Jelley ready as championship moves to favourite track

TEAM BMW racing driver Stephen Jelley is ready for the first race of back-to-back meetings in the British Touring Car Championship as the series travels to Croft, in Yorkshire, this weekend.

The Leicestershire man has had success at the venue in the past, claiming a rare hat-trick of podiums when he last competed with West Surrey Racing, taking second in races one and two, adding a third place to finish the day back in 2009.

In addition, he claimed a win in the British F3 International series in 2007 and added two podiums during his time in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.

Last time out Stephen had a tough weekend at Thruxton, though he managed to score points in every race, and he has his eyes on greater rewards at Croft, where he believes the team can run a similar setup to that which helped him succeed at Oulton Park and Knockhill.

He was the third highest points scorer over those two weekends, so a return to form would help boost him up the championship order.

It has been a busy time ahead of Croft for him as he took part in the

BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am with team-mate Tom Oliphant, Spanish professional golfer Adri Arnaus and Irish youngster Brendan Lawlor, who became the first disabled golfer to compete on the European Tour last year.

The foursome finished fifth in the afternoon wave, 21 under par.

After a quick shakedown on Friday, Stephen and his BMW colleagues will head out for two practice sessions at 9.30am and 12.05pm on Saturday, before qualifying at 2.50pm, which can be seen live via itv.com/btcc.

The first of three 15-lap races takes place on Sunday at 12.05pm, followed at 2.35pm and 5.05pm, with live coverage available all day on ITV4 and on ITV Hub.

Jelley said: “Historically, Croft has been very good for BMW. I enjoy racing there, and when I drove for West Surrey in 2009, I had three podiums in a day, which is a pretty hard feat to achieve.

“It was resurfaced recently, which has changed its characteristic slightly and, last year, the weather was a little bit odd, so that always makes the surface a bit slippery and we had the hard tyre, so going back this year we’ll see something a bit more normal.

“The circuit will suit the 330i M Sport; the fast-flowing back section should be really nice in this car, and we can get a good punch out of the hairpin.

“The main thing is looking forward to getting back on track after a bit of a disappointing Thruxton.

“It’s going to be a pivotal meeting for the championship, and I think afterwards we’ll get an idea of who’s in the mix, so we’ve got to start looking at things like that.”