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A View From The Driver's Seat: A Reflection on Croft

By Frank Wrathall / MJP Media | 26 June 2012

The Dynojet Racing team picked up another two points finishes on Sunday as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship reached the half-way stage at Croft.

With a best finish of eighth over the three races in the north-east at the wheel of my Toyota Avensis as we maintained our position in the championship, although more luck on race day could well have seen us make further progress up the points standings after radical changes made to the Avensis since Oulton Park.

Race 1: retired
Race 1 proved difficult for me after contact from the MG of Andy Neate forced me off the road at the first corner, damaging the Avensis and dropping me down to 15th place. Although we were able to battle our way back into the top 10, we were forced into retirement from the race on lap 14. It was so disappointing that going into turn one, Neate just hit me in the rear and put me off the road. I was able to keep going but the car wasn't handling right as a result and I clipped the tyre stack at the chicane. It's a shame as we should have had a top five at least in that race.

Race 2: finished 8th
Starting from 19th on the grid in a repaired car, my target was to make up as many places as possible to try to benefit from the reverse grid draw for the final race of the weekend. The car felt great early on but I was struggling in the final seven laps and really had to hold on to the car. Lapping quickly and consistently, we gradually worked our way through the midfield before crossing the line eighth; a result that would promote me to third on the grid for race three.

Race 3: finished 15th
Although we dropped two places at the start of the third race, I soon moved back into a podium position before a mid-race Safety Car period caused by two cars going off at Tower. At the restart we were nudged and lost a place to Jason Plato's MG before a brake issue saw me run wide and lose valuable places. With a technical problem developing, we then just focused on bringing the car home to the finish, which we did in the final points-scoring position.

In the end we have maintained ninth in the overall championship standings and fifth place among the independent drivers.

Next weekend the team and I will be promoting ourselves to one of the biggest motorsport crowds of the season at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where my BTCC Avensis will join an impressive display of Toyota competition cars. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an event that I really enjoy. Driving the car up the hill there is an awesome thing to do and it's great to be able to put on a show for such a large crowd. I'm really looking forward to it.

Frank #11

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