after Jordan’s retirement.

Speaking about the weekend’s races and the improvements Team Manager Oly Collins, said: “That’s a much better performance to go home with.

“I appreciate the results aren’t quite what we hoped for but the performances of the cars are definitely a step in the right direction!

“After just 30 minutes testing at this circuit on the unique Thruxton tyre, we went into qualifying further away from where we would have liked but the progress we made today was very positive. We now have a five week break to make sure we can benefit from this and move forward at Oulton Park.”

Race two was far more eventful for the Airwaves duo as Smith spun on the opening lap of the race at Church corner, he was in last when he managed to get the car back on the track again. He was helped by the safety car as the field bunched back up and he cut his way through the field to tenth place.

Jackson by contrast was in 5^th place and looking for a good top five finish in his racy NGTC when he span his car ironically at the same spot as his teammate did on the opening lap. He was last and fought his way back up to 15^th place, an impressive performance.

Talking after the race about his race weekend, Jackson said: “All in all I think we had a positive race day. Obviously in race 1 we went forward from where we qualified which was a huge improvement in the chassis.

“The nature of Thruxton is high speed and we had quite a bit of instability in the rear and unfortunately when we were running in fifth in race 2 the rear end stepped out at Church which meant we dropped back – which is a shame as I think we would have been on for a good result. We made a few changes for race 3, came through the field and we just got onto the back of the quick boys but it was then really stale mate at the front, but we managed to limp home on the tyres to get a solid result.

“We’re moving forward and we’re moving forward fast. To come here to Thruxton where we need a stable car and be able to challenge the guys at the front – it’s a massive positive. Looking forward to Oulton Park; we’ve got a bit of a break now to get ourselves sorted and reflect on what we’ve done so far. With the data we have now we can improve and make steps forward – we know where we’ve got to strengthen up and I’m a lot happier with where we are with the car; I think we can win some races.”

The final race of the weekend was the most rewarding the team for their efforts and saving the best until last. Smith and Jackson were fighting each other all the way in an entertaining race with Smith coming home in 5^th and Jackson 7^th.

Talking after the race about his weekend, Smith said: “I said that top six would have been a result so to get top five is brilliant!

“Yesterday didn’t go great because we arrived here with a blank canvas so we didn’t really know where to be going when all the other cars got to start from where we finished – with car being very competitive.

“It says a lot about the guys that they can make up a year of experience that the other teams have in the space of a weekend which is what we accomplished here. You have to remember it’s the first time on these tyres around here so it’s a different beast altogether, but they got the car to a place where it was really strong in race 3 and now we know exactly what the problem has been and how we can improve it; so this weekend was a big step forward for development.

“We have a good old gap now to go over everything with a fine toothed comb. Hopefully we’ll get a spot of testing in and see where we can get to now we’re starting to get our heads around this. I would like to say that we now have a car that’s capable of always being in the top five; now that we know that it’s capable of being there, hopefully we can make some tweaks and get amongst it for the rest of the season.”

Liam Griffin got off to a flying start by contrast in his S200 coming home in first place, before a mechanical fault in race two hampered his race, just as he was challenging for positions in the final race, steering damage put pay to his challenge.

Speaking about his flying start to weekend and stuttering finish, Griffin said: “The Jack Sears Trophy seems to be a Championship of attrition – whereas the last man standing will probably win it!

“We had the car set up really well and it was racing well – with some good, fun racing between us all, but unfortunately with the issues we had I didn’t get the chance to challenge as I would have liked this weekend.”

The Airwaves Racing team leave Thruxton in fourth place overall in the Championship with Smith the best of the two drivers in the drivers’ standings, with Jackson just a place behind him.

The Championship now takes a month’s break before it gets back on track at Oulton Park on the weekend of the 8^th and 9^th June.

Pictures supplied by  PSP Images – www.pspimages.co.uk