Heading to the world-renowned Brands Hatch for the third and final time of 2014, the Pickup Truck Racing Championship once again saw two action packed races as the championship came to a close.
With Relssert Racing’s Neil Tressler at the wheel of the orange and blue #37 Pickup Truck qualifying got underway, however all progress was soon hampered when the right rear wheel bearing failed. Despite oil running on the tyre Neil continued managing a respectable seventeenth and sixteenth place.
Sunday morning saw a lengthy clean up with marshals sliding all over the track due to a thick layer of oil left by one of the Big Trucks turbo blowing (British Truck Racing.) It was then time to go out for a very wet race one, with Neil starting from seventeenth on the grid and another torrential downpour commencing it left a lot of work to be done! As the lights went out Tressler was soon battling his way through the pack however it wasn’t long before a four truck spin at Graham Hill Bend saw trucks scattered all over the slippery track. Squeezing past the dispersed trucks Tressler continued battling securing tenth by the end of lap one.
After a brief safety car period to remove the stranded trucks it was then time to go back green. Briskly moving forward Tressler was up to eight place challenging for seventh however disaster stuck on lap fifteen with just three to go when the exhaust manifold snapped in two leaving Tressler with no other option but to retire from the race.
“The truck was brilliant, im gutted that the exhaust snapped but it’s just one of those things that can’t be spotted until it happens” says Tressler
“This weekend was all about testing the truck out for next year which we did and I’m really happy with how it went” Tressler continues “we went from the back of the grid all the way up to eight, something I’ve never done in the rain, I think that if the manifold hadn’t have given up we would definitely have been in contention for seventh, maybe even higher.”
“I would just like to take the chance to thank the team for all the hard work this year as well as our sponsors – L & N Graphic Designs, Wizard Embroidery, Toovey Race Engines, Road 2 Race NASCAR Merchandise UK and all our supporters”
For all information regarding Neil's racing activities, please 'like' Relssert Racing on Facebook or 'follow' us on Twitter @RelssertRacing
Photo courtesy of Scott Burr Motorsport Photography
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