It was a Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com one-two in the second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship contest at Croft, as Dan Lloyd led home team-mate Tom Ingram.

Whilst Lloyd got off the line well to hold the lead for the full 18-lap encounter, Ingram was on the attack from the off, dispatching the Honda of Dan Rowbottom around the outside at Clervaux before setting his sights on Team BMW's Colin Turkington.

With the #80 Hyundai making quick work of moving into second, Turkington held P3 for the remainder of the bout to secure a second podium finish of the day.

ROKiT MB Motorsport's Jake Hill made one of the most impressive moves of the day as he squeezed by Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Rowbottom at one of the faster sections of the track.

NAPA Racing UK's Ash Sutton and Toyota GAZOO Racing UK's Rory Butcher remained line astern for much of the race as they finished sixth and seventh, ahead of Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat.

Tom Chilton secured his second successive top ten finish as he held off Team BMW's Stephen Jelley and the recovering Josh Cook in his Rich Energy BTC Racing Honda.

Gordon Shedden was rewarded with 12th and reverse grid pole position as the Scotsman surged through the field from the back after his earlier incident in race one.

Dan Lloyd said: "I can talk this time, I’m not as emotional. We made a big improvement to the car from race one and it obviously paid off! It was much more easy to handle out the back. I preferred having my team-mate behind me than Colin [Turkington], too. The red lights stuck on for ages and it was really bogging so I was lucky to get a good start off the line and then it was a case of managing the hybrid. It’s the first time I’ve had such little hybrid, so I was just getting used to that.

"I think if [Tom] were a little bit closer he would’ve had a go; he’s fighting for the championship and he’s feisty, so he’d have had a go. But a big thanks to all my sponsors and new partners for their support. It’s really helped me to get here. It’s pulled everyone together after rebuilding the car and I’m closer to them more than ever, its like a big family. The only other win I’ve had was here four years ago, you couldn’t write it!"

Tom Ingram said: "I’m really pleased with that. The start was critical because I knew that’s where it’s so important – especially around Croft – to get a good launch and try to get it while its kicking off because it’s so easy to defend around here. So you’ve got to make hay while the sun shines. It’s fantastic to get a one-two for the team, absolutely amazing. I’m really, really chuffed. It puts us right where we need to be, and we’ll see where the reverse grid puts us.

"If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t have been anywhere near as patient. I’m really pleased, to have your team-mate battling with you, it’s always good fun because we’ve got respect. I’ve had respect for Dan [Lloyd] for ages. He’s a quick peddler, a quick guy, it’s great to have him as part of the team and it’s really working well for us all.

"It really has been such a team effort, we’ve really worked really hard and it’s a real sole unit to come up with the package that’s working so well. Spencer and all the guys have just worked absolute miracles on the car and it’s an absolute pleasure to drive, it really is. At Oulton Park, I thought the car was fantastic, I had no criticisms and coming here, it’s exactly the same. It’s doing everything we want it to. From a chassis it’s doing everything we want it to, I’m so chuffed with it."

Colin Turkington said: “It was [all about the start] very similar to race 1, but I’m knackered trying to keep up with these two. I just didn’t have the pace, didn’t have the answer for these guys, mostly in the straight-line stuff, on the run to Tower and the exit of Tower to Jim Clark. They would gap me two or three car lengths, it’s just in a straight line where we lose the performance to Tom and Dan. They both drove well, nothing kicked off at the end unfortunately but still a top result for me and BMW and all the podium.”

2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 2 – Croft

1.             Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com 18 laps
2.             Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.634s
3.             Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +1.156s
4.             Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +2.490s
5.             Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +4.586s
6.             Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +5.516s
7.             Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +6.719s
8.             Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +9.905s
9.             Tom CHILTON (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +11.442s
10.           Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +11.842s  
11.           Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +12.457s
12.           Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +12.883s
13.           Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +14.384s
14.           Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +14.766s
15.           Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +15.075s
16.           Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +17.864s 
17.           Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +21.244s
18.           Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +23.409s
19.           Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +25.003s
20.           Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +26.004s
21.           Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +26.572s
22.           Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +31.676s
23.           Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +32.529s  
24.           Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +40.882s
25.           Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +2 laps
26.           George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +2 laps
27.           James GORNALL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +15 laps
28.           Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +15 laps

Dan Lloyd took a hugely popular and emotional victory in the opening Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Croft as the home hero produced a fantastic drive during Round 13 of the campaign.

