Maximum Motorsport is aiming to build on a strong first half of 2017, with the year-old outfit already producing consistent top ten finishes so far this season.

The team fielded Dennis Strandberg at Croft last time out, with the 23-year-old securing three solid finishes at his maiden event. Strandberg stepped into the breech, having been known to Team Principal Stewart Lines through competition in the Maximum Motorsport-backed VAG Trophy. Going forward, other commitments – including a full campaign in the Swedish Touring Car Championship for one – mean the Swede may have to limit his involvement in the BTCC this year. 

With Josh Cook behind the wheel of the squad's Ford Focus, Maximum had previously secured a series of best-ever results, starting with a seventh-placed finish back at the opener at Brands Hatch. This was followed by yet more points-scoring pace, yielding further encouragement with another step forward – fourth at Donington Park in race two, complemented by a further seventh-placed score in Round 6. 

A minor blip at Thruxton wasn't to last, with Cook able to storm back into the top ten and tally sixth and eighth at Oulton Park before seeing a race three podium arguably taken from his grasp in contact. Having made the most of a reverse-grid pole, the outfit were on to take home its first BTCC silverware, though a coming together in the early stages put paid to those hopes. Despite this, all concerned were encouraged given the pace inherent in what had become a well-honed Ford Focus – the Focus no stranger to the top step in the championship, and Maximum Motorsport has dialled in to what has proven a successful package.

Following the departure of Cook to MG Racing RCIB Insurance, and the subsequent outing by Strandberg, the team is now searching for a driver to complete the remainder of the campaign. Lines is keen to retain his role in managing the team, a role he is is relishing, although stepping back into the hot-seat for the second half of the year remains an option.

"Our ideal scenario would be to find a young and upcoming driver," said Team Principal Lines. "I am passionate about giving young talented drivers an opportunity, and we feel Maximum Motorsport is the perfect place for a driver with real potential to flourish, but of course it has to work commercially for all parties too.

"We put the car through some significant upgrades over the winter and we've shown we can run up at the front. Now we're keen to speak with interested drivers as we look to continue the upward trend that the team has been on."

The next rounds of the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship take place at Snetterton on the 29/30 July.

Snetterton will be holding a major Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship test on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 July, with much of the 2017 field expected to participate and entry to the venue is free to spectators.

The list of teams attending includes title rivals Honda and BMW, with Matt Neal taking on driving duties in the Civic Type R, plus Colin Turkington, Rob Collard and Andrew Jordan. Also attending will be the works Subaru, MG and Vauxhall squads as well as leading independents Speedworks, Ciceley Motorsport and Motorbase.

For many of the teams the test will also provide an opportunity to lap the circuit ahead of the following month's BTCC rounds at the Norfolk circuit on 29/30 July.

It's also a chance for the drivers to get some laps in during the championship's summer break, and for spectators to see the cars in action, with entry to the venue free of charge.

The sessions will run from 9.00am to 5.00pm on each day, with an hours' break for lunch. Tyrrell's restaurant and bar will be open both days from 7.30am until 5.00pm, serving food and drink throughout the day.

Tickets for the BTCC at Snetterton on 29/30 July are available online from £27, with free entry for under-13s. For more information call 0843 453 9000 or click here.

Eurotech Racing has today (29 June) confirmed that Brett Smith, son of regular driver and Team Principal Jeff, will take over driving duties in the team’s Honda Civic Type R for the remainder of the 2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

The severity of Jeff’s injuries sustained during the qualifying crash at Croft Circuit earlier this month have unfortunately ruled out the experienced racer for at least the rest of this campaign.

After careful assessment and consideration, the squad has decided to place Brett in the car, alongside team-mate Jack Goff.

Brett is currently leading the MINI Challenge Championship with Eurotech Racing in only his second season in the series, having racked up three pole positions, five wins, ten podiums and six fastest laps so far. The 25-year-old has also previously successfully competed in the Clio Cup, BARC Clios and Mazda MX5 Championship.

“I am naturally extremely disappointed for my season to be ended in this way,” said Team Principal Jeff Smith. “Having assessed a number of driver options the team are in agreement that Brett gives us the best opportunity to provide a strong second half to the season.”

Brett will get his first serious taste of BTCC machinery during next week’s (5/6 July) official group test at Snetterton. His race debut will then take place at the same venue with rounds 16, 17 and 18 of the championship scheduled over the weekend of the 29/30 July.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marc Waller

Team Shredded Wheat Racing with DUO made the most of its mid-season break from the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship to visit the Shredded Wheat factory in Staverton, Wiltshire last week.

