Jack Goff’s run of top ten finishes in the British Touring Car Championships (BTCC) came to an abrupt end on Sunday after he finished the final race at Donington Park wedged into the wall.

The Stokenchurch native, who drives for reigning constructors/manufacturers champions Triple Eight, was running seventh in his MG6 GT on lap six of the third race when he was nudged from behind, sending him veering off the circuit.

Goff had managed a top ten finish in all of the first five rounds of the championship, including seventh and eighth place finishes in the first two races on Sunday, and he felt he would have maintained that record had he not crashed out.

“It would have been a nice way to end the weekend and I think we’d have been top four minimum, but more likely on the podium which is a shame,” said the 24-year-old.

“We’d have probably been second or third, probably second, in the championship as well, but you can always look back and say ‘what if’ in motor sport. We’ve got to forget about it and move onto the next one.”

A second place finish in the final race at the opening weekend of the BTCC at Brands Hatch had handicapped Goff with what’s known as a ‘success ballast’ which is extra weight applied to those cars which finished in the top five.

The changes to his car left Goff, who is in his third year in the championship, fighting an uphill battle, as his struggles in qualifying 13th for the first race in Leicestershire proved.

He said: “In qualifying the balance of the car just wasn’t right at all. Andy (Jordan), my team mate, had the same issues but he had no ballast in his car whatsoever, so he was still able to get on the third row of the grid.

“We qualified 13th, which wasn’t great but all things considered it wasn’t too bad. In race one we had the weight in the car still and we did reasonably well with it and got up to seventh, which was better than I’d hoped for.

“I’d have been happy with top ten, but to get seventh on the last corner of the last lap was a good way to start the weekend and increased our hopes for the rest of the weekend.”

After picking up 17 points from his work at Donington, Goff sits sixth in the overall standings after the first two meetings of the season, a position which he says is “not bad”.

It’s clear the BTCC Superstar has his eye firmly set on a maiden win in the championship, with his next opportunity to do so coming at Thruxton on May 10.

“With Thruxton being a high speed circuit it was important to improve that stability from the rear of the car to give us some confidence and I do believe we have made a big step forward with it,” he said.

“I think me and Andy both had some reasonable finishes this weekend, so if we can keep improving the car heading into Thruxton then we should be somewhere near the front.”

Fellow Bucks driver Tom Ingram, who drives for Speedworks Motorsport, recorded finishes of 16th, 13th and tenth on race day to leave himself 12th in the rankings.