BTCC Croft 2011 - Banter

[AndySpeed]

So it's been pretty wet at Croft, and Collard and MacDowall have topped the practice times already.

One - Touring-Cars.net – BTCC | WTCC » Results » BTCC » 2011 » Croft First Free Practice (http://www.touring-cars.net/results/2011/croftprac1.php)

Two - Touring-Cars.net – BTCC | WTCC » Results » BTCC » 2011 » Croft Second Free Practice (http://www.touring-cars.net/results/2011/croftprac2.php)

I just spotted this photo of Frank Wrathall having an off in FP2- has anyone ever seen the windscreen pop clean out of a touring car before?!

http://www.btcc.net/images/gallery/lg_7106_e190.jpg

[VkmSpouge]

Qualifying

1 Jason Plato 1m24.839
2 Matt Neal 0.372
3 Rob Collard 0.552
4 Alex MacDowall 0.708
5 Andrew Jordan 0.736
6 James Nash 0.817
7 Gordon Shedden 0.835
8 Tom Chilton 0.981
9 Mat Jackson 1.089
10 Paul O'Neill 1.152
11 Rob Austin 1.350
12 Tom Boardman 1.408
13 Nick Foster 1.475
14 Dave Newsham 1.666
15 Tom Onslow-Cole 1.693
16 Jeff Smith 1.785
17 Frank Wrathall Jr. 2.124
18 Andy Neate 2.307
19 Tony Gilham 2.353
20 Lea Wood 2.793
21 Shaun Hollamby 3.376
22 John George 3.893
23 Liam Griffin 3.896
24 Chris James 5.138

Looks like this turbo boost reduction might just have worked. Good pole lap by Jason Plato but he and Matt Neal will have to watch out for a fast starting Rob Collard in 3rd place.

Excellent qualifying by Rob Austin to get 11th place and only 1.3s off pole position, his team is really improving that Audi!

[BDunnell]

It's probably a bit early to say yet, but on the strength of qualifying in the dry the turbo/non-turbo equivalency TOCA was after may have come about. Pole for Plato by three tenths from Neal, with Collard and MacDowall completing the top four, but then all turbos down to O'Neill in 10th, so it's not as if the normally-aspirated cars have suddenly all risen to the top. And a fantastic qualifying effort by Rob Austin to end up 11th, some way ahead of the other NGTC cars. That's a splendid achievement by him and his team.

[RMLCruzeing82]

YES!!! about bloody time to :p stunning lap but JP and well done McDowell as well


well done to Austin as well. the boys and girls at Rob Austin Racing are doing a fantastic job on that Audi


now the Honda fans are moaning now. you cant win can you lol

[RMLCruzeing82]

I just spotted this photo of Frank Wrathall having an off in FP2- has anyone ever seen the windscreen pop clean out of a touring car before?!

http://www.btcc.net/images/gallery/lg_7106_e190.jpg

how on earth did that windscreen pop out like that? i know toyotas are badly made but come on

[BDunnell]

Now THAT was a fantastic BTCC race. Generally very clean racing, extremely exciting, clearly better equalisation between the turbo and atmo cars, and a breathtaking final few laps by Jackson.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

It was a fantastic race. Jacksons drive reminded me a bit of Buttons last weekend.

And finally we saw a good run from Wrathall in the Toyota, who just missed out on the points.

[VkmSpouge]

Race 1 Result:
1 Matt Neal
2 Mat Jackson
3 Rob Collard
4 Jason Plato
5 Gordon Shedden
6 Andrew Jordan
7 Tom Chilton
8 James Nash
9 Paul O'Neill
10 Tom Boardman
11 Tom Onslow-Cole
12 Frank Wrathall Jr.
13 Nick Foster
14 Alex MacDowall
15 Jeff Smith
16 Lea Wood
17 Shaun Hollamby
18 Liam Griffin
19 Andy Neate
20 Dave Newsham
DNF Tony Gilham
DNF John George
DNF Rob Austin
DNF Chris James

Mat Jackson was finishing like an absolute freight train! Great result for Jackson.
Good race by Rob Collard too to get third place.
Frank Wrathall had a competitive race, hope he can pick up points today.
Shame for Rob Austin to have a broken suspension, he was running in 7th at one stage. It is good to see both the Audi A4 and Toyota Avensis making progress.

[Allyc85]

Great first race, I was willing jackson on as he pulled out of the last corner but it wasnt to be.

Shame for rob Austin that he had to retire as he was going really well in the Audi until he picked up that damage.

Good drive by Wrathell too, was a shame he just couldnt get into the points.

[BDunnell]

And then a pure class, back-to-front victory in the Ginetta Supercup by Tim Harvey. Clearly a day for such performances.

