The Story
Power Maxed Racing returned for its second season in the British Touring Car championship, this season sporting Hunter Abbott and rookie Kelvin Fletcher. After a strong debut season which saw the team take eighth in the teams’ championship and one of its drivers take the Jack Sears trophy, PMR were looking to move forward, but they would have a difficult year in store for them in 2016.
The opening weekend was really a sign of what was to come for the Power Maxed team. Fletcher would start from the back of the grid, the slowest in qualifying, whilst Abbott would start only eleven places ahead of him. Though Abbott did a good job of recovering, multiple collisions with Ollie Jackon, including a late dive to the pits from the AmD Tuning driver, forced him to retire from the opening race. Fletcher may have had a quieter race, but it would be the same result for him when a turbo failure caused him to retire.
A bit of luck and some good overtaking brought the team a single point in the second race of the day when Abbott crossed the line in fifteenth, and Fletcher took his first ever BTCC race finish. It would be Fletcher’s only finish of the day though. On cold tyres after a safety car session in race three, Fletcher was pushing hard and ran into the gravel. Hunter faired a little better, moving forwards and taking another points finish.
Donington was more of the same, with Abbott showing off how overtaking is done whilst Fletcher got caught up in collisions and retired from the second race of the weekend. The rookie managed two finishes though, the best being a twentieth in race three.
Fletcher’s third retirement of the season came in the opening lap of the opening race at Thruxton. This time it was a clutch problem that stopped the rookie from showing what he could do. It was Abbott’s turn to suffer race ruining contact. The first race’s incident came with Rob Collard when Abbott was sent into a spin and dropped to the back of the field, before contact with another driver in race two damaged his radiator and forced him to retire and a collision with Lines in race three brought his second retirement of the day.
Fletcher enjoyed his best BTCC finish in the final race at Thruxton. A seventeenth in the final race wasn’t enough to earn him points, but it boosted the rookie’s spirits going into the rest of the season.
Unfortunately, Fletcher wasn’t able to build on that momentum at Croft. After three race finishes at Oulton Park, it would be a tough weekend at Croft. At the end of a safety car period, Fletcher was just a little too eager to get racing again. On getting ready for the restart, the Emmerdale actor collided with James Cole, damaging the car, ending the race, and giving him too penalty points. Abbott wouldn’t fare much better, as bumping and bashing caused suspension damage on his Chevrolet and forced him to retire.
Accidents – both PMR’s fault and not – were really the theme of the season for the team. The worse came at Snetterton, when Abbott was involved in one of the worst accidents in BTCC history. This wouldn’t actually be Abbott’s fault. The PMR driver was running behind Dan Welch and Ollie Jackson when the two collided, taking out Abbott in the process. The impact pushed Abbott’s Chevrolet over the barrier and into a TV tower but, thankfully, nobody was hurt.
Over the course of the season, Abbott would take ten retirements and Fletcher eight. Fletcher would miss out on two weekends in the second half of the season, as Dave Newsham filled in for him when the rookie was expecting the birth of his first child. Newsham may have only been racing for six races, but he impressed, showing just what the Chevrolet was capable of with five points finishes and the best result Power Maxed Racing was able to take all season with a seventh place at Knockhill.
The Stats
Qualifying Positions
Finishing Positions
Position Changes
Image Credit: Caroline Rhea