From third on the grid, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com man Lloyd launched past Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Dan Rowbottom into Clervaux for the first time.

He nipped by pole-sitter Colin Turkington before the end of the first lap and then fended off the Team BMW star for the remainder of the race to take a second career BTCC triumph.

The fairytale BTCC story was completed with Turkington following Lloyd home, as the same two drivers were taken to the medical centre following an accident at Oulton Park just two weeks ago.

Lloyd was hospitalised while his severely damaged car was being repaired by his EXCELR8 Motorsport squad, whilst West Surrey Racing had to rebuild Turkington's 2019 title winning BMW in order for him to take part this weekend.

Incredibly, both Lloyd and Turkington proved to be the cream of the crop at Croft in the exciting opener, as the former took his first BTCC win in four years.

"I’m an emotional wreck, I really am," said Lloyd. "The last two weeks have been hell and yesterday was good enough to come back and put it third on the grid. I’ve only had one win in the BTCC and that was here four years ago, to come back and do it after the team has completely rebuilt the car is just unbelievable.

"I’m lost for words, I just want to say a thank you to everyone for all the support. The last two weeks, not just physically, I’ve been through a lot, but the support kept me going. I came into this weekend thinking I’m going to give it my all, and that first lap was a representation of that.

"It was really hard work and a massive thanks to everyone for the support. I went over the line and I think it took half a second to burst out crying, I punched the air so hard I actually hurt my back. The car was hard work, we really didn’t have that ultimate pace especially in the last sector where Colin [Turkington] could have had a go so I just had t be really careful not to overdo it in the hairpin. I’m just so, so pleased!"

Despite relinquishing the lead to Lloyd, four-time champion Turkington remained upbeat about his own encouraging result.

"It’s a great comeback from a massive setback at Oulton Park for us both," commented Turkington. "In this game, it’s just about persevering, not giving up, realising that there will be bumps in the road, but we can come back from big setbacks like that.

"Obviously P1 would’ve been better, but finishing P2, we’ve seen so many times this year just on lap one we’re vulnerable with front tyre temperatures. Dan [Lloyd] was on the case straight away and I had no answer for the pace the first two laps, once the car switches on, we’re quick, but it’s too late by then.

"I thought I had him, coming into the complex around the outside, I had a bit of an overlap but then the bit of road I was going for started to disappear so I thought, it’s race one, let’s take P2 and hopefully I can get him in the next one."

Rowbottom completed the podium positions as he held off EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com's Tom Ingram for the full duration, who himself had Jake Hill (ROKiT MB Motorsport), Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK), Rory Butcher (Toyota GAZOO Racing UK) and Aiden Moffat immediately behind him – the latter taking Independents' honours for Laser Tools Racing.

"We’ve had a really tough start to the year, so I think everyone needed a bit of a gee up," said Rowbottom after scoring his first podium of the season. "The problem is, when you get in a train and you’ve got someone as experienced as Tom [Ingram] behind you, you can’t really leave much of a door. He did have a nibble one lap so that kind of put me on the back foot, I was a bit of a passenger in the train but all credit to these two ahead, what they’ve came through from Oulton Park, so it’s great isn’t it to see the day start like that."

Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport's George Gamble and the third Hyundai of Tom Chilton rounded out the top ten.

2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Croft

1.             Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com 18 laps
2.             Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.377s
3.             Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.779s
4.             Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +1.167s
5.             Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +2.209s
6.             Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +2.734s
7.             Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +3.447s
8.             Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +3.747s
9.             George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +4.345s
10.           Tom CHILTON (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +5.394s  
11.           Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +5.669s
12.           Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +6.362s
13.           Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +6.774s
14.           James GORNALL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +7.395s
15.           Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +7.899s  
16.           Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +8.949s
17.           Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +10.105s
18.           Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +10.734s
19.           Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +11.008s
20.           Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +11.181s
21.           Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +13.436s
22.           Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +14.265s
23.           Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +15.687s  
24.           Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +1 lap
25.           Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +6 laps
26.           Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +7 laps
27.           Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +17 laps
28.           Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +17 laps

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship roared into action yesterday (25 June) at Croft circuit in North Yorkshire ahead of Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2022 season.

