Team MV Truck Racing Bounces Back With Pembrey Victory
Team MV Truck Racing delivered the perfect response to a difficult Thruxton weekend, bouncing back at Pembrey with a hard-earned and emotional race victory.
Team MV Truck Racing delivered the perfect response to a difficult Thruxton weekend, bouncing back at Pembrey with a hard-earned and emotional race victory.
After the disappointment of Convoy Thruxton, where an engine failure in Saturday practice forced Tom O’Rourke and the team to withdraw from the weekend’s racing, Pembrey was always going to be about more than points. It was about pride, progress and proving that the team could come back stronger.
And that is exactly what they did.
Behind the scenes, the new MV Truck Racing team of mechanics has been putting in a huge amount of work to prepare the International Navistar and keep it moving forward. Led by Steve Horne, himself a former British truck racing champion, the team has brought experience, focus and determination to the paddock.
At Pembrey, that effort was rewarded.
A Weekend Built On Progress
The weekend started steadily, with Tom qualifying eighth in Division 1. It gave the team a solid platform to build from and, after the lost track time at Thruxton, the early focus was on getting laps completed, building confidence and bringing the truck back into the fight.
Race One proved challenging, with Tom finishing ninth overall after a track limits penalty. But there were positives to take. The truck completed the race distance, the team gained valuable information, and the weekend was properly underway.
From there, the pace began to come.
Race Two brought a clear step forward, with Tom climbing to sixth overall and sixth in Division 1. It was a strong recovery drive and a sign that the team’s hard work between sessions was beginning to pay off.
Sunday brought more challenges, including a red-flagged and restarted race, but Tom continued to bring the truck home and keep the team in contention. Even when results did not fully reflect the effort being made, the MV crew kept working, kept adjusting and kept believing there was more to come.
The Win That Made It All Worthwhile
That breakthrough came in the final race of the weekend.
Starting from pole, Tom made the perfect launch and led every lap to take victory in Round 15. Under constant pressure, he kept the truck calm, controlled the pace and crossed the line just 0.286 seconds ahead of John Bowler.
It was a proper truck racing win: close, hard-fought and earned under pressure.
For the team, it meant even more because of what had come before. After the frustration of Thruxton and the long hours spent getting the truck ready for Pembrey, seeing Tom lead the field to the chequered flag was a hugely satisfying moment.
It was a reward not just for the driver, but for everyone behind the scenes. Steve Horne’s leadership, the commitment of the mechanics and the team’s refusal to be defined by one difficult weekend all played a part in turning disappointment into silverware.
A Result To Build On
Pembrey showed the character of Team MV Truck Racing.
The weekend was not perfect, but it was full of progress. Tom raced hard, the truck got stronger, the team kept improving and the final race delivered the result everyone had been working towards.
After Thruxton, the goal was to regroup and come back fighting.
At Pembrey, MV Truck Racing did exactly that and left with a victory to prove it.
Now the eyes turn to Snetterton Circuit where the team will look to continue to build on the success at Pembrey.
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