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A View From The Driver's Seat: Frank Wrathall looks forward to Oulton Park

By Frank Wrathall / MJP Media | 7 June 2012

In this article we meet our new contributor, Toyota Avensis driver Frank Wrathall from Preston, as he and the Dynojet Racing team look forward to Oulton Park.

The torrential rain at Thruxton

After a month away from competition, the Dynojet Racing team and I restart the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season this weekend (9/10 June) at our home circuit of Oulton Park.

Last time out, in the torrential rain in Hampshire, we bagged our first podium finish of the season, claiming a consistent fifth, fourth and then third in the Thruxton races. Let's hope we can continue where we left off.

Brands Hatch

Racing in front of a large contingent of friends, family and sponsors brings a special kind of pressure. Of course, you always want to do well in front of your local crowd. It's one of the most important races of the year. We didn't have a great weekend at Oulton last year but that was more to do with the Toyota being in its early stages of development. Another factor is that Oulton Park is the only major circuit in the UK where I have not won a race, and I want to change that.

Since Thruxton we have undertaken an extensive testing programme, including a visit to a computerised test rig which mimics in minutes the stresses imposed by many hours of circuit work. Last week we were testing at the Anglesey circuit.

Donington Park

We had a great day; it was productive and we covered a lot of laps and the weather was great. We achieved everything we set out to do, which is quite hard to do at a test - you tend to set out with a number of objectives and get only half-way through the list. But we went through everything and couldn't have asked for much more; it was pretty much perfect.

We are currently 10th in the championship and hope to maintain that momentum next weekend. We want to be in the top 10 in every race and if we can be on the podium again, then that will be great. I feel that a lot of the pressure is off, because we proved at Thruxton that we are capable of getting the results we need. Making the podium is so difficult: it depends completely on getting it right on the day and everything falling into place. Here's hoping.

Frank #11

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