Qualifying saw Team BMW’s Colin Turkington come out on top as the ‘King of Croft’ took pole position and set a new qualifying lap record after an impressive tour of the 2.1-mile circuit.

The Northern Irishman will hope to secure more silverware during today’s opener and elevate his position in the standings:

Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Dan Rowbottom joins Turkington on the front row of the grid after his best qualifying session of the year so far:

It was a second consecutive third-place start for local man Dan Lloyd:

Listen again! Relive the Qualifying action from Croft now via the circuit commentary podcast below:

Four-time BTCC champion delivers in style during qualifying

Team BMW's Colin Turkington took pole position for Round 13 of the 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship after producing a quite brilliant lap during qualifying at Croft.

Turkington – having experienced one of the biggest accidents of his illustrious career last time out at Oulton Park – had to ease himself back into the action as the day began, but the four-time champion continued to improve throughout the session that really mattered.

Not only that, but West Surrey Racing had to rebuild Turkington's 2019 title-winning BMW 3 Series, with his latest car too damaged to be repaired in time for the trip to North Yorkshire.

The ultimate challenge was laid down to Turkington when he was languishing down the order in the final ten minutes, but the Northern Irishman saved his best effort until the closing moments as he set a new qualifying lap record of 1:21.468s.

Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Dan Rowbottom clocked his own impressive last gasp flier to complete the front row of the grid, whilst Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com's Daniel Lloyd almost wrote his own fairytale story.

Home hero Lloyd – hospitlalised following the aforementioned Oulton Park accident – has been through a very similar fortnight to that of Turkington, whilst his team produced a Herculean effort to repair his severely damaged Hyundai.

The Yorkshireman looked on course for a first ever BTCC career pole position until he was pipped to the post by Turkington and Rowbottom, but the 30-year-old was still rewarded with third ahead of team-mate Tom Ingram.

Gordon Shedden ensured that both Halfords Racing with Cataclean Hondas qualified inside the top five, whilst ROKiT MB Motorsport's Jake Hill was sixth.

NAPA Racing UK's Ash Sutton was next in the order, ahead of the EXCELR8 Motorsport-run Hyundai of Tom Chilton.

Young chargers – George Gamble (Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport) and Aiden Moffat (Laser Tools Racing) – completed the top ten.

A number of top contenders hit trouble during a session interrupted by three red flag stoppages.

Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport's Adam Morgan could only manage 17th following an early accident at Clervaux, whilst Rich Energy BTC Racing's Josh Cook was stranded down in 20th after the championship leader suffered damage to his Honda Civic Type R.

Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship take place at Croft Circuit tomorrow with the action also being broadcast live and exclusively on ITV4 from 1130.

Colin Turkington said: "It’s always easier when you’re in the car, when you’re out of the car you feel the aches and pains, but this is my trusted 2019-winning car. Team BMW has had a massive job to basically rebuild this car again from the crashed car at Oulton Park, so it’s been all hands on deck and a lot of late nights. If I’m making a comeback anywhere, I want it to be Croft, so yesterday in shakedown I really wasn’t feeling it, but I chipped away at it today, improved the car and improved my technique, and the magic happened again in qualifying. No explanations as to why but I’ve always enjoyed driving at Croft – it’s been good to me."

Dan Rowbottom said: "Not quite close enough to match Colin [Turkington] but it was a good lap. The car’s been good all day, Gordon [Shedden] and I were P1 and P2 in FP2 as well, the team gave me a good car. I think we’ve always said it’s traditionally a rear-wheel drive circuit at Croft, but since they resurfaced it a few years ago I don’t think that’s quite true. We’ll take the challenge to them for sure. The guys have worked really hard. It’s no secret that we struggled at the start of the season I think. They gave us good cars at Oulton but it didn’t really go our way, so we’ll try and reward everyone before the summer break with some good results tomorrow."

Dan Lloyd said: "That was an amazing session. I can’t help but feel that little bit of disappointment in the end, it was amazing to be P1 for a while but that was brilliant, really happy with third and a big congrats to Colin [Turkington] as well. We were both involved in that incident and been through a lot over the last couple of weeks. It might have been nice to see him one behind, but I think we’ve got some really good pace. I just want to say thank you to everyone at EXCELR8 for working so hard to get the car ready for the weekend."

