Photo: BTCC Media

Chilton: weather will decide record bid

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The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s longest-standing lap record could tumble if weather conditions are cool for qualifying at Brands Hatch this Saturday, according to Tom Chilton – holder of the series’ fastest ever race lap time around the Kent circuit.

It was back in April 2001 that Frenchman Yvan Muller set a qualifying time of 48.942s around Brands’ short 1.2-mile Indy lay-out in his factory Vauxhall Astra Coupe.

Vauxhall driver Chilton told BTCC.net: “The Brands track is normally much quicker in April when it’s colder so we’ll need to be lucky with the conditions.

“It will also require a clear track ahead or for the cars ahead to be a good five or six lengths away and also on hot laps to give you something to spur you on. I don’t think either that the ultimate time will come on the first attempt – more like the fourth, fifth or sixth lap when the rear tyres have also got up to temperature.”

Last year, Chilton set a new race lap record of 49.190s – beating the previous best mark also set by Muller on that weekend in April 2001. And it is the 21-year-old Surrey driver who has come closest down the years to eclipsing the Frenchman’s qualifying mark – missing out when he took pole position in April 2006 by just 0.033s (48.975s).

Chilton said: “I can remember the lap as clear as day, as it was special… one of those one-off laps. The car was very bouncy and I got into almost a pendulum effect through the left-right Surtees and McLaren sections of the lap which enabled me to hit the power earlier than normal onto the start-finish straight. You cannot do that lap after lap.

“That time was set with the Vauxhall Astra and now of course we’ve switched to the newer Vectra model which doesn’t over-work its tyres and which means we’re in much stronger shape for the race.

“For Brands, though, I’d be keen to go back to an Astra-style set-up on the Vectra to wring more from the tyres to get us right up the front in qualifying. If I got away first, then I’m confident I’d pull clear of the rest. I’ve shown I can do that.”