Photo: BTCC

Jack Butel surprised to equal career best

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Jack Butel admitted he was surprised to match his best result to date in the BTCC at Knockhill after an “absolutely useless” qualifying performance left him on the back foot for race day.

The EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com driver could only manage 27th on the grid for the Scottish race weekend at the wheel of his Hyundai i30 Fastback N but made solid progress in race one on the less favourable medium tyre to score 20th place.

Having avoided the stricken car of team-mate Chris Smiley when race two kicked off, Butel was able to race his way forwards into the points and crossed the line in 14th spot for his first points result of the season – matching his previous best finish from Brands Hatch last season.

Race three would end with Butel just outside the points in 16th after an error on the opening lap dropped him places after a strong start, but the Jersey racer remained happy with how his weekend had panned out.

“To be perfectly honest, my performance in qualifying was absolutely useless, and I went into race day thinking we had no chance of fighting for points from where we were starting,” he said. “To then come away from the weekend having matched my best result in the BTCC is absolutely fantastic and I’m so happy with how things have gone.

“The first race proved to be massively important and to get up into 20th on the medium tyre really set me up for the two races that followed. It was a bit chaotic at the start of race two, but once we got through the opening lap I felt comfortable in the pack and the pace in the car was really good, particularly at the end when I could have come under attack after the safety car. To bring home a 14th place finish is great as we’ve worked so hard to get those points on the board.

“In race three I got a great start to move up into P12, but then I hit the kerb a bit too hard at the chicane and a load of cars got ahead of me, but that is racing and it happens. This weekend has shown that we have strong race pace and it was only down to a silly mistake on my part in that final race that we ended up just outside the points rather than taking home two top 15 finishes.”