2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Qualifying – Croft

1.             Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW 1:21.468s
2.             Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.027s
3.             Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.063s
4.             Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.076s
5.             Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.112s
6.             Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +0.168s
7.             Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +0.317s
8.             Tom CHILTON (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.329s
9.             George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.354s
10.           Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.360s
11.           Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +0.365s
12.           Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +0.453s
13.           Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +0.461s
14.           Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +0.519s
15.           James GORNALL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.541s
16.           Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +0.559s
17.           Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.575s
18.           Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +0.601s
19.           Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +0.803s
20.           Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +0.812s
21.           Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.831s
22.           Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +0.861s
23.           Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.927s
24.           Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +1.268s
25.           Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +1.313s
26.           Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +2.263s  
27.           Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +2.635s
28.           Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing NO TIME

Gordon Shedden topped team-mate Dan Rowbottom as Halfords Racing with Cataclean led the way in the final Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship free practice session at Croft.

The Team Dynamics-run outfit is keen to get its championship challenge back on track after a few challenging weekends with its Honda Civic Type Rs, but the multiple championship winning squad seems to be fully on song in North Yorkshire.

Shedden edged Rowbottom by just 0.143s, whilst Toyota GAZOO Racing UK's Rory Butcher completed an eventful morning in third place – repeating his result from FP1, which was interrupted by a fire.

"It’s feeling really good," said Butcher. "Especially coming out of these low-speed corners, we’ve got really good traction which is something you need round here!

"Unfortunately it was an electrical fire, there was a plume of smoke inside the car, as I accelerated down towards Tower and I just glanced down to my left and there was a little fire. So I pulled over, got the extinguisher, parked up next to the marshals and they were very quick to respond and put it out.

"The guys were very quick to respond and made sure they didn’t go gung-ho on the extinguisher, so the car is ok and feeling good. We're looking forward to qualifying."

There was a feel good story about the drivers in fourth and fifth as both Daniel Lloyd (Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com) and Bobby Thompson (Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero) have stories of misfortune to look back on.

Lloyd's Hyundai was badly damaged in an accident two weeks' ago, which left the Yorkshireman particularly sore, whilst Thompson is making his first visit to Croft since a dramatic barrel-roll here back in 2020.

FP1 pace-setter Tom Ingram (Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com) was sixth followed by two BMWs in the shape of Jake Hill (ROKiT MB Motorsport) and George Gamble (Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport).

Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat and CarStore Power Maxed Racing's Ash Hand completed the top ten.

Qualifying for Round 13 of the 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship takes place later this afternoon with the live stream commencing via www.itv.com/btcc from 1515.

2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 2 –
Croft

1.         Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean 1:21.589s
2.         Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.143s
3.         Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +0.221s
4.         Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.294s
5.         Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +0.333s
6.         Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.350s
7.         Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +0.353s
8.         George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.371s
9.         Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.390s
10.       Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.449s
11.       Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.461s
12.       Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.477s
13.       Tom CHILTON (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.648s
14.       Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +0.676s
15.       Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.734s
16.       Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +0.754s
17.       Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +0.877s
18.       Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +0.880s
19.       Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +0.892s
20.       Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.985s
21.       Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +1.050s
22.       James GORNALL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +1.061s
23.       Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +1.096s
24.       Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +1.467s
25.       Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +1.642s
26.       Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +2.094s
27.       Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +2.671s
28.       Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK NO TIME

Tom Ingram's fine form continued during the opening Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Free Practice session at Croft as the Hyundai man topped the times.

Ingram claimed a dynamic double triumph at Oulton Park last time out as his Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com team forges a first-ever title attack. The 28-year-old is no stranger to a championship challenge himself of course, but this partnership between the driver and team is fast becoming one of the most competitive on the grid.

The #80 machine clocked a 1:21.645s midway through FP1 – a time already quick enough to break the existing qualifying lap record – as Ingram edged out the Scottish duo of Gordon Shedden (Halfords Racing with Cataclean) and Rory Butcher (Toyota GAZOO Racing UK).

"A really, really good session," said Ingram. "The car felt fantastic straight out of the box, it’s felt really good again. Very similar to Oulton in the sense that we’ve rolled it out and it’s really, really good. We’re tweaking again, we’ll have a little fiddle between FP1 and FP2 and see what goes on. The car feels in a really nice place at the moment so if we can stick with it as it is I’ll be happy, but there’s a little bit more to be had and a couple of areas we can improve. But as a starting point, I’m really pleased.

