Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell has secured his first top ten finish of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season after another all action weekend of racing at Oulton Park.

After a tough weekend last time out at Croft, Martyn was hopeful of scoring his first outright point of the season in his Team AllAboutProperty.com BMW 320i and made a solid start to the weekend in the two free practice sessions.

However, the decision to change some settings on the car for qualifying proved to be the wrong one as Martyn broke a driveshaft shortly after posting a personal best time in the first sector of the lap. It meant the team was forced to perform a quick driveshaft change to get him back out on track before the end of the session, although he could only qualify down in 21st place.

“We changed the gearing for qualifying and it didn’t work for us,” Martyn reflected afterwards. “It meant I was having to dab the clutch out of the hairpin and it broke the driveshaft. It was the wrong decision and I’m mad with myself for doing it so we find ourselves at the back of the grid – the qualifying curse has bitten again!”

In the opening race, a good start saw Martyn making up places early on and the BMW was running comfortably inside the top twelve before a gearbox glitch allowed Simon Blanckley to take the place late on. However, in race two, it seemed like the recent run of bad luck was going to continue when, having avoided a multiple car accident at the first corner and climbed into the top ten, Martyn was tipped into a spin by the Lexus of Chris Stockton at the chicane – meaning he could only finish 14th after dropping to the back of the field.

For the final race though, Martyn’s luck would finally change as he jumped up into the top ten early on, with the BMW running in ninth place after a Safety Car period to remove Colin Turkington’s car from the gravel. Although he lost a place to Mike Jordan before the finish, Martyn was able to bring the car to flag in tenth place for his first outright point of the season.

“I’m really chuffed, that is as good as a podium for us after what happened in qualifying,” he said. “The first race was solid and we managed to make up some places and then in the second race I was up to something like sixth on the opening lap before I got turned around by Chris Stockton at the chicane. I finished 14th in that race and then my team manager said ‘This final race is your best chance, go out there and do it’ – so I did!

“I’m pleased for the whole team and it’s a racing tenth, I felt we earned it and it didn’t just fall into our lap. Getting into the top ten is a boost for the team and a boost for morale. Now we want to build on it and try and secure more points finishes during the second half of the season.”

Aside from scoring his first outright point of the year, Martyn is now equal ninth with Dave Pinkney in the Independents’ Championship.