Touring Cars: Kelty's Ronan Pearson claims Donington Park points

The talented 21-year-old, from Kelty, travelled to the Donnington Park Grand Prix circuit in Leicestershire on the back of a successful performance at his home circuit of Knockhill earlier this month.

There, the series debutant secured his best result so far, with a fourth place finish in race three, which came on the back of fifth and seventh positions in the opening two.

Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Motorsport star Ronan collected a trophy at Knockhill as the best performing driver eligible for the Jack Sears Trophy, a competition open to all drivers that hadn't recorded an overall podium finish, or won the Jack Sears Trophy, previously at the start of the season.

He remains in contention to challenge for that prize - he's 45 points behind pacesetter, Andrew Watson, with two race weekends left - after another positive showing at Donington Park, hosting the BTCC for the first time in 21 years.

Although he didn't test his Macklin Motors and Saltire Energy backed Hyundai at the venue during a summer test, Ronan quickly got up to speed with a circuit he last raced at in 2017 and put his car ninth on the grid for race one.

That was his best qualifying performance of his season to date, but contact with Watson, who susbequently received a three-place grid penalty, resulted in a half spin that played a part in Ronan placing 14th in race one.

He replicated that result in race two, and was the first Jack Sears Trophy driver home, before hopes of a top 10 finish in race three were dealt a blow after just two laps when he was forced into the pits with a loose bonnet.

Ronan rejoined the action almost half a minute behind the rest of the field, but he twice set the fastest lap of the race before the deployment of the safety car allowed him to close in on the pack.

He then began to make moves through the field and, on the final lap, gained another two places to finish 15th and pick up an unlikely, but deserved, championship point.

"We might not have scored the results on paper that we did at Knockhill, but I’m still really pleased with how I’ve performed on track this weekend," he said.

"Despite missing the test that the majority of the field took part in, I was on the pace from the first practice session and to score my best qualifying result to date was a great way to end Saturday.

"Race one was a bit tricky and I hold my hands up to a few mistakes before I got the hit from Andrew that knocked me back to P14. We’d struggled a little with the balance of the car but when it was then dry in race two, we bolted the qualifying set-up back on with a few little tweaks and the car felt fantastic again.

"Going into race three, as soon as I pulled away from the line I heard a pop and the corner of the bonnet lifted up, so I got shown the black and orange flag that meant I had to come into the pits. We’d made some changes to the car and I was expecting it to come on strong, so I felt gutted that we weren’t going to have the chance to show it.

"I think the red mist came down a little bit and when I went back out, it was a case of maximum attack as I was so far behind that I had nothing to lose and to set two laps that would be good enough for fastest lap showed that the changes had worked. The pace was absolutely mega, and when the safety car came out and I was able to catch the train, I knew there was a chance.

"When there was an opportunity to make a move, I just had to take it and I was able to fight my way through the pack but I didn’t realise we’d managed to recover into the points until I got back to the garage. To go through all that and still bring the car home in the top 15 was fantastic, and really showed what I can do.

"A massive thank you has to go to the team this weekend for their efforts and as at Knockhill, I think there are a lot of positives we can take away from Donington Park and look to carry into Silverstone next month."