BTCC drivers relishing challenge of ever-popular Croft

The British Touring Car Championship heads to North Yorkshire this weekend to the ever-popular and challenging Croft circuit, with the form book making good reading for series leader Matt Neal.

Like Oulton Park before it, Croft is a track which in recent years has traditionally favoured the nimble Honda Civic, as well as rear-wheel drive machinery.

Last year saw two wins for Honda Racing Team, with Neal taking the flag in race one and team-mate Gordon Shedden in race two. This followed on from 2011 when Neal won twice, and 2010, when Shedden won twice.

Jason Plato took the third win of the day last year for Triple Eight MG, and enters the meeting full of confidence, after dominating the majority of proceedings at Oulton.

And the 2009 champion Colin Turkington – who won twice at Croft in his championship year – will also be out to build on the excellent showing of his West Surrey Racing BMW 125i last time out.

The 2010 meeting also saw Andrew Jordan take his maiden win in the championship, then at the wheel of a Vauxhall Vectra. The Eurotech Racing man has taken a big leap forward in 2013, and will undoubtedly be challenging at the front this weekend.

The grid will see a number of changes at Croft.

Jake Hill will make his BTCC debut, taking over the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus of Liam Griffin for one meeting, competing in the Jack Sears Trophy for Super 2000 machinery.

In the same team, Michael Caine returns to the championship in a third Next Generation Touring Car Focus, for a one-off meeting.

And Croft is also set to see the debut of Andy Neate in his new IP Tech Race Engineering Chevrolet Cruze. A last-minute technical hitch ruled the team out of the Oulton meeting, which was due to be their debut.

The drivers have been giving their verdicts ahead of the meeting.

Audi A4 pilot Rob Austin said: “On paper Croft is a good circuit for the Audi as it has a number of short sprint sections that put an emphasis on sheer drive. I genuinely believe we have a shot at the podium.

“The goal at Croft will be to have the car working well quickly in practice to give us more time to hone it for qualifying and race. A better performance in qualifying will have an obvious knock-on effect for Sunday’s three races and I said before if we can get back into the top on the grid then I think the others will see us a genuine threat in the races.

“Ultimately it’s a real driver’s circuit and it retains that lovely ‘old school’ feel which I love with several sections that require a brave pill or two. Plus the crowds are perhaps closer to the action here than at any other circuit. It’s just a great atmosphere.”

Triple Eight MG’s Plato said: “We showed at the last rounds at Oulton Park that the tweaks we have made to the chassis are paying off.

“We had a great handling car on a very demanding circuit and those are the strengths we are going to need at Croft as well. We need to keep the momentum going that we have built up.”

Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson said: “Oulton Park was a huge step forward for us and to be mixing it with the leading pack is a big boost.

“I’m looking forward to getting back out there again at Croft this weekend; it has some similar characteristics to Oulton and I feel that the podium is not far away at all. We now have a base to work from, so expect some fireworks.”