Leggate misses Knockhill
Fiona Leggate has opted to sit out Knockhill’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds this Sunday (3 September) to concentrate instead on the season’s final two meetings.
In a statement, Leggate’s Thurlby Motors Boston Bowl with Tech-Speed squad said her bio-ethanol-powered Vauxhall Astra Coupé will re-appear in Brands Hatch’s and Silverstone’s BTCC fixtures on 24 September and 15 October respectively.
Leggate’s father Malcolm, of Boston Bowl Racing, said: “We decided to withdraw to keep some money in the budget for the last two race meetings at Brands and Silverstone. We’ve had some extra expenses for our small budget, and sitting out Knockhill means we can really concentrate on the last two race meetings. We were lucky to run two half seasons on one engine – it shows that the bio-ethanol fuel does not affect the reliability!”
Steve Bunkhall, project leader at Energy Efficient Motorsport that supports Leggate’s entry in the BTCC, added: “It’s a great shame but we understand the reasons. Fiona has shown herself this year to be a gutsy competitor – learning in front of the crowds is not easy with her level of experience against these guys. It’s a tough championship.
”We’ll be there to support her again at the last two race meetings and we are still collecting data for our fuel flow meter project, looking at how different fuels can compete together.”
The announcement comes as a blow to the Tech-Speed squad that prepares Leggate’s car – team principal Marvin Humphries reckoned some strong performances would have been possible from his driver. He said: “We’re disappointed not to do the races; the car’s ready to go and we were looking forward to a good result – the car works well on these tight circuits.”
Mark Proctor, however, has confirmed that he will contest this coming weekend’s BTCC rounds at Knockhill after being willed on by public support.
Proctor had said that Snetterton two weeks ago – where he enjoyed his most competitive BTCC outing to date – would be his final meeting.
But the 38-year-old Bridlington driver said: “We’ve had so much public support that it’s tipped the balance for us.”
”We had people coming to up us in the Snetterton paddock saying ‘please don’t stop’. And then there have been some incredibly kind words written by the fans on the chat rooms on a couple of websites. All the team has been very flattered by those comments so we’re going to give it a final go at Knockhill.”
Proctor hopes he can emulate the success he enjoyed at Snetterton – there he achieved two eighth place finishes in his Fast-Tec team’s Honda Civic. And it could have been three top ten finishes had he not suffered a driveshaft problem in race two having just passed Eoin Murray’s Alfa Romeo for tenth.
His results, however, still earned him eight free tyres from BTCC title sponsor Dunlop – his prize for scoring the fifth highest number of points out of the independent team drivers on race day.
Proctor added: ”It’s a great prize that the BTCC and Dunlop put up for the independents and if I’d not slid off and lost a place to James Kaye in race three I’d have had the fourth highest score and it would have been 12 tyres. That would have been close to covering my entire tyre allocation at Knockhill because you’re only permitted up to 16 new slick tyres per meeting!
”Unfortunately, Snetterton was the first meeting this year where we all went home delighted with the way the weekend had gone. Since Mondello Park in May, where we were also showing what we were capable of, the run of bad luck has been appalling so it was time to walk away.
“But the whole team loves the BTCC and the people who make it happen and the fans. And we always knew that Snetterton and Knockhill were the two circuits where we’d be at our strongest. Knockhill’s my favourite track and hopefully I can repay the people who’ve shown their support with a few more big results…”