[Eurotech]

Great drive for Tim Harvey in the Ginettas, showing that he wasn't the reason for his lack of pace in the Carrera Cup...

Back to BTCC though, Great for Rob Austin while it lasted, I wish we'd seen what happened to him when the suspension broke but that Audi is getting properly quick in its own right. Dunno what happened to the likes of James Nash and Paul O'Neill in that race, they seemed to disappear...

And the Croft races always seem to be one lap too short for Mat Jackson don't they....... ;)

[BDunnell]

Dunno what happened to the likes of James Nash and Paul O'Neill in that race, they seemed to disappear...

Put slicks on the front, then didn't come through to the same degree as Jackson, surely?

[AndySpeed]

Dunno what happened to the likes of James Nash and Paul O'Neill in that race, they seemed to disappear...

Nash and O'Neill were running down the order for much of the race. In fact, Nash was in 14th with only six laps to go. So it was still a strong drive towards the end - he just wasn't able to hold on like Jackson was in the early stages.

[Allyc85]

Gutted for Wrathell, im guessing he got a punt up the rear at the hairpin.

Plato in trouble though!!!!!!!

[BDunnell]

Another excellent win for Neal — and a real boost to his title chances with Shedden and Jackson a bit further back, Nash out of the points and Plato retiring. Collard's performance was very solid, but I thought the drive of the race (virtually unseen) was his team-mate Foster, from the back to seventh.

[BDunnell]

Pole for Foster in race three.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I do love the Ginetta Juniors. It makes me so jealous that I didn't have that sort of opportunity when I was that age.

[Mark]

WHO THE HELL is doing the camera work for the grid walk. They should be fired, shocking.

[Dave B]

It's always awful, like watching an old Top Of The Pops. :s

[christophulus]

Three quality races, and a nice clean battle for the win between Collard and Jackson. Good of Collard to let Foster back into second too.

I didn't realise just how close the points were either, should be a fantastic second half of the season!

[BDunnell]

Yes, a super day in terms of the racing. Genuine pace from both BMWs, and a really good performance by Foster in race three. Great sportsmanship from Collard, too.

Not so good for some others — a pretty abject trio of races for O'Neill, and the Aon Fords really seem to lack race pace. It should perhaps be noted that Onslow-Cole only ended up two places ahead of Hollamby in that last race...

[cos]

Not so good for some others — a pretty abject trio of races for O'Neill, and the Aon Fords really seem to lack race pace. It should perhaps be noted that Onslow-Cole only ended up two places ahead of Hollamby in that last race...

OC was probably hampered by carrying the 'late entry' ballast though.

[BDunnell]

OC was probably hampered by carrying the 'late entry' ballast though.

That is true, to be fair. I'd forgotten that.

[Sarah]

Great drive by Jackson in race one and by Foster in race three. Good sportsmanship by Collard and the team.

The camera work on the grid has been bad every race so far.

[F1boat]

Three quality races, and a nice clean battle for the win between Collard and Jackson. Good of Collard to let Foster back into second too.

I didn't realise just how close the points were either, should be a fantastic second half of the season!

Jackson really can win it, can't he?

[VkmSpouge]

Very good sportsmanship by the WSR drivers, Nick Foster letting through the faster Rob Collard to have a shot at the win and then Collard letting through Foster to re-take second place after failing to claim victory. Collard getting three podiums in three races and doubles his entire points tally for the season. Foster scores more points this weekend than the rest of the season put together. Foster performed really well in that third race and never looked out of his depth.

So...seven weeks until Snetterton. It's going to be a looong seven weeks.

[MrJan]

OC was probably hampered by carrying the 'late entry' ballast though.

That and the AON Focus being generally crap. They're getting dicked by the old chassis on a fairly regular basis, it amazes me that TOC wanted to go back there when that car isn't doing much and the Golf was steadily improving.

As for camera work it's always crap, I think the cameraman has one leg shorter than the other.

[AndySpeed]

Has anyone else noticed that Mat Jackson hasn't won a race that wasn't a reverse grid one since Silverstone's first race back in August 2009? In fact of his 14 wins he's only ever taken 4 that were not from a reverse grid. He has good race pace but qualifying and single lap speed is still an issue for him.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Has anyone else noticed that Mat Jackson hasn't won a race that wasn't a reverse grid one since Silverstone's first race back in August 2009? In fact of his 14 wins he's only ever taken 4 that were not from a reverse grid. He has good race pace but qualifying and single lap speed is still an issue for him.

Did anyone notice that he kept calling his team Airways BMW? oops.

[Allyc85]

I see Shaun Hollamby has retired from racing and they will be looking to get a new driver in over the summer break.

autosport.com - BTCC News: Hollamby retires from driving (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92471)