WITHAM GROUP NEWS

Character-building Croft triple header for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s performance went unrewarded on a difficult trip to Croft Circuit in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship last weekend (18-19 September).

The Cheshire-based outfit made the trip to the 2.12-mile Yorkshire circuit in fine spirits and backed up the optimistic mood in camp with front-running pace in both pre-event practice sessions.

Qualifying put the team’s pair of Toyota Corolla GR Sport challengers on the back foot, a rare mechanical failure for Rory Butcher consigning him to last on the grid for the first of Sunday’s triple header of races, with Smelt demoted late on by a series of improved times to 18th.

A solid run to 19th (Butcher) and 21st (Smelt) respectively in the opening contest looked to have provided a foundation for both drivers to make good on the Corolla’s obvious performance versus the competition, but the weekend took another twist in the middle contest.

Butcher was forced to retire early with damage after being caught up in an incident ahead, with Smelt 19th.

Having dug deep to repair Butcher’s car for the ITV4-televised finale, the 34-year-old from Kircaldy repaid the team’s efforts in fine style, rising from the rear of the grid to take the chequered flag an impressive P11, a gain of 18 places in a highly competitive field.

Smelt also looked on course to add to the team’s haul, but an unlucky late-race puncture scuppered his charge, the 24-year-old eventually crossing the line in P16, just shy of the points-paying positions.

A quick turnaround means the team heads straight to Silverstone, Northamptonshire this coming weekend (25-26 September) for the calendar’s only back-to-back events.

Christian Dick, Team Principal, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, said

“First and foremost, I want to pay tribute to each and every member of this team, because they all worked their absolute socks off not only to replace Rory’s engine after qualifying but then to repair his car after race two, when he was an innocent bystander in somebody else’s accident. It was a phenomenal effort, and I am hugely proud of them all.

“For an event that started out with so much promise, Croft clearly failed to deliver in terms of results, but we can take immense positivity from the speed shown by both drivers all the way through. I have no doubt that Rory would have been well in the mix for pole position in qualifying, which would have changed the whole complexion of the weekend, and his drive in race three was testament to what the Corolla is capable of – to gain 18 places over 15 laps was a remarkable achievement.

“I was particularly pleased to see Sam running consistently up at the sharp end in free practice; had it not been for traffic at just the wrong moments in qualifying, he would have been a points contender all day long, which is a significant step forward. He was desperately unlucky not to score in race three, but he can now carry that renewed confidence on to Silverstone where I have no doubt that both he and Rory will be right on the pace. Bring it on!”

Rory Butcher, Driver, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, said:

“I felt really confident going to Croft. Given the circuit’s proximity to the Scottish border, I had fantastic support and the Corolla was in great shape, as we proved in practice. The engine failure in qualifying then came completely out-of-the-blue. Christian [Dick] said to me afterwards that it was the first time this season he had believed we were genuinely on for pole position. We had so much speed in the car, and it was just such a shame we couldn’t exploit it.

“Starting dead last in race one, we knew we had our work cut out. Being at the back of the grid, the aim is obviously to fight your way through, but you also have to be mindful that you are much more susceptible to getting caught up in other drivers’ dramas – as we discovered to our cost.

“It’s such a competitive field in the BTCC, so we bolted the soft tyres on for the first race as we thought they would be faster, but it turned out that the car actually felt stronger on the medium compound. I climbed as far up the order as I could, and the plan was to do more of the same in race two but then I got taken out on the opening lap – simply wrong place, wrong time.

“That meant we had to try to do it all over again in race three, and following a stellar repair job by the Speedworks mechanics, the Corolla was really on its tiptoes and I could keep on pushing the whole way through. I managed to steer clear of all the incidents this time and whenever I had clear air, I was able to rapidly catch the cars ahead and very nearly snuck into the top ten on the last lap.

“It was unquestionably a weekend of ‘what could have been’, but it was nonetheless a great feeling to see all the behind-the-scenes development converted into on-track performance and progress. We didn’t get the results we deserved at Croft due to circumstances beyond our control, but we certainly showed what we are capable of and everybody in the team should feel extremely proud of their efforts. Roll on Silverstone!”

Sam Smelt, Driver, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, said:

“I’d only raced at Croft once before, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect but the weekend got off to a good start straight out-of-the-box. Our pace was really strong in practice – we extracted much more performance out of the tyres over a single lap, which marked a big improvement on previous events – and I was happy with how the car felt in qualifying. Unfortunately, I got baulked on three of my quickest laps towards the end of the session when the track was at its best, which knocked us down the order when I felt we should definitely have been inside the top ten.

“That was obviously frustrating, but I knew we had good speed and should be able to move forward. I got a decent start in race one, but it was a bit of a scrappy first lap. I was stuck on the outside through the opening sequence of corners and got tangled up with somebody else which cost me a few places, and once things settled down, it was a bit of a procession – nobody was doing very much overtaking and it was hard work to gain ground.

“We chipped away in race two, and in the last one I had a good start and worked my way up to 12th until we had some contact at the hairpin three-quarters of the way through. Then on the last lap, one of my tyres let go at the Jim Clark Esses, which really isn’t the kind of place where you want that to happen! I managed to hold onto the car and bring it home, but it dropped us out of the points, which was annoying.

“Still, the most important thing to take away from the weekend is the speed we showed throughout, and now we need to take that forward with us to Silverstone. Unlike Croft, it’s a circuit I know well so I’m feeling confident. It’s always super-close there and every little detail will make a difference, but if we can qualify well, there’s no reason at all why we shouldn’t score good results.”

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