IN his final column of 2018 Adam Morgan reflects on the last race of the season.

IT wasn’t the ending I was looking for but, when I look back on the British Touring Car Championship season as a whole, I have to be happy with the way it’s gone.

The team and I arrived at Brands Hatch last weekend in confident mood and with our sights very much set on finishing third in the championship standings.

We ended up down in seventh in the final table after two days where nothing much went right for us.

Carrying 39kgs of success ballast and struggling a little for straight line speed, we could only qualify in 22nd and improved to 19th at the end race one.

I went into race two without any weight and with a now-or-never mentality and, for the much part, it worked. I was in a battle for position on virtually every corner of every lap and it was probably the busiest race I’ve ever been involved in.

It was going pretty well, too, I climbed to ninth with two laps remaining and was thinking about a strong points haul and the chance of a good draw for race three.

But, unfortunately, those hopes went up in smoke with a puncture. I can’t remember the last time we had one but it came at the worst possible time.

I was pleased to end the season on a high note by moving up from 23rd to 11th, and I couldn’t really have asked for much more from that final race.

Overall, I look back on the season with a lot of pride. I was tied for second in terms of race wins - three - and we have shown that we had the pace to compete at the front of the grid for large chunks of the season.

There will be a small feeling of what might have been, after two meetings in the middle at Snetterton and Croft where we barely scored any points.

But on the whole, it’s been a hugely encouraging season. I would like to thank all the team for their efforts throughout the year and want to pass on my gratitude to all the support I get from home. It means a lot.

We will be back to give it another go next season and hopefully we can mount a title challenge.

My winter starts now but it’s anything but a break. Over the next three months I’m off to race in China, Portugal, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

But I’m already counting down to the new season. Bring on 2019.

BTCC’s Adam Morgan speaks exclusively to key partner FUCHS LUBRICANTS.