"It’s nice coming into a weekend having had a good one previously, everyone’s just happy and this game is so much about confidence and building on momentum and I think we’ve seen that over the years, not just myself, but Ash [Sutton], Colin [Turkington], Gordon [Shedden], loads of others you could name, you have one good weekend and it rolls over onto the next one. So hopefully it’s a good thing where we are at the moment. But we’ll wait and see what happens. As I always say after FP1, it is only FP1 so let’s wait and see how it goes moving forward now."

It wasn't all plain sailing for Butcher in third place, as the #6 Toyota suffered an electrical fire during the session and had to be recovered.

The BMW duo of Adam Morgan (Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport) and Jake Hill (ROKiT MB Motorsport) were next in the order with both of the young chargers expected to go well at the rear-wheel drive friendly circuit that is Croft.

Last year's Croft pole-sitter and race one winner Aiden Moffat (Laser Tools Racing) was sixth, wedged between a gaggle of Bavarian machines as the Team BMW duo of Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley were seventh and eighth respectively.

Dan Cammish (NAPA Racing UK) and George Gamble (Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport) completed the top ten positions.

FP2 will take place at 1205 with qualifying commencing at 1520, the latter session being streamed live via www.itv.com/btcc.

2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 1 – Croft

1.             Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com 1:21.645s
2.             Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.159s
3.             Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +0.390s
4.             Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.466s
5.             Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +0.473s
6.             Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.578s
7.             Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.609s
8.             Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +0.637s
9.             Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +0.637s
10.           George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.679s
11.           Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.693s
12.           Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +0.705s
13.           Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +0.711s
14.           Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +0.832s
15.           Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +0.930s
16.           Tom CHILTON (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +1.035s
17.           Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +1.094s
18.           Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +1.197s
19.           Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +1.225s
20.           James GORNALL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +1.303s
21.           Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +1.354s
22.           Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +1.453s
23.           Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +1.566s
24.           Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +1.629s
25.           Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +1.999s
26.           Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +2.207s
27.           Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +2.268s
28.           Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +3.420s

Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com hopes to end the first half of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season on a high during this weekend’s visit to Croft (25/26 June) for the final race meeting before the series’ annual mid-season break.

The Suffolk-based team makes the long trip to North Yorkshire at full strength after a herculean effort over the past two weeks saw the Hyundai i30 Fastback N of Dan Lloyd rebuilt following his race three incident at Oulton Park.

The 30-year-old will be keen to put the incident behind him and return to the kind of form that had seen him score points in every race to that point to sit ninth in the championship standings.

Lloyd has a strong record at Croft having scored his only BTCC victory to date at the circuit back in 2018, with his goal being to try and repay those who have helped to keep his championship campaign on track in recent weeks.

Tom Ingram hopes to continue his success after a fine double win at Oulton Park, making it three wins during the season so far and matching his tally for the whole of 2021.

The opening race on Sunday will also mark Ingram’s 250th BTCC start as he returns to the circuit where he’s secured a victory and three other podium finishes.

Experienced racer Tom Chilton is the third member of the team to have scored a win at Croft and heads into the weekend seeking to fight back after a challenging outing at Oulton Park.

The Reigate racer will hope to use this weekend to push back up towards the top ten and end the first half of the season on a positive note.

With Jack Butel unable to race this weekend, the four-car line-up is completed this weekend by former British GT Championship and MINI CHALLENGE title winner James Gornall as he steps in for a one-off outing.

“The results so far this season haven’t been what I was hoping for, but the team has put a huge amount of work in since Oulton Park to make improvements to my car,” said Chilton. “We’ve decided to go in a certain direction with it, and hopefully we’ll see that it is the right direction when we hit the track this weekend.

“Croft is a great circuit to race on and one where I have gone well in the past with a win and plenty of podiums. I can’t wait to get out on track as I’m sure that the car is going to be an improvement and I’ll be able to go into the summer break with three solid results behind me.

“Of course, as a driver, I want to be fighting for trophies, but I think the key thing this weekend is that we make progress from where we have been, and I want to be up there inside the top ten where I know we should be.”

“I’m really looking forward to the weekend and, if the performance at Oulton Park is anything to go by, I think we have genuine reason to be excited about what we can achieve,” added Ingram.

