Relssert Racing’s Neil Tressler was left feeling disappointed and disillusioned when an engine failure denied him a potential top four result in the opening round of the 2013 Pickup Truck Racing Championship at the world-famous Brands Hatch circuit (21st April).
Having ensured himself of highly respectable fifth and seventh place grid slots for Sunday’s two Pickup Truck Championship races, the Warwickshire-based driver entered Round 1 in a confident frame of mind.
A decent slingshot away from the start saw him move up to fourth and he resolutely held station, despite receiving some inevitable contact, as the field scrambled for track position on the opening lap around the undulating Brands Hatch circuit.
However, a short distance into the race, his Relssert Racing Isuzu truck’s newly-built 2.3-litre Vauxhall engine let go in a spectacular fashion, side-lining him for the rest of the day.
Speaking of his woes, Tressler said: “I’m hugely disappointed with how the day panned out at Brands Hatch, having shown so much genuine promise in qualifying.
“It’s hard to say what caused the engine to fail like it did, but I’m a great optimist and I think we have to be pleased with the pace we demonstrated early on in the weekend.
“Traction out of the corners is definitely one of our truck’s strengths with its new Vauxhall engines and I think everyone expected us to finish well inside the top five in both races”
Tressler continued: “You have to take the rough with the smooth and, while I may have only 30 points with the leaders bagging around 400, everybody has to have their bad days and there’s still a very long way to go in this year’s championship.”
The next port of call for the 2013 Pickup Truck Racing Championship is the immense 1.5-mile banked oval, Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, Northamptonshire (11th/12th May).
For all information regarding Neil’s racing activity, please visit www.twitter.com/RelssertRacing, or alternatively follow his Facebook page.