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Race report

Another weekend of winning for Bamboo Engineering in Marrakech

James Nash: “It felt great to get my first WTCC podium."

James Nash, Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T, Bamboo Engineering

James Nash, Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T, Bamboo Engineering

FIA WTCC

Bamboo Engineering leave North Africa with another string of results under their belt. Race 1 saw Nash come 3rd overall, MacDowall coming 6th, and the Bamboo Drivers taking 2nd and 3rd in the Yokohama Trophy respectively.

Race 2 saw Nash come 4th in the Drivers Championship and P1 in the Yokohama Trophy, unfortunately MacDowall did not finish after being collected up in Tarquinii's accident.

James Nash, Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T, Bamboo Engineering
James Nash, Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T, Bamboo Engineering

Photo by: XPB Images

Race 1

It was the first rolling start of the season, both the Bamboo Engineering drivers got a good start but Nykjaer in the other Chevrolet Cruze snuck round the outside of Nash in turn one to pass him into turn 2, it was then a story of Tarquini, Nykjaer and Nash fighting it out for the lead.

MacDowall maintained his starting position of 6th but was applying heavy pressure to Huff and Muller. The safety car was deployed bunching the pack and returned to the pits with 2 laps to go, Nash was pressuring Tarquini for 2nd whilst MacDowall was challenging for 5th but with only 2 laps to go, both drivers held their places to finish Nash 3rd, MacDowall 6th despite MacDowall posting the fastest lap of the race on lap 12.

Race 2

The back to back race format saw the grid come into the pits for repair time then straight back onto the grid for race 2. The reverse grid meant MacDowall started P5 and Nash in P9 for the standing start.

Both cars started well, Nash flew up to 6th by the first corner whilst MacDowall got pushed back to 9th and this is how it stayed until an incident at the final corner saw Nash capitalise to go up to 3rd and MacDowall avoid trouble and jump to 7th.

Nash was on a charge to hunt down Muller but closely pursued by Chilton, whilst MacDowall was all over Tarquini. The status quo was disrupted when Chilton nudged Nash into the final hairpin, pushing him wide and allowing Chilton and Basseng to pass.

MacDowall turned up the pressure on Tarquini, setting fastest independent lap time, until lap upon lap of pressure finally resulted in Tarquini hitting the wall and unfortunately collecting MacDowall in the process ending his race.

Nash had passed Basseng before the safety car was deployed and with only one racing lap after the safety car, Nash had to settle for 4th but a win in the Yokohama Trophy.

James Nash: “It felt great to get my first WTCC podium, I have fond memories of Marrakech from last year but I can say I enjoy it much more taking home silverware. I’m annoyed about finishing 4th in race two but I’ll leave that conversation there!”

Alex MacDowall: “It’s been a tough weekend, on the upside my pace has been very strong, I’ve been pushing the likes of Tarquini and Muller, the downside is that a DNF has really hurt my championship charge, however there is still a long way to go so it’s game on for the next round.”

Richard Coleman: Chief Executive - Bamboo Engineering - “Another pleasing weekend for Bamboo Engineering, James gave us our highest ever qualifying result of 2nd, Alex set a number of fastest laps and we also took home trophies.

It’s been eventful and we’re considering ourselves lucky after Alex’s near miss in warm up, if he’d been 2 feet further down the road when Boardman left the track, I fear the result would have been much worse, thankfully Tom didn’t come to any harm.”

Bamboo Engineering leave Morocco with podium in the drivers championship, an independent win and 2 independent 2nd’s. They are currently 2nd in the teams trophy, Nash leads the Yokohama Trophy and is 5th overall, MacDowall is 3rd in the Yokohama Trophy, and 8th overall. The next round is in Slovakia on the 27th and 28th April.

Bamboo Engineering

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