“We were hampered a bit last season because of the weight we had to carry in qualifying, but we showed as the weekend went on that the Hyundai was a strong package at Croft and we return this year with a car that we know is a step forwards.

“It would be nice if we could aim for a place on the front row of the grid again as that would put us in the best place possible for race day but as ever, we need to see where we stand once we hit the track – and there are also question marks over what the weather will throw at us.

“There is no real reason why we can't look to try and repeat what we did at Oulton Park and it would be a great way to celebrate 250 races in the BTCC. When I joined the series, it was always with a goal of being here for the long term so it’s nice to reach that landmark. Having scored plenty of wins and podiums so far, hopefully this is the year we can fight for that title."

“I have to give a massive thanks to the team for getting the car ready to race this weekend,” said Lloyd. “As the damage sustained in the accident turned out to be worse than we first feared.”

"They have done an astonishing job to get it prepared in such a short space of time and I’m going into the weekend more determined than ever to reward them with some strong results - along with all the other people who have sent messages of support.

"They have done an astonishing job to get it prepared in such a short space of time and I’m going into the weekend more determined than ever to reward them with some strong results - along with all the other people who have sent messages of support.

"Croft is a circuit that has fond memories for me as the scene of my first win in the BTCC, and hopefully this time around, we’ll once again be able to challenge towards the front as we were doing at Oulton Park prior to race three."

Just days away from the next instalment of Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship action, at Croft Circuit (25/26 June) the official BTCC website has all the information you need to catch ITV Sport's coverage of Qualifying and Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2022 campaign!

Rich Energy BTC Racing's Josh Cook heads into the weekend leading the battle for the most coveted prize in British motorsport, with a 15-point advantage over Tom Ingram (Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com) as we approach the fifth event of the season.

Reigning Champion Ash Sutton sits third in his NAPA Racing UK Ford, while the 'King of Croft', Colin Turkington, occupies the fourth spot in the standings.

Check out all the key times below to watch the action live from Croft...

Qualifying LIVE: Saturday 25 June
ITV.com/BTCC from 1515

Raceday LIVE: Sunday 26 June
ITV4 & ITV4 HD 1130-1835
ITV4 +1 1230-1935
ITV.com/BTCC 1130-1835

Highlights: Saturday 2 July
ITV4 & ITV4 HD 0800-0930
ITV 4 +1 0900-1030
ITV Hub Available anytime for the next 30 days

Highlights: Sunday 3 July
ITV4 & ITV4 HD 0925-1055
ITV4 +1 1025-1155

Highlights: Wednesday 6 July
ITV & ITV HD 2340-0055
ITV +1 0040-0155

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship organiser TOCA is proud to announce that Getac will be an Official Technology Partner of the BTCC throughout 2022.

Getac is providing rugged tablet devices and automotive software solutions to the BTCC Technical Team for scrutineering and technical checking purposes in order to help digitise and streamline its procedures.

“The collaboration with Getac helps us move towards far more efficient paperless processes within our systems,” said Alan Gow, Chief Executive of BTCC. “The championship had a number of paper-based practices that only serve to slow down our operation and the support we need to provide to the race teams.

“Turning to digital made absolute sense in order to bring real-time control and visibility in vital areas such as scrutineering and technical checking. The speed with which we will now be able to do this enables more efficiency in the procedures and allows teams more time to get on with preparing for the race itself.”

Previously, the scrutineering process has been largely paper based, with the BTCC Technical Team keeping records and then later manually entering that data. Their role is to check that all competing vehicles fully comply with the relevant technical and safety regulations.

For the 2022 season, Getac is contributing UX10 10.1-inch Windows Tablet PCs and bespoke cloud-based vehicle-checking software to digitise the scrutineering process. TOCA will be equipped to fully digitise their data recording around scrutineering – increasing transparency, accountability and, most importantly, speed.

Getac hardware and software will work in synergy to help increase response time through digitisation.

Getac has been supporting TOCA/BTCC since the 2019 season, replacing all of TOCA’s legacy IT infrastructure with a combination of S410 semi-rugged notebook PCs and A140 fully rugged tablets. These devices created an integrated IT solution that powers all aspects of the BTCC’s behind-the-scenes operations.

