Hunter Abbott keen to avoid Croft repeat

Hunter Abbott says he is keen to avoid a repeat of the opening race of the weekend at Croft after qualifying in an impressive sixth spot for the latest rounds of the BTCC season at Snetterton.

The Power Maxed Racing driver started race one from seventh spot at Croft prior to the summer break but was then involved in a lap one collision that undid all his good work and forced him into retirement.

This time around, the Chevrolet man went one better in qualifying to snare his best result to date, and said he was keen to now make the most of his performance in the opening race of the weekend.

“I’m really happy with the result and the team has done a fantastic job on the car,” he told TouringCarTimes. “We weren’t really sure what to expect here as the tyre test didn’t quite go to plan last month. Conditions on track weren’t the best, and I also had a birdstrike that affected my programme.

“However, the car felt really good today and the fact that I’m now feeling more confident with front-wheel drive and am able to provide the team with better feedback on what it’s doing has been reflected in the result.

“We’re working together really well and the target now has to be to avoid a repeat of Croft and pick up a good result in race one, rather than leaving myself on the back foot for the rest of the day.

“My issue at Croft was that I just didn’t get away from the line well, so I’ve practiced my starts during shakedown and there should be no repeat of what happened there. My target is to bring it home inside the top ten and go from there.”