THIS MONTH… • A LOOK BACK AT THE THRUXTON ACTION • CREESY TAKES ON A NEW CHALLENGE • DAN LLOYD MAKES HIS BTCC RETURN • THE 2021 CHASSIS LIST
MAY 2021 - ROUND ONE
JAKE IS KING OF THE HILL MIXED WEATHER AT THRUXTON PRODUCED THREE ACTION PACKED RACES AND LEFT THE FORD MAN ON TOP… Cook stole most of J osh the headlines thanks to an impressive double win at Thruxton, but it was Jake Hill who seized the early advantage as the 2021 British Touring Car Championship season burst into life. Cook’s love affair with his home circuit was further strengthened thanks to victories in the first and second races of the weekend, although a penalty in race three prevented him from chasing a rare hat-trick. Instead, it was Ash Sutton who was victorious for Laser Tools
Racing in the finale to salvage points from what looked like being a tough start to his title defence. However, a hat-trick of top three finishes for Hill in changeable weather conditions ensured that the MB Motorsport man headed into the five-week gap before round two at Snetterton sitting pretty at the head of the standings. Going into the weekend which was once again run behind closed doors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic - it was the Honda teams that
were expected to be the ones to beat, thanks in no small part to Gordon Shedden’s pacesetting performance for Team Dynamics in the season launch test at Silverstone. There was also the fact that the FK8 Civic Type R had taken five wins in twelve starts at Thruxton across the previous three seasons, with the previous generation FK2 having also had a strong record at the fastest circuit on the calendar. Even with the Honda’s past success, the fact that no-one had been able to test at
Thruxton prior to the event meant there was still an element of stepping into the unknown, particularly given the large number of new cars on the grid. And then there was the weather conditions that greeted drivers when they arrived at the circuit on Saturday morning, with rain providing an additional challenge when the opening practice session of the weekend got underway. Whilst the heavy rain that had affected the local area overnight had given way to drizzle by the time the green lights came on, circuit conditions were far from ideal as the field left the pits, with drivers tip-toeing around Thruxton’s sweeping curves in
a bid to see what levels of grip were available. Through the early stages, it was Hill’s Ford Focus that headed the times but as circuit conditions improved, it was Cook that moved his Honda through into top spot.
improvements, leaving Sutton with early bragging rights in conditions where he has always gone well in the past. "I’ve only driven Thruxton once in the wet and that was in a Clio so it took a while to gain confidence and you had to hang on," he said.
However it was defending champion Sutton who would eventually end up on top of the times after he edged ahead of Cook by just 0.049s in the Infiniti.
"You saw with Geddie how easy it is to get caught out, so we’ll have to see what happens with the weather later on…"
Sutton’s quickest lap came around 13 minutes before the session was scheduled to finish, and it would prove to be enough when an off for Glynn Geddie’s Cupra saw the action halted three minutes early.
Cook was left to settle for second, with the top two having half a second in hand over Hill in third, with Shedden going fourth quickest as the final driver able to lap within a second of the fastest time.
That incident was enough to prevent any late
Jason Plato and Aiden Moffat followed closely behind to
DAN’S DELIGHT AT BTCC RETURN AFTER A FEW YEARS AWAY IN TCR, DAN LLOYD MADE HIS RETURN TO THE GRID AT THRUXTON… hen Dan Lloyd made his
W BTCC debut back in 2010 with Triple Eight, only six of the current field had previously competed in the series. As he returns to the grid this year with Power Maxed Racing, only six drivers have made fewer starts, such has been the stop/start nature of his BTCC career to date. However, the deal with PMR is set to provide the 29-year-old with the chance to complete a full season in the series for the first time after a successful spell racing overseas in TCR. That means Lloyd brings a wealth of touring car experience; even if he wasn’t a name many had linked as being a potential new teammate for Jason Plato.
