Patrick Watts pleased to put “muck-ups” behind him

Patrick Watts was happy to put all of the “muck-ups” of the previous two days behind him as he took pole position around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

The Donington Park race winner had looked like he was on course for pole position in the early stages of qualifying on Saturday around the Grand Prix circuit, but a miscalculation with the weather meant that he came in early assuming no-one would be able to beat his time. Unfortunately for Watts the track began to dry and he ended up fifth on the grid for the race.

When it came to the race, however, a clutch issue meant his Peugeot 406 was unable to make it off the grid and his race was over before it even began. Luckily for Watts, the race was subsequently red flagged after one lap and he did not lose out despite his startline woes.

“I’m very happy after all the muck ups yesterday and the day before,” Watts told TouringCarTimes. “I thought I was safely on pole on the wet track, then fifteen minutes to go I had to get to a wedding. I thought no-one’s going to go quicker, the tracks not going to dry, the track’s getting greasy now so I came in, jumped in my car and went to the wedding. On the way back they said the track tried out and I’m fifth. Yesterday’s race the clutch stopped working, couldn’t get in to gear or off the line and that was the end of my race.”

Watts was top of the time sheets in qualifying for the Indy circuit for the majority of the session, beating off challenges from the Honda Accords of both Tom Gladdis and Stewart Whyte.

“[The Indy circuit]’s not the easiest to overtake around, which is what I like and I like to think that I can get two top finishes out of this weekend,” Watts continued. “I had to work really hard getting the tyres warm so I did every other lap, post a time then do a bit of weaving and other tricks for a one off track and the car’s running really well around here.”