Engine troubles return to spoil Chris Stockton’s Snetterton weekend

Chris Stockton was just five laps from completing all three races at Snetterton before engine gremlins returned to spoil his day.

Returning to the BTCC scene after the summer break, the BTC Racing team hoped that the newly rebuilt Neil Brown engine would put an end to their engine woes, however it would not be the case as the mechanics worked flat out to get the new engine, which arrived on Friday afternoon, fitted and working as planned.

Despite some promising pace in the opening practice session, an issue with the lambda sensor caused a disruption to the engine mixture and resulted in a drop in pace for the Chevrolet Cruze. As a result, half of qualifying was spent working on setup and, when mixed with a lack of top end power, Stockton could only manage to qualify in 29th.

The engine issues returned in race one, with Stockton visibly lacking acceleration going in to Riches and having to pit to sort the issue. However, despite losing three laps, the Cruze was able to keep up with fellow backmarkers once rejoining the race.

A clean and consistent drive in race two allowed Stockton to move up to 23rd for the start of the final race of the day, but yet again the lack of power meant that he had no hope of holding his position down the straights, dropping to 29th by the end of the first lap.

A spot of fighting saw him back up to 26th by the end of the fourth lap, a position he would hold until the engine lost all power five laps from home, forcing him to retire.

“It’s the reoccurring theme of a loss of power and engine issues,” explained Stockton. “The boys at Neil Brown Engineering have done a fantastic job to turn the engine round in such a short space of time but collectively we fear that many more months of development are needed before the engine reaches its true potential. The team at Neil Brown Engineering have moved mountains to get the engine ready and their trackside support is exceptional, they are a true partner.”