Category: BTCC

ccPower Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook became the fourth different winner of the season with a win in round four of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.

The Vauxhall Astra driver led from lights to flag as Dan Cammish of Team Dynamics came second and Laser Tools’ Aden Moffat rounding off the podium.

Cook led from the start with Chris Smiley of BTC Norlin and Grad-x’s Sam Tordoff in tow. Into Redgate Cook held his nerve and kept ahead of the pack. Cammish flew past Smiley and Tordoff into the Craner Curves to take second place and hunt down Cook.

Meanwhile further back there were tussles throughout the field, Colin Turkington was sent sideways after a coming together with Brands race winner Senna Proctor. The BMW man recovered well to finish tenth.

Proctor managed to finish eighth ahead of Ciceley Motorsports’ Tom Oliphant, but couldn’t keep up with the power of the Honda’s ahead of him. Smiley slowly fell down the order and was overtaken by the resurgent Matt Neal in the Team Dynamics Honda to finish sixth with Smiley seventh.

James Cole kept his nose clean to bring his Shredded Wheat Ford Focus RS home in fifth, picking up the only points for his team. Team mate Tom Chilton was in the wars and finished low down the order, with Tordoff unable to maintain his push as an electrical fault saw him retire.

Rookie Brett Smith came home fourth after fighting with team mate Jack Goff Smiley to take fourth place and finish just off the podium.

The Laser Tools Mercedes of Aiden Moffat came third after a great repair effort from the Laser Tools team following his crash in qualifying yesterday.

Dan Cammish kept on Cook’s tail throughout the race, and was on a charge during the middle phases, but couldn’t find his way past Matt Simpson, who tucked in between the top two.

But the first race belonged to Cook, who masterfully led from start to finish, with the Power Maxed Racing team having won two of the four races so far this season.

Josh Cook makes his return to Power Maxed Racing for 2018, Aaron Irwin spoke to the 2015 Jack Sears Trophy winner to get his thoughts for the coming season.

AI: So you’re back at Power Maxed Racing!

JC: “Yeah, Obviously I raced with them in 2015, and as soon as I got the chance to, I jumped back in with them. The only reason I left them was for commercial reasons, as soon as the opportunity arose for me to jump back here then I took it. They’re a great team, a great bunch, and they’ve put together a really good car.”

Obviously with your deal being announced quite early you must have had a nice winter to prepare and get ready?

“Yeah, a lot of the time everything’s rushed, and a bit panicky at the end because that’s just how it works. Everyone’s trying to decide what they’re doing and getting everything aligned. So having everything done a little bit earlier was good for us. But then I just wanted to get in the car and get going. I had a few test days which have really helped us but yeah, looking forward to hitting the ground running.”

Power Maxed Racing had a great year last year, it must fill you with a bit of confidence coming in to the team?

“I think you can’t go in with any expectations, it’s going to be really really tough. We’ve just got to give it 100% the whole time. We have to work hard to develop the car and move forwards because everyone is going to move forwards. We’ve got Euro Repar Car Service who’ve come on board this year which made all of this possible. It allowed us to get the deal done so early and now we can really try to deliver those results and reward everybody for their efforts.”

Is the target to be on the podium? Challenging for wins?

“Of course, I’m actually here to win races, win the championship, if you’re not here to do that then you need to be somewhere else! There’s 31 other drivers on the grid who are here to win so we just need to make sure we work that little bit harder than them.”

Plus the field is getting ever more competitive, people like Sam Tordoff coming back to race, does that make your job that little bit harder?

“The calibre of driver in the British Touring Car Championship is so high. The level of engineering that goes into setting up these cars is at the top level in the country. I want to beat the best, so I’m not too fussed about who’s there as long as everybody’s at the top of their game and if we come out on top fairly then that’s how I want to win.”

The British Touring Car Championship is back with a vengeance this weekend as the teams make the annual pilgrimage to Brands Hatch for the season opener.

With a whopping 32 drivers on the grid, the BTCC promises to be a rip roaring affair as the third oldest racing championship in the world celebrates its 60^th anniversary. Behind only NASCAR and Formula One in age, the BTCC has always promised door to door action, and 2018 won’t be any different.

Season Calendar

2017 – Sutton’s Incredible Transformation

2017 saw Adrian Flux Racing’s Ash Sutton take the championship, driving his Subaru Levorg to glory at the expense of series veteran Colin Turkington. Sutton came almost out of nowhere in only his second season in the championship, and his first with the Subaru team. It was an intense battle all the way to the final round at Brands Hatch, with Sutton and Turkington the only ones in with a shout of the prestigious trophy.

It was heartbreak for the BMW driver though, as a collision in the final race of the season broke his rear suspension, leaving Sutton to take his maiden championship in what was a somewhat fairy-tale story.

