BTCC Croft 2014

[Rob]

CROFT LAP RECORD SMASHED AS TURKINGTON TAKES POLE
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Championship leader Colin Turkington has obliterated his own qualifying lap record on his way to securing pole position for tomorrow’s opening encounter at Croft. The eBay Motors driver scored his sole BTCC pole position of 2013 at the Yorkshire venue and he repeated the trick in some style this time around.

Turkington tussled for top spot with the MG of Jason Plato and Honda Civic of Andrew Jordan in the early running, but things changed again after a mid-session stoppage, which was caused when the spinning VW of Alain Menu dislodged a stack of tyres.

Portadown-based Turkington was already heading the order but he went on to cement the position with seven minutes to go. A fastest first sector was followed by another in the mid-section of the circuit, and when the timing screens went purple for a third time Turkington’s breathtaking time of 1:23.246s was confirmed – more than 1.2s quicker than his 2013 effort.

Such is the development throughout the competitive BTCC field, combined with the new-for-2014 Dunlop tyre construction, that the top 13 drivers all dipped under last year’s lap record.

“It was a really good lap, especially when you consider that I was carrying a passenger beside me in the form of success ballast,” enthused Turkington. “To be honest the weight hasn’t been much of an issue, our car is so well balanced that I can carry it and put it to the back of my mind. The guys in the eBay Motors team have given me a really good car – it’s getting faster at every race meeting and I’m really enjoying driving it at the moment.”

Plato took second just as Honda Yuasa Racing joined the battle after what had been a fairly anonymous Saturday for the team up to that point. Gordon Shedden pipped his team-mate Matt Neal by just over a tenth as the manufacturer-backed duo produced a second row lockout ahead of Jordan, making it five former champions in the top five positions.

Rob Collard continued his rich vein of form as he backed-up his two podiums at Oulton Park with an impressive sixth in qualifying here. Collard relegated FP2 pace-setter Sam Tordoff down to seventh by just 0.014s, who in turn shuffled the Mercedes of Adam Morgan into eighth. Morgan had actually looked set to produce a potential front-row lap earlier in the session but his effort was scuppered by the aforementioned red flag midway through his flyer.

Alain Menu and Rob Austin completed the top ten positions with the latter having to bounce back from two sizeable accidents in the earlier practice sessions. To make matters worse Austin also lost his initial fastest lap due to a track limit infringement, as did Aron Smith who eventually had to settle for 11th in his VW.

The four Ford Focuses struggled throughout with Mat Jackson’s 15th being the highest placed ‘blue oval’ machine on tomorrow’s grid. Dave Newsham, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jack Clarke could only manage 16th, 18th and 23rd respectively.

Power Maxed Racing were forced to withdraw from the weekend on the eve of qualifying after the team located an irreparable issue with the engine of Chris Stockton’s Chevrolet Cruze.

[Rob]

QUALIFYING TOP FOUR TALK TO BTCC.NET
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Croft produced one of the most exciting qualifying sessions of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship so far as Colin Turkington smashed his own lap record from last season by more than 1.2 seconds. Such has been the development throughout the ultra competitive field over the last 12 months that some 13 drivers dipped under last year’s benchmark with the top ten covered by less than a second. After the dust settled btcc.net caught up with the main protagonists and here’s what they had to say…

Colin Turkington said: “It was a really good lap, especially when you consider that I was carrying a passenger beside me in the form of success ballast! To be honest the weight hasn’t been much of an issue, our car is so well balanced that I can carry it and put it to the back of my mind. The guys in the eBay Motors team have given me a really good car – it’s getting faster at every race meeting and I’m really enjoying driving it at the moment.”

Jason Plato said: “That was the best I could do. We didn’t have the best run-ins for qualifying with the issues this morning which meant that we perhaps hadn’t quite built the perfect rhythm up. That said there’s no more than a tenth left on the table. It’s just the way it is – weight corrected we’re miles off the pace and with the package we’ve got that’s just how it is. With the BMW now 18 months into its development it’s reached the point where their package – weight distribution, longitudinal engine, rear-wheel drive etc makes it a better package. I’m just grumpy I’m not in a rear-wheel drive car – it’s going to be a case of racing for second tomorrow for us. That’s what happens when you get a great driver (Turkington) in a car with an advantage.”

Gordon Shedden said: “That was a cracking lap – when I saw the delta on the way round I had no idea where it came from and I’m still not quite sure! At least it was enough to stick us on row two, but I’m still a little bit disappointed because the car that’s on pole by quite a margin has 45kgs of ballast. You never know what happens in race trim – it’s going to be difficult and I’ll be pushing 100 per cent as always, but on weekends like this it’s especially important to remember that points mean prizes and we’ve got to score a bag full tomorrow again.”

Matt Neal said: “As a team, I’m happy we’ve locked out the second row. For me personally I was a little disappointed, I was hoping for a bit more without any weight on board, so it’s a bit of a double edged sword. It’s definitely a lot better than Oulton where I had an extra digit in my starting position so it’s a step forward. Tomorrow Colin is going to be quick off the line, but we shouldn’t forget that historically the BMWs also take time to get heat into their front tyres. If we can all get into the back of him and give him something to think about then we’ll have a race on our hands. We’re all focusing on Turks, but there’s a few more BMWs and Audis dotted around that we need to keep an eye on too.”

