BTCC battle set to resume at Croft
The battle for supremacy in the British Touring Car Championship is set to resume this weekend as the UK’s premier motorsport series heads to North Yorkshire for Rounds 16, 17 & 18 of the 2024 campaign.
Returning to action following its annual summer break, the BTCC kicks off the second half of the season with West Surrey Racing’s Jake Hill leading the way after producing a fine run of results in recent rounds.
Five wins from the last nine races have vaulted the BMW driver to the summit of the leaderboard, and the rear-wheel-drive ace is now looking to build on the four-point advantage he holds at a circuit that the car has always gone well at in the past.
“It’s a brilliant feeling coming into a weekend as the points leader for the first time,” said Hill. “Yes it means we’re limited on hybrid, but it’s not that different to being second or third, so we’ll find a way to make the BMW competitive.
“Winning the championship is 100 per cent the target and we’ve never been as motivated to maintain the momentum we’ve built from Snetterton onwards as we are now. Bring it on!”
EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram sits second in the points and with three wins to his name already, the 2022 title winner is feeling confident that he can ignite his charge to claim the coveted crown for a second time come the end of the year.
“I think we’ll be super-strong at Croft,” said Ingram. “It’s a circuit I like, which is obviously a good start, but given the amount of hybrid he now has, realistically, Ash should be on pole – qualifying and race one there are his to lose, really.
“We just need to concentrate on ourselves and ensure we’re somewhere in or around the top five initially and then focus on fighting back in races two and three. The bottom line is that we’re going to be on maximum attack from here to Brands Hatch in October to make sure we get that title back – I genuinely believe it’s ours to grab.”
Reigning champion Ash Sutton dropped to third at Oulton Park after two lowly finishes however the Alliance Racing driver should be one to watch as he bids to claw back the 24-point deficit he has to make up to Hill.
Behind the top three, Dan Cammish and Josh Cook will be eager to close the gap from fourth and fifth while Colin Turkington will be hoping to kick his championship challenge back into life following a tough few outings.
Power Maxed Racing’s Aron Taylor-Smith has arguably been one of the leading lights this year and will be chasing more podiums in his Vauxhall Astra, while the trio of Adam Morgan, Aiden Moffat and Tom Chilton will also look to make their mark.
Beyond the top ten, the likes of Rob Huff, Dan Rowbottom, Andrew Watson, Mikey Doble and Ronan Pearson will all be worth keeping an eye on too as they look to progress further up the standings order.
Qualifying at Croft takes place at 15:00 local time/16:00 CEST on Saturday before Sunday sees three races staged; the first at 12:05, followed by race two at 14:45 and race three at 17:00.