With it being the 60^th anniversary of the championship, there are some special events being lined up to mark the occasion. The main one is a special endurance race at Snetterton on 29 July. The third race of the weekend will be contested over 60 miles, with no success ballast and double points on offer.

The Stars and their Cars

The 2018 season sees the return of some old faces, while some big names have departed for pastures new. The main face leaving the grid is triple champion Gordon Shedden, who is now racing in the World Touring Car Cup. Other notable names leaving the series are Mat Jackson, formerly of the Shredded Wheat Ford team. Aron Taylor-Smith, who raced for MG in 2017, and Jeff Smith, who continues to recover from injuries sustained in a horror crash at Croft last season.

Meanwhile 2016 series runner up Sam Tordoff returns to the grid, driving a Gard-X sponsored Ford Focus RS. Replacing Shedden at Team Dynamics is Porsche Supercup double champion Dan Cammish. A range of rookies are also joining the championship, with Sam Smelt (from British F4), Tom Oliphant (from Porsche Middle-East Supercup), and Bobby Thompson (from VW Racing Cup) all making their debuts.

But what will these drivers be racing in? Well some teams have opted to keep the same cars for this season, while a few teams have decided to completely change theirs. Perhaps the most notable addition is the return of a famous name. Alfa Romeo are back on the grid with Rob Austin’s Handy Motorsport team. He’ll be driving a Giulietta. Team Dynamics have brought in the newer Honda Civic model, with the FK8, replacing the old FK2.

2018 Entry List

Teams highlighted green are independent entries. Drivers indicated in bold are eligible for the Jack Sears Trophy.

Who’s The Favourite?

So the question is; who’s the favourite for the title this season? The usual suspects, Colin Turkington, Rob Collard, Matt Neal, Jason Plato, and Ash Sutton are all fancied for the championship. However some dark horses are emerging after some impressive testing. Speedworks’ Tom Ingram, who came third in last season’s title race and took home the Independent’s trophy, is being considered by many to have an outside chance of glory.

Some are even considering teams such as Power Maxed Racing as potential race winners. Josh Cook and Senna Proctor showed their pace in the changing conditions at the second pre-season test at Brands, finishing first and sixth respectively. Motorbase look fast too with the new Ford Focus RS, being driven by Tom Chilton, James Cole, with Sam Tordoff.

Whoever comes out on top, it promises to be a diamond of an anniversary season.

Power Maxed Racing driver Senna Proctor stormed to the Jack Sears Trophy title in his debut season in 2017, but what is in store for him in 2018? Aaron Irwin had a chat with him to see how his Vauxhall Astra has changed, and what his aspirations are for the coming season. 

AI: So we’re back, have you been itching to get back into the car?

SP: “Yeah I’ve been looking forward to it. Excited to get going again and we’re back with Power Maxed Racing this year so we’ll have to see what happens.”

Has there been many changes to the car? Apart from the new livery obviously?

“Yeah we’ve changed the livery, we’ve changed a lot of stuff. Just a few bits and bobs, a bit of weight saving here and there and moving it about to where we want it.

It’s been a good winter, it’s been productive. We’ve found out a bit about what works and what doesn’t work, we have a bit more of a back-up plan this year shall we say if anything does go wrong. But yeah we’re confident going into this year.”

When Rob Huff came in for one meeting last season he changed a lot about the setup. Have you taken his advice on board?

“Yeah he gave us the bulk principle of what will and won’t work. Some of it we’ve put to good practice and some of it didn’t work on our car so I’d say he was a big help.

Obviously with myself not being too experienced in how a touring car should feel it was always hard for me to do that. We’re ready to get going this year and do our best for the team and for Vauxhall and to thank all our sponsors.”

At the back end of last season you were pushing for top ten’s, is that the target again this season?

“At the last meeting at Brands Hatch we had our best result of sixth, and we were getting there towards the end of the year to be honest with you.

We made some big steps forward and some quite chunky set up changes and we found out what did and what didn’t work again.

That’s half the battle, going into a qualifying session and putting on something and you don’t have a clue what’s going on, it’s not ideal. But this year going forward we have a little more experience with the car and also the team have more experience with the car, it’s all gone well so yeah we’re looking forward to it.”

As the reigning Jack Sears Trophy winner your stock continues to rise, some are saying you’re the ‘rising star’, does that cross your mind going into a race?

“I just go out there and do the best job I can. Like I say it’s been a good winter so there’s been a lot of confidence carried over from where we finished off last year. If we hit the ground running this year getting the same sort of finishes then it’s going to be a successful year.”

Our thanks to Senna for the interview and we wish him and Power Maxed Racing the best of luck for 2018.

Photos courtesy of Matt Pigg (Photopigg).

Tom Oliphant is making his debut in the BTCC this season with Ciceley Motorsport and Aaron Irwin managed to catch up with him and ask him a few questions.

AI: So you’re into the British Touring Car Championship! how do you feel?

