Brands Hatch in Kent gave Bamboo Engineering the chance to compete on home soil in the FIA World Touring Car Championship for the first time, but it was weekend of generally poor luck for the team.

The practice sessions proved to be somewhat difficult for both Harry and Darryl, and neither could find the pace to match the leaders in the Independents class. Darryl set fourth and eighth fastest times, and Harry eighth and sixth across the two practice sessions. Somewhat further down than the pair have recently enjoyed.

The qualifying session saw an up-turn in pace, with Darryl setting the third fastest time in the Independents, but after an eventful session Harry couldn't better his practice times, and would start the first race from eighth.

The first of Sunday's two races was very close throughout the entire field and the Independents' class was no exception. Harry moved up well to eventually finish fourth in class after some tooth and nail fighting with the BMW independents, but Darryl slipped back late on after contact with Sergio Hernandez, after running an impressive fourth for the majority of the race.

Bamboo's poor home luck continued into the second race, as Darryl's race was ended when an overly ambitious passing move by Mehdi Bennani at Druids left him stranded in the gravel trap. The only positive from the incident, was that Harry, struggling with a brake problem, profited by two places, however the ensuing safety car allowed the BMW of Franz Engstler to close the gap and pass Vaulkhards struggling Lacetti. Harry eventually crossed the line fifth in class. Not a weekend to remember for the British Independent squad, and one that was marred byt the controversial weight issues surrounding the BMW cars.

The next round of the WTCC sees the crews head to Brno in the Czech Republic, with racing on the 1st August.

By Ian Price (www.ianpricemotorsport.com)