The Kent-based team made the journey south-west for a planned employee day to the impressive Cereal Partners site, giving all of the staff based there the chance to meet BTCC drivers Mat Jackson and Martin Depper and to celebrate the squad’s successful race weekend at Croft just prior to the visit.

The day was a resounding success with great interaction from those on site as they made the most of the opportunity to meet the team, have a look around the race-winning Ford Focus ST, and even compete against each other during the popular pit-stop challenge for the chance to win VIP tickets to the season finale at Brands Hatch in October. An internal raffle was also held with the lucky winners taking away exclusive signed team kit from the event.

Vandu Patel, Brand Manager for Shredded Wheat said: “It was brilliant having the Team Shredded Wheat Racing with DUO guys come down to the Staverton factory. It was a great opportunity to create a brand experience for everyone to get involved in and there were a lot of very happy petrol heads!

“The 30 degree heat certainly provided an endurance test for the guys but their enthusiasm and energy stayed high all day;” she added. “The day was our chance to really engage with our factory team - especially for those who haven’t yet had the chance to make it along to a BTCC event – and the feedback we’ve received has been excellent.”

In addition to the employee activity, the Motorbase crew also enjoyed a guided tour of the automated factory and combined heat and power plant which is housed on-site.

“It was great to get the chance to meet everyone at the Shredded Wheat factory,” commented Team Manager Oly Collins. “We were really well looked after and the level of support and interest for the team from everyone at Staverton was a real boost for us all. We always enjoy these types of events away from the pressures of a race weekend, it offers up opportunities to spend time with the staff that wouldn’t normally get to come to the BTCC races and they’re always good fun.

“It was fascinating to see the Shredded Wheat factory in action, it’s a very impressive set-up and the tour carried out by Gary Woodhouse was a real highlight.”

Luke Davenport has confirmed he is on the road to recovery after speaking to Tin Top Tuesday from his hospital bed yesterday (27 June).

The Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo driver was injured in the multi-car crash during qualifying at Croft, in an incident which also saw both Aron Taylor-Smith and Jeff Smith hospitalised.

Aron and Jeff have since left hospital, albeit with their own significant injuries to overcome, but it was Davenport’s condition that caused the greatest concern to doctors.

Luke was placed into a medically induced coma at the James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough after suffering multiple chest injuries, lung damage, a broken right leg, a broken pelvis, broken right arm, a broken collarbone and concussion.

He was woken from his coma last week and remains in hospital, but has thankfully begun his physiotherapy and rehabilitation programme.

“I have only started eating proper food in the last few days now they have taken all the intake tubes out,” he said in an interview with Tin Top Tuesday. “I have got straight back into the habit, and mentally that has given me a boost.

“I still get tired quickly but I am just starting physio now. The physio had me sat off the end of the bed today, and that has all gone really well.

“I can bend both knees and I feel good. I am just desperate to start cracking on with physio really.

“The support has been unbelievable. I could be my phone all day to go through all the messages. It has been huge. I keep having soppy moments but I think that must just be the drugs I am on!

“They are looking after me well in hospital has been amazing. The resources we have in touring cars is so strong when an accident like this happens.

Davenport also gave special mention to the BTCC Medical Team and everyone who assisted with the accident at Croft earlier this month.

“The people they had on hand to help us out was so impressive,” he added.

“Apparently, it took them about an hour and a half to get me out of the car and if you think about the intricacies of that and the level those doctors work at – and to be faced with three badly injured drivers – then hats off to them.”

Tin Top Tuesday will carry the full interview with Davenport in its episode released later today. It can be found at soundcloud.com/tintoptuesday.

Reigning BTCC champion team boss Dick Bennetts celebrates his 70^th birthday today (Monday, 26 June) and the renowned engineer is looking stronger than ever!

Bennetts’ West Surrey Racing organisation has achieved huge success since entering the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in 1996, winning 14 overall and independents’ titles.

Neither show any sign of slowing up yet either with the Sunbury-on-Thames organisation having taken BMW and Team BMW to the head of this year’s BTCC Manufacturers’ and Teams’ Championships and having guided drivers Colin Turkington, Rob Collard and Andrew Jordan to victories.

Born and raised in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1947, a young Bennetts arrived in the UK in his 20s as an engineering graduate and former (not very good; his words) competitor with a determination to succeed in motorsport.

