General News
25/Feb/2013
Wrathall aiming for more
Dynojet Toyota’s Frank Wrathall hopes his third full season of BTCC competition will cement his reputation and help lead to a long career in touring car racing.
At the launch of his 2013 campaign today (25 February) he said, “I’d love to still be in touring cars in five years. If I had to stop tomorrow, with two years in the BTCC and having won a race, I’d say that I’d achieved more than I ever imagined. But I always want to do well and to progress - to still be in touring cars in five years time would be a massive achievement. And if I was, I’d like to think it was because I’d proved myself to be a genuine title contender – that would be a nice feeling.”
The 26-year-old from Lancashire unveiled his plans for the season today at a sponsor event and can’t wait to go into battle in the opening rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on Easter Sunday (31 March): “We are in good shape - better than we have ever started a season before. In 2011 and 2012 our car was not ready for the first races, and we fumbled our way through them with nothing to show for it.
“This season we are ready to go with the Toyota; the chassis is really good, and was quick on quite a lot of occasions last year, and we have not spent the winter trying to reinvent the wheel or to be too clever. We have made a few refinements here and there, which have tested well, and hopefully we will have a much better start to the championship.”
Frank is riding a wave of confidence after winning the final race of the 2012 season – securing tenth place overall in the championship. He concluded: “It was huge for us, absolutely massive. Even though we had the pole at Snetterton and a couple of podiums, up to that point it hadn’t been a great year and we were outside the top ten in the championship. We had good pace in qualifying but for one reason or another it just didn’t happen for us in the races. Winning that race changed absolutely everything; it meant so much to everyone. For myself, I’ve had a BTCC pole, podiums and now a win. I’ve ticked quite a few boxes and achieved a lot already in the championship.
“I’ve always said that every year I want to progress and not stand still, and so far I think I’ve achieved that. The aim is to finish further inside the top ten – I don’t think the independents championship is necessarily beyond reach, but it would be a huge task. With the experience that we have I hope that we can finish more consistently inside the top 10, and that will put us somewhere closer towards the top of the independents class.”
For more information and to buy tickets for the opening round of the championship at Brands Hatch head to www.brandshatch.co.uk/calendar/2013/march/btcc-3031-march-bh.aspx
