Rory Butcher confident of title challenge

Rory Butcher says he feels confident that his revised Toyota Corolla will be the package to help him challenge for a first BTCC title this season.

The Scot was one of the stars of the final meetings of the 2022 campaign, scoring five podium finishes in the final six races – including a win at Silverstone – as he equalled his best result of fifth in the standings.

Butcher also set a new personal best in terms of points scored, having set his previous best during the COVID-affected 2020 campaign.

For the new season, Butcher once again remains as the lead driver in the Speedworks line-up, going into his third season at the wheel of the Toyota UK-backed Corolla GR Sport.

Now fitted with a bespoke Neil Brown Engineering powerplant in place of the TOCA unit used last year, Butcher will hope to fight for the championship title with confidence high about the year ahead.

“We finished the season well in 2022 and the guys haven’t stopped all winter,” he said. “We’ve got the new engine package for this year, so there has been big investment from the team on that side of things, and it seems to be positive already.

“Obviously the engine has the same power, as they all do, but I think it has a bigger window to operate in and it’s more refined – although we’ll only really know when we get to Donington Park where we truly stand with it.

“I feel the most confident I’ve ever felt and although I’ve had good results over the last four or five years, I’ve never had the continuity that I have now going into my third year with the team.

“We showed last year that we could be consistent in terms of scoring points, and now we just need to make sure that we maintain that kind of form but score bigger points more often. If we can start this year where we left off and get some strong results early on, then hopefully we can have a real shot at the title.”