Tom Chilton: “We really deserved that victory”

Tom Chilton was left delighted after he claimed his first win of the season in the British Touring Car Championship’s final race of the weekend at Croft.

The EXCELR8 Motorsport driver started the finale in North Yorkshire on pole position and was never headed as he clinched a comfortable lights-to-flag victory; his first since the opening round of the 2023 campaign.

Chilton’s win was the cherry on top of an impressive weekend for the Hyundai driver as he also set the fastest ever lap around Croft in the opening segment of qualifying. Unfortunately, he was unable to progress into the Quick Six shootout.

Opting to run the hard compound tyre in race one, Chilton finished ninth before then jumping up a position to eighth in race two. That gave him a front row start for race three where he reigned supreme ahead of Dan Cammish and team-mate Tom Ingram.

“The team has done a great job and the car was so quick on Saturday where we set the fastest BTCC lap around Croft in Q1,” said Chilton. “We didn’t get the best from the tyres in Q2 which was a real shame, and then in races one and two we had a few little issues with the car that again meant we couldn’t maximise the potential in the Hyundai.

“Having finally benefitted from the reverse grid, I was so pleased that we managed to fix the gremlins because wow – the car was mega. I got the start of my life when the lights went out and from that point on, I was able to control things from the front. The only time Cammish was able to close in was when he was on the hybrid, but I was able to use it to then pull away again and manage the gap.

“No-one had an answer for us and it’s great for me personally because I’ve had a bit of a dry spell and you wonder sometimes if its a case of the older you are, the faster you were. We really deserved the victory and having scored three podiums and taken the Teams’ Trophy, it’s been a great way for us to kick off the second half of the year.”