A mixed first weekend for Mansfield truck racer Mark Taylor at Brands Hatch

Mansfield’s 35-year-old Truck racer, Mark Taylor took to the wheel of the Taylor’s Transport sponsored #81 MAN TGA 12000 Super racing truck and, despite the team performing well, it was not enough to bring home a trophy with a fourth, a sixth, two 10ths and a 16th including a crash in five eventuful races.

Taylor said “The weekend went well. Qualifying went great with a fifth that kept me in the top eight for the first two races.

“I overdid the brakes on race three, but all in all I’m happy coming away from Brand Hatch with some points and hope to get some more in a few weeks at Pembrey.”

He added “I would like to thank all the team for all their support over the weekend, and a big thanks to the hard work getting the truck back together for the last race of the day. It means a lot to me”

The team went to the Kent Circuit after storming Pembrey Circuit in South Wales a few weeks ago for testing that saw the truck in tip top condition and ready for the first race weekend of the 2022 season.

Taylor's 5.3 tonne beast of a truck took an excursion into the gravel in spectacular style during qualifying but suffered only a coating of dust .

Race one saw Taylor line up on row three in fifth place on the grid and take a lights to flag well earned fouth place, narrowly missing a podium.

For race two Taylor started in fifth spot, as the pace truck peeled off into the pits, it allowed the MAN truck of Steve Powell to pass Taylor demoting him virtually straight away into sixth place.

Race three of the weekend on Sunday saw Taylor start in fifth place and finish in 10th spot after a late braking spin after trying to get past Ricky Collett.

A third place start was on the cards for race four, but this was short lived as Taylor and Steve Powell had a coming together on Paddock Hill Bend that sent both of them into the gravel, both trucks grounded and Mark's taking the full impact from Powell.

Both drivers were fine and after being recovered from the gravel, and a re-start took place with Taylor starting from the pit lane at the back of the grid.

Taylor knew this was not to be his race and settled to get the very battered truck over the line in 16th spot.

An eagerly awaiting Taylors Trucksport Team of mechanics were ready in the paddock to accept the truck with its battle scars.

They worked like warriors to fit a new windscreen, front wings and re-fix the side panel and rear wing, also using a sledge hammer to re-position the side impact bar that was bent.

This was all done within an hour to get the truck shipshape for the final race of the weekend.

That one saw him line up 10th place on the grid and settle for a 10th finish to end a very mixed weekend for Taylor.

Taylor’s next outing is on 7th/8th May at Pembrey Circuit in South Wales.