[Rob]

new track limit rules and contact rules, :Hmm

[Rob]

Think going to to buying tickets this week for Snetterton round i n 2 weeks.

EDIT..

:furious Mrs Rob, just kindly remined me we going for family trip to London to London Zoo. :furious Been telling me past few days, old age i blame it on for keep forgetting :-D:oops

[Rob]

COLIN TURKINGTON CONTINUES CROFT DOMINATION

Latest News posted 29th June 2014

eBay Motors’ Colin Turkington was already the most successful BTCC driver ever around Croft coming into the weekend and he’s further enhanced his record with a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race at the Yorkshire venue.

The confident 32-year-old produced a particularly routine win as he made a clean getaway from pole position before gradually pulling away from the chasing pack throughout the race.

Turkington took his seventh and eighth victories at the circuit in 2013 and is also enjoying a rich vein of form in recent events. A double win last time out at Oulton Park sent Turkington soaring the championship summit and he simply picked up from where he left off by taking another commanding victory here. This fact that both the driver and his BMW 125i M Sport seem perfectly suited to the 2.5 mile Croft circuit suggested his rivals would have their work cut out to challenge, and so it proved as Turkington scampered away to win by more than seven seconds after 14 laps of racing.

“It’s always harder when there’s an expectation for you to win, and while people might say it looks easy out there I can honestly say that no BTCC race is easy to win,” said Turkington. “My biggest drama was at the start – there’s always a question mark when you have a new component to use, but once I made it around the first corner OK the BMW came on song. So far it’s been a mirror image of my 2009 season – strong weekends at Oulton and Croft really set me up for the second half of the year, but you can’t take anything for granted on this grid. ”

Gordon Shedden scored a lonely second position after getting the jump on Jason Plato on the run down to Clervaux for the first time, but the battle for the final place on the podium was anything but sedate.

Plato initially seemed to get a good start in his MG6 but got bogged down in the run up through the gears, giving Shedden’s Civic Tourer the chance to nip by. It was fraught behind on the exit of Clervaux as Matt Neal got sideways and was touched by the Honda of Andrew Jordan.

As the gaggle of cars behind baulked up to avoid Neal there was a chain of events that ultimately led to contact between Nick Foster’s BMW, Adam Morgan’s Mercedes and Rob Austin’s Audi A4. The first two retired with damage, whilst Austin continued at the rear of the field before enduring further incidents later in the race.

The fallout from the lap one incident meant Rob Collard’s BMW was now attached to the rear bumper of Plato’s MG, whilst Jordan squabbled with the sister MG behind. Collard was perfectly poised for the entire contest but Plato produced a defensive masterclass to hold on to a podium position by just 0.263s.

“Jason was a wily old fox in that one,” Collard told ITV whilst the wily man himself commented, ”Rob was quite a bit quicker than me. I had to work out where I was most at risk and needed to defend – which turned out to be most of the lap! It was a good race but we are struggling a bit. This track works the front tyres very hard and we were feeling it towards the end. It was good fun though, we’ll see how we get on in the next one.”

Neal fought his way back up to sixth after despatching Tordoff’s MG, who in turn dropped further down the order when the hard-charging Alain Menu surged past later in the race, and Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson immediately followed him. It had been a hard day for the ‘Blue Ovals’ on Saturday but Jackson’s rise to eighth and the AmD Focus of Dave Newsham taking 11th will have provided some promise for the marque.

Hunter Abbott scored his maiden top ten finish in the BTCC, whilst Martin Depper took his first points of the season after a last gasp pass by Tom Ingram’s Toyota for 14th – the Pirtek Racing Civic eventually crossing the line just 0.041s ahead of the Speedworks Avensis.

There were myriad of incidents further down the field with a number of cars finishing the race with damaged bodywork. Austin and Warren Scott’s VW touched at the final hairpin, forcing the Crabbie’s Focus of Jack Clarke to take evasive action. Clarke then had his own moment with Jack Goff’s Vauxhall Insignia, whilst Glynn Geddie’s Toyota was forced to pit by stewards with potentially dangerous bodywork flailing from his bonnet.

[Rob]

COLIN TURKINGTON TAKES COMMANDING DOUBLE

Latest News posted 29th June 2014

Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship leader Colin Turkington has secured his second straight victory of the day at Croft and his fourth win from the last five races.

Turkington made another clean getaway from pole position and although Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden kept him honest for much of the race the eBay Motors driver eventually won the contest by more than six seconds.

Shedden took second again as the series’ top two proved to be the class of the field, whilst Matt Neal backed-up the pace of the Civic Tourer by completing the podium positions.

“Gordon was definitely faster that time – it took the first third of the race to shake him off,” said Turkington. “The pressure was on all the way through – but as I’ve said before the hard work by the team is really paying off. As the race goes on you’re obviously losing grip, and I was pressing on to make sure the gap was comfortable. Three wins in a day is very difficult, but anything can happen in race three!”

