Thruxton circuit is without doubt probably the hardest track to compete on for a first round due to its technical nature and the fact that it is so fast. All drivers were excited and mindful of these facts, so Sam Osborne’s progress through qualifying and round one, two and three was nothing short of great.

He and Andy Neate (the Wera second driver) qualified 23rd and 24th respectively after some set-up challenges. Race one saw Sam rise to seventeenth place at the flag with Andy remaining at 24th.

Round 2 will go down in history as featuring one of the most spectacular shunts in BTCC history and unfortunately one of the Wera cars was involved (check out Thruxton 2021 BTCC race two crash). In short Andy Neate starting at P24 raced in close quarters with other cars towards the first bend and in an unforced mistake missed his brake pedal at the crucial moment and collected two other cars all of which ended up in very sorry states after hitting the tyre barriers very hard. The damage was such that Andy was unable to continue for the rest of the day.

On the other hand Sam Osborne starting P16 had a solid race dicing with drivers with much more BTCC racing experience and finished 16th. Race three brought success for Sam as he completed the 16 laps in 12th place from 16th with yet more close, exciting racing with other competitors around him. The first three rounds saw Sam collect the Jack Sears trophy for most points as a non-podium racer. What a great start to the season – that was a true Rebel Race performance and the first silverware in the Wera/Photon/Motorbase camp.

Next stop Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit on 12th 13th June for rounds 4, 5 and 6. See it live from 12pm Sunday 13th on ITV4.