PODIUM PLACES
The Motorbase Performance Focus RS BTCC cars have been racking up podiums and points hauls at Oulton Park and Croft…
The Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher Focus RS racers have really been showing their pace recently, as they battled hard for points finishes and podium places at both Oulton Park and Croft in Rounds 10-15 of the Championship. Tom Chilton led the charge at Oulton claiming our first two podiums and Independent win of the season, with team-mate James Cole delivering a trio of top nine finishes to help propel us up to 4th in the overall Teams’ Standings.
Tom was happy with the progress the new-for-2018 RS is showing as we continue to get faster and faster as the Championship advances: “This has been the best weekend of the year for me and the team. I’m really happy to get the first podium – not one but two – and an Indy race win as well. We came here 11th in the standings and leave in 8th so we’re getting a lot closer to where we should be.
“We had a very unusual mechanical issue in race 3 which caused a few problems and without that I think we could have finished around 4th but we managed to hang on in there and get a good result.
“The team have all worked really hard since Thruxton so it’s great to get some silverware!”
James Cole also enjoyed his time at Oulton: “It’s been a good weekend, all credit to the car #20 crew. I’d have liked to given them a podium but it wasn’t to be. Race 3 was a frustrating end to the day, going from 6th with a lap to go to 9th, but I can’t really complain with qualifying in the top ten and then following that up with three top ten finishes. We’ve come away with a great points haul from the weekend and moved up in the standings.”
Two weeks later the team all headed to another northern circuit at Croft where we celebrated our third podium of the season with Tom claiming a superb 2nd place finish in the final race of the day. And that was after a pretty dismal qualifying where he started the weekend way off the front runners. “What a turnaround!” Tom exclaims, “To start from P17 on Saturday to end 2nd on Sunday is a great result. It was a massive turnaround from qualifying. We went away on Saturday night, had a rethink and changed the set-up. We knew we had to pull it back and we nailed it.
“We got a great start in the last race. The medium tyre was the tyre to be on this
weekend and that showed in the last race especially. I was lucky to hold onto 2nd at the end of race 3 to get that podium. I’m really, really happy for everyone in the team that we managed to claw back all the points that we could.
“We’re now 5th in the championship heading into the break. It’s a very nice place to be and we can focus on improving the car for the last five rounds. You sometimes need that bit of luck in the BTCC and I’m hoping that this is a sign of what’s to come in the second half of the season.”
While the bright yellow Shredded Wheat cars enjoyed a good couple of weekends it was a bit of a mixed bag for Sam Tordoff’s Team GardX Focus RS. The weekend started well at Oulton and Sam looked to be on for his first pole position start of the year in qualifying, only to miss out by less than quarter of a second.
Starting from the front row for the second time this year, on the less-favourable soft compound tyre, the #600 Focus RS got slightly bogged down and dropped to P3 off the line. An outstanding defensive drive followed, with Sam holding off a persistent challenge from Andrew Jordan’s fast-charging BMW for an incredible 5 laps before succumbing to the former champion on lap 8. A late resurgence as the softer tyre came into play saw the Yorkshireman close the gap to 2nd and 3rd places but without enough laps remaining he just missed out on a podium spot, crossing the line in 4th.
Then disaster struck in race 2. If Sam didn’t have bad luck this year, he would have no luck at all. An uncharacteristic fuel system failure caused a fire under the bonnet, forcing Sam to retire from the weekend.
But never one to be defeated, Sam headed to Croft in high spirits, and his enthusiasm and professionalism saw the Yorkshireman collect three top ten finishes at his home track.
“Overall it was a good weekend;” said Sam. “We’re back in the hunt! It’s been great racing at my home circuit, I’ve had lots of friends and family here supporting me and it does make a difference.
“It would have been nice to get onto the podium but we never really expected to do that at Croft. I’ll keep taking fourth; it’s a good amount of points and not a hideous amount of weight. It’s all a step in the right direction.”
“We’ll arrive at Snetterton with next to no weight which means hopefully we can qualify well there;” he added. “With double points on offer for race 3 as well, you never know, we might be leaving there in a much more favourable position.”
We now head in to a mid-season break, and the next round is Snetterton on July 27/28 – where the final race of the weekend will be a 60th anniversary special with double points on offer. That should spice things up nicely for the Championship tables…