The devices are used by both race control and championship officials, where they can be used for a wide range of operational activities. This includes everything from race control, regulation compliance, onboard video review, post-race car inspections and accident data management (as part of a joint project with the FIA).

These rugged mobile devices offer seamless efficiency and reliability throughout the race control, the paddock and pit lane during race weekends and beyond. With this extended agreement, each BTCC team will use a Getac tablet with custom technical software as part of the scrutineering process, saving time and administration in their communication with the BTCC technical team. These Getac tablets will also allow teams to perform other tasks on a case-by-case basis, such as diagnostic data capturing.

The BTCC’s other major technical partners such as Cosworth and Goodyear will also use the devices in the monitoring of engine and tyre performance throughout each race weekend.

Getac rugged devices were welcomed by the BTCC personnel, who had previously used consumer-grade laptops and devices. Those often failed from damage due to the environment they were used in and frustrated users with short battery life and slower processors which meant key tasks such as car inspections and data collection often took longer than needed.

For the BTCC, the partnership with Getac demonstrates its commitment to technology, given its huge UK and global TV broadcast reach and audiences who overwhelmingly use smart devices in their lives.

“Race weekends are often full-on, and like the speed of the cars, time simply flies by,” concluded Gow. “So, it is really pleasing to see how digitising our technical and scrutineering processes has enabled us to use some of the time saved to focus on other things – to ensure teams are looked after and the race weekend attendees and broadcast viewers continue to enjoy the great spectacle of the BTCC.”

Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com has today (22 June) announced that James Gornall will step in for the team this weekend at Croft (25/26 June) for the fifth meeting of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season.

The 37-year-old will race one of the Suffolk-based team’s Hyundai i30 Fastback Ns in North Yorkshire in place of regular driver Jack Butel, who is unable to take part in the meeting as a result of personal circumstances that mean he needs to remain at home in Jersey.

Butel will return to action in the #96 entry when racing resumes at Knockhill in late July following the upcoming summer break.

Substitute racer Gornall brings plenty of experience into the line-up this weekend, having secured multiple titles during a varied career to date.

Initially competing in single-seaters, Gornall secured the British GT Championship title back in 2008 and took a class win in the Silverstone 24 Hours before taking a hiatus from racing, returning to action in the BMW Compact Cup in 2014 and winning the championship a year later.

From there, he would enjoy a successful guest outing in the MINI CHALLENGE before a full season entry in 2019 saw him secure another championship title with an impressive five wins and 13 podium finishes from 17 starts.

Gornall brings prior experience in the BTCC from a part campaign in a Trade Price Cars Racing-run Audi S3, where he secured a best result of seventh and scored a top 20 championship finish despite missing the final three rounds of the campaign.

He will carry the same hybrid allocation into the weekend that Butel would have run, meaning a full 15 seconds per lap in qualifying and a full allocation of laps in the opening race of the weekend.

"I’m ecstatic to be back in the BTCC this weekend,” said Gornall, “even if it is just for a one-off outing, and I’d like to thank Dreelside Engineering for supporting me and helping me to get back on the grid. I was really trying to return to the series for 2022 only for things to conspire against me, so to now have the chance to get out on track is something I’m really looking forward to.

"I know the team at EXCELR8 really well having competed against them in the MINI CHALLENGE and also working with them providing driver coaching to various drivers, so it’s good to now have the chance to race alongside my former foes in what is clearly a strong package with the Hyundai.

"I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel of it to see what I can do, although this weekend will be a bit of a voyage of discovery as Croft is a circuit that I didn’t get chance to race at back in 2020 when COVID messed up my programme. I think the last time I raced there would have been back in 2015 in the Compact Cup, and before then, all the way back in 2004 in my single-seater days - so it’s been a while!

"Coming in for a weekend like this, I know I’ll have to work hard but that is the job I’m there to do. Hopefully I can get up to speed in the car quickly, and we’ll be able to push for some solid results across the three races."

"It’s a shame that Jack isn’t able to join us this weekend and we look forward to welcoming him back at Knockhill after the summer break, but at the same time, we’re pleased to welcome James on board for Croft,” added Team Owner Justina Williams.

"We have seen first-hand in the MINI CHALLENGE how quick he is and we’re confident that he is a driver who can come in and do a solid job for us this weekend and hopefully, push to bring home some points across the three races."