In what was looking like a nightmare weekend, plagued by engine problems, Flamstead driver Rob Cox managed to turn his fortunes around in the latest two rounds of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship.

After two practice sessions at Donington Park, in which he was up to three seconds off the pace, Cox’s WDE Motorsport team found engine problems that were affecting the car’s top speed.

By the end of qualifying, championship leader Cox had earned seventh place on the grid for the first of the weekend’s two races.

After gaining a place on the first lap, the engine problem forced Cox to adopt a defensive style as he brought the car home in sixth place.

Another good start in the second race saw Cox jump two places into fourth but the top-speed problems, coupled with an ABS malfunction, meant he could not push the car and instead had to defend his position. Masterfully control of his Fiesta saw him concede a single place and finish in fifth.

“It’s been a really tough weekend at Donington and was a case of damage limitation from the very first practice session,” said Cox

“However, thankfully we managed to do a reasonable job in that capacity and only lost three points to Michael [Higgs] over the whole weekend.

“It wasn’t until I saw the times from the first practice sessions that I started to get a little concerned. After the second one, I went through the data and video with Paul [Rivett] before I started to blame the car to make sure I wasn’t the problem. He agreed that it appeared to be that way so the team did everything they could to try to get the car sorted.

“As it transpired, they were unable to find the exact fault and the car will be on the rolling road this week to try to diagnose exactly what the issue is. If necessary, the engine will have to come out again and be rebuilt to sort it.

“If nothing else, I learned a huge amount again this weekend, mainly about driving defensively.”

Cox retains the overall lead in the series standings, with 229 points to Higgs’ 223 and Tom Grundy in third with 220.

The next round of the series takes the teams back to Silverstone and the national circuit, over the weekend of August 9-10.