Despite the steady start at the front of the field there was immediate drama behind when Rob Austin’s Audi A4 made contact with Dave Newsham’s AmD Ford Focus, who had bogged down slightly off the line. Both were forced into retirement, which continues Austin’s wretched weekend so far while Newsham had to endure his own heartbreak in what was his 100th BTCC race.

Neal had passed the Pirtek Honda Civic of Andrew Jordan by lap two and he was up to fourth shortly after thanks to a quite breathtaking manoeuvre by Jason Plato on the run through Barcroft and down to Sunny. The struggling MG of Plato was forced to give way to Jordan one tour later as the reigning champion pulled off an almost identical move to that of Neal.

Triple champion Neal then hounded down the eBay Motors BMW of Rob Collard and eventually made a move stick on lap 11 as the duo approached the Jim Clark Esses. Neal couldn’t make any further ground but his eye-catching performance was well rewarded with a podium position ahead of Collard and Jordan.

“The car was great – through the fast stuff the Tourer was really on fire,” claimed Neal. “Once I got past Rob (Collard) I didn’t push too hard. Getting a double podium for the team was the main thing.”

Plato clung on to sixth but it wasn’t without controversy after a penultimate lap incident involving the VW CC of old rival Alain Menu. The Swiss star got a great run on the MG6 across the start/finish line and looked to have completed a move on the inside at Clervaux, but as Plato turned in to take his line contact was made with the VW alongside him. Menu was fired out of the race leaving the double champ far from happy with the outcome.

Jordan and Plato followed ahead of the Airwaves Racing Ford of Mat Jackson, which has proved to have encouraging race pace. MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save driver Sam Tordoff took a rather anonymous eighth place while Tom Ingram fought his way from 15th up to ninth at the finish.

Hunter Abbott’s impressive run ended when he hit a dislodged tyre stack left by the Ford Focus of Fabrizio Giovanardi, who himself has a race one penalty appeal hanging over him. Ironically the Italian finished tenth and then chose his own number at random in the reverse grid draw, meaning he’ll start on pole for race three. If, however, his earlier penalty for contact with Aron Smith is upheld then he’s likely to be relegated to the back of the field.

There were other great performances throughout the field with Crabbie’s Racing’s Jack Clarke deserving special mention for taking 13th – his best finishing position of his short BTCC career so far.

[Rob]

JORDAN REJOINS TITLE BATTLE WITH RACE THREE VICTORY

Latest News posted 29th June 2014
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Reigning BTCC champion Andrew Jordan has won the final frenetic encounter at Croft in Yorkshire, firing himself back into title contention in the process.

Rob Collard finished second whilst Gordon Shedden closed to within five points of championship leader Colin Turkington after completing a hat-trick of podiums during the day.

Jack Goff had started on pole position in his Vauxhall Insignia thanks to the reverse grid draw and pre-race penalties issued to both Matt Neal and Jason Plato. The former was excluded from the race two result after his Honda Civic Tourer failed a ride height test whilst the latter was relegated ten grid positions for his part in an incident with Alain Menu.

Goff held on initially but slight contact with the Toyota Avensis of Tom Ingram on the exit of Clervaux scuppered his chances of a first win. Ingram retired later in the lap while Goff was able to continue in third.

The Airwaves Racing Ford Focus of Fabrizio Giovanardi inherited the lead but he also failed to see out the first tour at the head of the field. Jordan made contact with the rear of the Focus at Barcroft sending his Italian rival tumbling down the order.

After a brief safety car period it was Jordan’s turn to lead and despite extremely challenging weekends at both Oulton Park and here at Croft, the 25-year-old held on to claim the win.

Goff had a gaggle of cars bottled up behind throughout and he eventually relinquished second to the eBay Motors BMW of Rob Collard, who’s team-mate Colin Turkington had already retired with clutch problems. Despite the Ulsterman’s impressive weekend, his non-finish in race three added to the fantastic third from Shedden after he too got by Goff, means the Scotsman is now just five points off the championship summit.

Mat Jackson rounded off an encouraging day personally to take fourth ahead of the WIX Racing Mercedes of Adam Morgan, who got a run side-by-side with Goff across the finish line. With the result uncertain to the naked eye it was the timing screens that confirmed Morgan’s Merc had pipped the Insignia by an incredible 0.001s.

Nick Foster took an eye-catching eighth ahead of a sensational comeback drive from the Swiss superstar Alan Menu, with his final pass of the day taking place when his Chrome Edition Restart Racing team-mate Aron Smith ran wide on the final lap.

Matt Neal was trying to produce his own charge through the field after his race two exclusion but contact with Glynn Geddie’s Toyota halted his early charge. Even worse was to come, however, as a further incident involving his Civic Tourer, Rob Austin’s Audi and Warren Scott’s Vauxhall sent all three into the gravel at Clervaux. The latter was able to continue but both Neal and Austin eventually retired.