TO: Really excited, I’ve been a support series driver for five years now and it’s always nice to be in the show. I’ve been following it for a while, it’s a premier UK race series and one of the most well known ones across Europe. To be a part of it with a great team like Ciceley Motorsport I’m over the moon.

You went through the usual route, Ginettas etc? You’re in good company with Tom Ingram being an ex Ginetta champion, it must be a good route into it?

Yeah definitely! I started in GT’s and my ambition was to become a GT factory driver and I quickly reaslised that that was probably a little harder to get to than touring cars.

I won the Ginetta Supercup just like ‘Tingram’ and Adam (Morgan, Olliphant’s Ciceley team mate) and that set me up nicely for the Porsche’s. I had two and a half years in Porsche’s, it was competitive, we weren’t quite at the front but was always there or thereabouts. It’s a new challenge but I think it’ll suit me.

The racing’s closer here and not a bit of a parade. With the weight changes and the tyre changes too, you could be racing badly in one race, and could be great in the next. You’ve got to take the good with the bad, and it’s all about being consistent.

Have you had some running in the car?

I’ve had quite a bit of running in the car, three or four days. Mainly just getting used to how it feels, adapting from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive. But the team know what they’re doing and we’ve been trying quite a few interesting things to develop the car.

I definitely think we’ve found some pace over last year. Me and Adam seem to be relatively close, so does Aiden. (Moffat, Olliphant’s other team mate) I’m there or thereabouts already so when I get a little bit more comfortable I think we can crack on. The setup of the car feels good and I think the car will be able to win races this year definitely.

Is that the target then for this year? Aiden won races in 2017 and Adam finished on the podium a few times?

I think the overall target is to win the Jack Sears trophy, it’s more competitive this year obviously, it’s not just a rookie class anymore.

Obviously Dan Cammish followed me here from Porsche’s, so he’s probably going to be the favourite for that now especially with the works Honda team. But this is a very different beast, my main focus is to get as high up in that as possible, to get as high up in the Independents as possible, and yeah hopefully a podium or two over the course of the season when everything is right and everything aligns. It’d be good if I could get a win but podiums are a terrific start.

Have you done most of the circuits on the calendar before?

I’ve raced all of them, being in the support series, the tracks are nothing new to me, the only thing is from rear wheel to front wheel drive, that’s the only new thing for me.

Thanks to Tom for the interview and best of luck to him and Ciceley Motorsport for the 2018 season.

It’s been a titanic season of touring car racing, with 12 different winners across the season so far, it all comes down to the last meeting of the season at Brands Hatch to see who will be crowned 2017 champion.

For one man he’s been there and done it, Colin Turkington has won the title twice, in 2009 and 2014, and in his first season back at WSR after leaving Subaru, he could make it a hat-trick. However, his rival has come from almost nowhere to be in prime position to take an unlikely maiden title.

Ash Sutton was a rookie last season, winning the Jack Sears Trophy, and having moved from MG Racing to the Adrian Flux Subaru team, taking a spot vacated by Turkington, he sits atop of the championship with just three races left to run.

It’s been a corking season, with more shocks than a low budget horror movie, there have been surprise winners, wildcard racers and some stars of tomorrow have emerged amongst the veterans and the elite.

This all begun with independent Tom Ingram taking the first win of the season at Brands Hatch Indy. Ingram was no stranger to the top step, having won twice in 2016, but the Speedworks driver has taken four wins this season and sits fourth in the table. Though he has a mathematical chance, it would take something special for the 24 year old to take the title.

Subaru took on a four car team this season, continuing with the Levorg GT estates. While these remind many of the Volvo 850 estates which Rickard Rydell rinsed around, it’s a young Englishman doing the winning this time round.

Ash Sutton came into the season as a young protégé, in the same team as BTCC legend Jason Plato, Sutton has emerged as the main man in Warren Scott’s team. Taking his first win from pole at Oulton Park, Sutton has been consistent and quick, taking wins at Oulton, Croft, two at Snetterton, Knockhill and Rockingham.

He holds a slender lead over Turkington heading into the finale, only ten points separating them, and while anything can happen in the BTCC, this title is Sutton’s to lose. As the reigning Jack Sears Trophy winner, he’s proved that the rookie championship does have a purpose.

This is proved by 2017’s rising star, Senna Proctor. The 19 year old, driving with Power Maxed Racing this season, has shone, and at some times outshadowed his vastly experienced team mate Tom Chilton. He has secured the Jack Sears Trophy championship already with Brands still to come. He will be encouraged by the progress Sutton has made in his second season.

With the title finely poised, Turkington and Sutton will be looking to keep their cars in one piece, while the chasing pack will be sure to get stuck in, with places and championships yet to be won. Brands Hatch is the classic circuit, and has seen some stellar moments over the years, but neither of our title protagonists will want to risk losing any ground, as one slip, could prove vital.