Morgan hails 'sweet' race three victory

Mac Tools Racing's Adam Morgan has said his first British Touring Car Championship victory since Thruxton 2016 was made 'a little bit sweeter' after fighting his way back to the top following a tough opening race at Donington Park.

The Mercedes A-Class driver capped off a magnificent recovery back up the order from a 23rd place finish in race one to win the final reverse grid race after successfully fending off the Vauxhall Astra of Josh Cook.

Morgan found himself clattering through the gravel trap at the Old Hairpin during the early stages of the opening the encounter, which left the Ciceley Motorsport driver resigned to a 23rd place finish ahead of the second race.

However, Morgan rescued his weekend by catapulting himself right back into contention after scything his way from 23rd to fifth during the second race.

"It’s really nice to get back on the top step. I didn’t get one last year. When you achieve it from starting 23rd on the grid in race two, it’s a little bit sweeter," Morgan told Crash.net.

"The car’s been fantastic. The drive from 23rd to fifth in race two saved the day really. Very nice weekend. To have two Mercs on the podium is brilliant."

Having got past the hard tyre running Subaru of defending champion Ashley Sutton on lap eight of the reverse grid encounter, Morgan admitted he had little respite as Cook continued to press the Mercedes A-Class for the race lead.

In a game of cat-and-mouse, the gap consistently hovered at around a second before Morgan eventually crossed the line 0.3s ahead of race one winner Cook.

"He [Cook] was pushing on pretty hard. I knew he’d be the threat because he had the medium tyre and he was lighter so I knew he’d be pushing," Morgan continued.

"As soon as he got past Ash [Sutton] I knew I’d have to get on with it! He caught me up, then I gapped him and then he caught me up again. He made me push very hard carrying 39 kilos of ballast.

"So my tyres we slightly worse at the end. I’m very happy the chequered flag came out when it did."

Morgan’s first win in almost two years has elevated the Mercedes driver to second in the championship standings, behind early points leader Tom Ingram.