After coming to prominence as a championship-winning race engineer for Niki Lauda and Stefan Johansson – both as part of Ron Dennis’s Project 4 organisation, Bennetts established West Surrey Racing in early 1981 and ran Jonathan Palmer to that year’s British Formula 3 title.

WSR established themselves as the top team in the series, winning a record five championships with Palmer, Ayrton Senna, Mauricio Gugelmin, Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello. The team had won 56 races by the time they left the series at the end of 1995, and took the bold step to move into the BTCC as Ford’s manufacturer team following an introduction to the American giant by Paul Radisich.

After an inauspicious start (Radisich and team-mate Steve Robertson collided on the team’s BTCC debut), WSR’s Mondeos began to move towards the front as the team’s experience built; a maiden win coming at Silverstone in 1998 courtesy of the late Will Hoy.

Appointed to mastermind Honda’s BTCC programme for 1999, WSR kicked off the season with victory for James Thompson and remained in title contention for much of the year. They can also claim to have won the BTCC’s final Super Touring race; Tom Kristensen triumphing under cover of darkness at Silverstone in 2000.

A switch to MG came as the cost-controlled BTC regulations replaced Super Touring. Entering the series for the final three rounds of 2001, victory came at the final event of the year at Brands Hatch and kicked off a five-year stint that included Anthony Reid becoming independents’ champion in 2004.

It was the switch to BMW machinery in 2007 that was to prove the biggest boost to the Surrey squad, however. Colin Turkington put the 320si on pole for its debut, won three consecutive Independent drivers’ and teams’ crowns plus the overall title in ’09.

A testament to Dick’s desire for engineering excellence, which filters through WSR, the 320 was still a regular race winner in 2012, and paved the way for its successor, the WSR-designed-and-built 125i M Sport.

This car is by some margin WSR’s most successful. Winning second time out in Turkington’s hands, it went on to become the class of the 2014 BTCC field with nine wins and 26 podiums from 30 races as Bennetts’ team took the overall and Independent Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships.

Further milestones were reached in 2015 – with a treble win at Croft – and in 2016 with Rob Collard, Sam Tordoff and Jack Goff combing to win the Constructors’ and Teams’ Championships.

The current season has also started superbly with WSR BMWs winning six times and leading the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ title races.

Famed for his stopwatch and clipboard (the watch having gone missing at Knockhill last year after years of trusty service) and for his meticulous attention to detail, he shows no sign of slowing down just yet.

Happy birthday Dick.

 

WSR in the BTCC under Dick Bennetts

Debut: 1996

Makes represented: 4 (Ford, Honda, MG, BMW)

Race wins: 75

Pole positions: 26

Fastest laps: 102

Podiums: 244

Titles won: 14 (2x drivers’ titles, 2x teams’ titles, 1x constructors’ title, 5x independent drivers’ titles, 4x independent teams’ titles).

BTC Norlin Racing rounded off the first half of 2017 with an encouraging double points finish at Croft.

Heading into the fifth weekend on the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship calendar, the outfit had been looking to reverse a minor blip suffered at Oulton Park three weeks prior.

The team had been a consistent points-finisher, with both cars, up until that point and both Chris Smiley and Dave Newsham felt good points were the aim for the team's pair of Chevrolet Cruze machines in North Yorkshire.

Qualifying was cut short, with Smiley and Newsham starting line-astern in 27th and 28th respectively – though Newsham felt the speed was there for more following practice.

He made strong progress in the opening race, making up ground on the way to 19th. Luck wasn't on the Inverness-based racer's side, however, as two laps from the chequer he was forced into pitting with a puncture – his race over after a long limp home, leaving him at the back for race two.

Smiley also managed to make strides – up to a creditable 20th position, leaving him primed to make further moves on the day.

Race two was status quo. Newsham recovered to his race one berth – prior to that puncture, and Smiley his. 

The finale saw a season-best of 13th for Smiley, while Newsham completed a points double for the squad, ensuring he had tallied in each of the last five weekends.

“We had a strong start in the third race.” said the Northern Irishman. “I passed seven cars cleanly, had a season-best finish and brought the car home in one piece, even after a large shunt in the closing moments.

"All in all, I’m very pleased with the outcome considering where we started the day. It was important to get points – our pace deserved it.”

Team Principal Bert Taylor added: “There were a lot of challenging moments at Croft but the team, as usual, worked faultlessly through these.

"I’m pleased to see both drivers progress up the grid but our next goal is to get both drivers into the top 10 in qualifying.”

