Dave Pinkney says he hopes to back in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for Thruxton’s Finals Day in October, although has ruled himself out of Knockhill’s rounds next week following his crash yesterday at Brands Hatch.

A-Tech driver Pinkney, also the chairman of Luton Town football club, said the shunt yesterday had left him feeling sore and his Alfa Romeo too badly damaged to be repaired in time for the annual visit to the Scottish circuit.

But he told BTCC.net: “I’d like to be back for Thruxton. We’ve moved on so much with the Alfa since the start of the season, particularly with the suspension set-up, and we had a good run at Thruxton last time out. Let’s see…

“Knockhill is out, though. There’s no way we could repair the car in time and I’m hurting all over and will probably need a couple more weeks to recuperate fully.

“But I’d like to thank all the marshals and medical people who helped me yesterday and all the people who’ve passed on get well messages. The HANS device we wear around our necks also helped massively as well.”

Pinkney’s Alfa smashed at high speed into the back of Matt Neal’s Honda Civic on the opening lap of race one at Brands Hatch. Neal’s car had been left stricken in the middle of the circuit after collecting Mat Jackson’s spinning BMW.

“I’d had a good start and was flat out going up the hill,” added Pinkney. “I was thinking of outbraking Tom Ferrier into Druids. But then suddenly Matt’s car was there. I didn’t even have time to say s**t before I hit him.

“It was a massive shunt. I went from around 105mph to a complete stop in about ten feet. I’m told the impact was about 24G, which can’t have done my insides any good.

“I’m not blaming Mat Jackson. He’s just gone into the corner probably a bit over-anxious, put a wheel on the kerb and spun round. But there’s no way I’ve got anything against him. He didn’t mean to cause what happened.”

Source btcc.net