Martin Depper: “We expected to be reasonably strong”

Martin Depper will be hoping to keep his car up at “the sharp end” following an outstanding lap to put himself in third at the end of FP1 at Croft.

Depper’s time was just 0.012 behind second placed Andy Priaulx, and six tenths off of the fastest time from Tom Ingram.

“That was a good start wasn’t it?” Depper said to TouringCarTimes. “We expected to be coming out of the box reasonably strong and it was nice to see that we are. Obviously the hard work starts now to keep that development curve over free practice and qualifying. It’s looking good, we’ve got a few more things to do so fingers crossed.”

The Eurotech driver clearly enjoyed the Croft circuit in his Honda Civic, a circuit that he holds dear from racing in previous series before getting to the BTCC.

“It’s one of my favourites,” he enthused. “It’s the first circuit where I got a podium back in the days of Mini Challenge back in 2005, so I have fond memories and I enjoy the layout.”

Depper’s attention how turns to FP2 and Qualifying, hoping to continue his strong form and set himself up for a good start to tomorrow’s three races, which sees rain forecast throughout the day.

“Tomorrow we’ve got to deal with when we get up, but today it’s all about trying to stay at the sharp end,” concluded Depper. “There’s some stiff competition that’s out there, they’re all going to be going a lot quicker I’m sure, but hopefully so will I.”