Thruxton BTCC 2023

Rounds 6-7, Mini Se7en Championship

For rounds 6-7 of the championship we headed south to Thruxton, supporting the BTCC. It was set to be a huge meeting, with over 30,000 race fans in attendance and broadcast live on ITV4 on Sunday.

For qualifying, I set a decent lap to take P2, but cut the session short to avoid wearing out the car and engine. It's all about slip streaming at Thruxton, the pace was strong and I was happy with second.

Scott Kendall made his first outing of the year and qualified P4 early on. As the heat built, lap times didn’t have much chance of improving, so he called that a successful result.

Race 1

It seemed like a long and hard race, I was swapping between second and third all the way, but the car never quite had the legs to lead. At the flag, I was pleased to take a strong second place.  

Scott led the Miglia pack for a while, but with this being his first time driving the car since last season, a few niggles had to be tweaked and he eventually finished P8. However, that did mean Scott could start on pole for the reverse grid in race 2.

Race 2

Live on TV, and with packed grandstands, I fought from P7 to P1 within the first lap and led for a further four laps before slip streaming took its toll! 

From there I sat closely behind the leader, waiting for the right moment. Sadly he slowed unexpectedly coming into the final turn, we came together and it holed my radiator. Rather than cause further damage, I retired the car and that was that. It was a frustrating end, as we had showed such good pace.

Later, in the Miglia race, Scott started on pole and stayed with the lead pack for a some time, before dropping back for a breather.

With the lead pack fighting between themselves, Scott battled back up to the podium positions with some brave moves, taking home a respectable P5.

Next we head to Zandvoort on 15-16 July for our first visit overseas in a couple of years.