"I think it's a deal that was out of the blue for a lot of people," Lloyd told Inside BTCC. "However, the truth is that we started talks with Adam [Weaver - team owner] back in December to see what could be possible. I’ve always got on well with Adam, and at first, the conversations were quite chilled and laid back. "I didn’t think that the BTCC was a realistic goal at first but then the situation changed with sponsors and things developed, and it got to the point where the deal fell into place." Prior the announcement of his BTCC return, Lloyd's plans for 2021 had been very much up in the air after it became apparent that he wouldn’t be
part of the Brutal Fish Racing driver line-up in TCR Europe. Lloyd had spent two years with the Slovakian team in the European series - winning three races - and had also been at the wheel of its Honda Civic Type R when he narrowly lost out on the TCR Malaysia crown to Luca Engstler last year. Lloyd had hoped to follow Engstler into WTCR but no deal was forthcoming, whilst his role with Brutal Fish was set to be off-track - continuing in the position of driver coach and taking up ‘additional management duties’. "I've enjoyed the last few years racing in Europe, but the goal was always to try and make it to WTCR and that didn’t happen," he said.
"It would have been tough to stay in TCR Europe again so I’m delighted that the opportunity has come along to return to the BTCC - it just shows that you never know what could be round the corner. "It hasn’t been easy because it was almost a case of starting from scratch again with the hunt for sponsors, and although it is difficult to find the partners you need for the BTCC, it is easier than trying to find them for a programme overseas." The sponsorship hunt has been helped by the experience Lloyd was able to gain from being part of the KX Academy led by his now team-mate Plato back in 2013 - which allowed him to enhance his skills when
it comes to the work required off track. "I always looked at motorsport in the same way as they [Plato and the people behind programme] did, as I know that driving is only a small part of being involved in motorsport," he said. "Getting the sponsors and partners onboard, and then developing a relationship with them, is crucial ,and being part of the KX Academy helped to teach me a lot. "I’ve seen lots of sponsorship proposal and presentations from drivers through the years, but if you were to compare them to what Jason does, they are totally different. "It’s not a case of simply going to people and saying 'you can
have a sticker on the car and some tickets to come along and watch', it's a case of going to a potential sponsor or partner and showing them how they can make money from being involved with you, and how they can benefit." Lloyd’s time on the Academy programme came three years after his one-off outing in Triple Eight’s Vauxhall Vectra kicked off his BTCC career, although it would be 2016 before he returned to the grid for a three round stint with Eurotech when it briefly expanded to run a third car. Impressive pace at the wheel of a Honda Civic Type R opened the door for a return to Triple Eight the following year in the MG6 GT but - like teammate Aron Taylor-Smith - it
Pic: Porsche Motorsport
CREESY’S NEW ADVENTURE HIS BTCC DEPARTURE WAS UNEXPECTED, WITH MICHAEL CREES NOW OFF TO EXPLORE EUROPE… only been H epartmayofhave the BTCC grid for
Pic: Formula One World Championship Ltd
two seasons, but it’s no exaggeration to say that Michael Crees quickly cemented his place as a favourite with race fans. Despite only making his racing debut in 2017 in the Ginetta Racing Drivers Club, winning the title in his debut season, Crees joined the BTCC package when he stepped up to the Ginetta GT4 Supercup a year later - winning the Am class title at the first attempt. That opened the door for the lifelong racing fan to then join the touring car grid with Team
HARD, and after a year learning the ropes, he switched to BTC Racing last year - making it three titles in four seasons with success in the Jack Sears Trophy. Retained by the Honda team for 2021, Crees was hoping to take a step forward to fight for silverware on track, before the surprise announcement shortly after the season launch at Silverstone of a parting of the ways. With no shortage of offers on the table, it wouldn’t be long before a new deal was confirmed for the 37-year-old, who suddenly finds himself
racing on the F1 support package in the Porsche Supercup with Parker Revs Motorsport - swapping the likes of Thruxton, Croft and Snetterton for Monte Carlo, Monza and Spa. It’s certainly not where he expected to be in such a short space of time… "Getting to the BTCC was always the pinnacle for me; it was where I wanted to be," he told Inside BTCC. "I had two good seasons in the series and having won the Jack Sears Trophy last year, I was confident about what I