The team will attend the two-day test at Snetterton and Newsham is looking to learn: “This gives us a great opportunity to study and test the data that we have gathered in the first half of the season so we can move the car forward for the second half of the season.

"The team is in good shape and things will only get better."

Gordon Shedden heads into the mid-season break in an enviable position, with the champion maintaining his lead in the Drivers’ standings – a stark contrast to where found himself in the tally at this point last year.

Back at Croft, Halfords Yuasa Racing duo Shedden and Matt Neal completed one flying lap apiece and lined up fourth and eighth respectively for Round 13 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in a truncated qualifying session.

The duo’s fortunes were mixed in the opener. Neal moved up two places to sixth by the end of lap one but retired with damaged left rear suspension after contact with Josh Price’s Subaru.

Shedden, with the maximum 75kg of success ballast on-board, maintained his fourth place throughout 14 of the 15 laps, finally succumbing to pressure from the lighter BMW of Rob Collard on the ultimate corner of the final lap – leaving him fifth.

Race two provided more points for championship leader Shedden, who finished a hard fought fourth. The experienced Neal, who started from the back of the grid in 29th – thanks to that first lap incident in Round 13 – finished 18th.

The third race of the day was to be the highlight of Neal’s weekend, scything his way from 18th to an impressive fifth in a Honda Civic Type R he described as ‘awesome’.  His team-mate continued to score, with ninth place cementing his mid-season standings lead.

Shedden's position at this point last year was far less of an encouraging one. The reigning champion held ninth spot in the running – some 52 points behind then-leader Sam Tordoff.

The Yorkshireman had enjoyed a more consistent start to the season with a three more visits to the podium come mid-season than Shedden. It would be some task on the Honda mainstay's hands to turn things around, but turn it around he did. 

“To come away from Croft, after last year’s results, leading the championship is mega," said Shedden.

"It was a hard-fought weekend for me where we were struggling with out and out pace against the rear-wheel drive cars, but I emerged with a good points haul and I'm happy to go into the sabbatical at the sharp end. 

"This time last year I was ninth in the standings and 52 points off the lead and I went on to win the championship, so I am clearly in a great position. 

"I always say championships are won on the bad weekends and not the great ones so if this is bad, I will take it."

Neal said: “It was a case of what might have been for me. Obviously qualifying jumbled the grid and then it was just bad luck in the first two races.

"In race one, I got hit, which broke my rear suspension. In the second race, I hit some fluid through the Esses while making my way through the pack and that did a huge amount of damage which blunted my pace. 

"In the third race the little Civic Type R was awesome, it was hooked up from the start and I managed to carve my way through the pack to finish fifth and gain many much-needed points.

"I am looking forward to the summer break now and will come back fighting in the second half of the season with it all to play for.”

Further to his accident during qualifying for round 13 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Croft circuit on Saturday, June 10th, we (Motorbase Performance) are pleased to report that Luke is now conscious and communicating and has been moved to the high dependency unit at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough. 

Halfords Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal took his second Dunlop #ForeverForward award of the season at Croft after charging drives in races two and three saw him gain a total of 24 positions.

Contact in Sunday's opening encounter saw the Honda man start race two from the back of the grid, enforcing a comeback from Neal – making up 11 places en route to an eventual 18th.

Matt Simpson, in another Honda Civic Type R, of Simpson Racing this time, also made up 11 places and was joined by the Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes of Adam Morgan on the pedestal for most ground gained in the opener.

Neal topped the tally again in race three, with 12 positions made – his fifth spot yielding points that may become vital come season's end. Tom Ingram in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota endured another tough weekend, with contact putting pay to his efforts early on, enforcing a fightback. He made up 11 spots – enough ground to come 16th in the finale, tantalisingly just outside of the points-paying positions.

Arguably the most eye-catching performance of the weekend came from the Adrian Flux Subaru Racing Levorg of Ash Sutton as he strung together a victory and two podiums in North Yorkshire.

Race three's battle through the top ten and subsequent duel with team-mate Jason Plato was an enthralling to-and-fro and were it not for some elbows out driving from eventual winner Mat Jackson, Sutton could have stolen a dramatic win out of the final turn on the ultimate tour.

#ForeverForward – Croft:

1) Matt Neal 24
2) Tom Ingram 17
3) Martin Depper/Aiden Moffat 15

#ForeverForward – Overall Standings:

1) Matt Neal 74
2) Ollie Jackson 70
3) Colin Turkington 69