BLACKBURN’S Adam Morgan is taking encouragement from his start to the British Touring Car Championship – despite a tough weekend at Donington.

Morgan was left playing catch-up after his car failed a ride height test midway through qualifying.

It meant he lined up only 17th on the grid and he then finished 16th and 14th in the first two races, which both took place in wet conditions.

The 25-year-old did recover to 10th in the third race on a dry track, however, and knows his car has the speed required in normal conditions.

“It wasn’t our weekend, things just didn’t go our way,” he said.

“We failed the ride height so we lost fifth place in qualifying and had only a couple of minutes left to go out and post a quick lap. I was on cold tyres and unfortunately I only qualified 17th.

“Then races one or two were wet and we’ve done very little testing in the wet.

“But race three was dry and we were very quick.”

Morgan – competing for family team Ciceley Motorsport – is in a new Mercedes A-Class this season.

He finished 13th, seventh and 10th in the first three races of the season at Brands Hatch, and returns to action at Thruxton on May 3 and 4.

“It’s a brand new car and we are the top new car at the moment,” he said. “Overall I’m over the moon with how things have gone so far.

“There is still a lot of pace to find in the car and that is really encouraging.

“The car is quick in the dry, we just need to do more work on the set-up in the wet.

“If we can repeat last year - seventh in the championship, and third independent - then in a new car I’ll be really happy with that. Hopefully we can get some podiums.”