Testing promise was fulfilled as Handy Motorsport scored its best-ever result in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with Rob Austin finishing on the podium, an impressive P3 in the final encounter of the weekend last time out at Snetterton.

During the two-day Dunlop tyre test back in June at the Norfolk circuit, the Handy squad worked hard to fight their way back having taken the wrong direction on car setup earlier in the season.

Progress had seemingly been quashed come the race weekend as the team struggled to put a finger on a suspension setup discrepancy that left Austin in the Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis languishing down in a disappointing 24th spot on the grid after qualifying.

"We were wrestling with a suspension problem all through qualifying," said Austin. "It left us wondering just what we had to do to get a break and when it was all going to come together.

"Originally where we went wrong was after qualifying for the opening round," Austin continued. "Having struggled with a cold right rear tyre on short runs we panicked and aborted our setup direction.

"At Oulton Park we finally got on top of it. From there, we didn’t have a chance to go testing and doing all your work over race weekends is slow going as you can’t make big sweeping changes and risk losing yourself again.

"The tyre test allowed us to take the bigger steps that we had been wanting to take and after a morning of trying a few things we put them all together and were right up the time sheets on old tyres.

"We really turned a corner there. The car had been mega and we came here genuinely expecting to qualify well into the top ten with the pace we’d shown."

With Saturday's issue rectified, a fightback ensued. The Evesham racer battled his way back through the pack over the opening two rounds, making the top ten by the end of race two. This left him in contention for the reverse grid draw, which he once more missed out on in another stroke of bad luck – the fourth time this season he has been in the pot and has seen his number remain there.

Starting ninth, he wasted no time as he stole a march on those around him on the opening lap of race three to place fourth by the time the field came around to complete the first tour. Fourth became third as Mat Jackson in the Motorbase Performance Ford was forced into retirement, and there Austin stayed – keeping Plato and the chasing pack at bay until the chequered flag.

It was a strong showing well earned, and a long time coming by Austin's own admission. By its nature though, the move from running his own outfit to entering the fold at Handy was one with more long-term outlook with time required for all parties to settle and learn.

"In race three everything came together. I missed the reverse grid pole for the fourth time this year so I was a bit gutted with that but in hindsight I’m glad we didn’t get it, we earned every position we gained. It’s been a big gap since my last podium and it feels longer than it actually has been.

"We knew we were struggling with the Audi. When I started talking to Simon (Belcher) last year, it was the long-term plan that I bought into.

"This team has got great potential and the Toyota is quick, which Tom (Ingram) has been proving. It’s just taken a while for Handy Motorsport to gel together.

"I’m coming from rear-wheel drive to front-wheel drive and from doing literally everything as a team boss to now just driving. My engineer Matt Taylor has also made the transition from rear to front so it’s a big learning curve and finally Simon has come from driving into management. It just takes a while to gel and to find the sweet spot and to know how to get there.

"Snetterton was great – the best result for Handy Motorsport, so it’s fantastic. Thanks to the fans and everyone at the team. Simon too, he kept a lot of faith in me.

"I think we’ve got a handle on things now and we always go well at Knockhill, so I’m looking forward to it."

Tickets are still available for Knockhill circuit (13/14 August), the BTCC’s only venture north of the border. Prices start at just £37 for adult weekend tickets with discounts available for family bookings with children under 12 able to enter free of charge. For more information and to order tickets head to knockhill.co.uk or call 01383 723337.

Power Maxed Racing has confirmed that Dave Newsham will be standing in for Kelvin Fletcher at Knockhill this weekend as Fletcher is expecting the birth of his first child.

Newsham will compete in rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on home soil north of the border, driving Fletcher's PMR Chevrolet Cruze ahead of the latter's return at Rockingham at the end of August.

"As much as I love the BTCC, and I love to race, the birth of my first child is not something I can miss, Liz is due any day now, and I just can't be in two places at once," said Fletcher.

"I feel like I have been making progress this year and am aware that I don't want to lose the momentum, and the BTCC demands 100% focus, but I want to be there to support Liz.

"It is great to see fellow PMR driver and local hero Dave step in for Knockhill, he has an excellent track record there, and I can't think of anybody I'd rather have to keep the seat warm."

Newsham said: "The BTCC has always held a special place in my heart, and when Adam (Weaver) approached me to stand in for Kelvin, I couldn't get the word yes out fast enough. The team and car were great last year and with the upgrades for this year; I can't wait to get back behind the wheel.

"Kelvin has made significant progress in the car this year but family is family, and we'll keep our ears open for baby news this weekend."

"Kelvin has been great this year, but we always knew that the birth of his first child would be close to the round in Knockhill so that a driver change would be a possibility," said Adam Weaver, Power Maxed Racing Team Principal.

"We're delighted to have kept working with Dave and when we knew we had to find a stand in, there was no discussion, Dave was the man for the job."

Tickets are still available for Knockhill circuit (13/14 August), the BTCC’s only venture north of the border. Prices start at just £37 for adult weekend tickets with discounts available for family bookings with children under 12 able to enter free of charge. For more information and to order tickets head to knockhill.co.uk or call 01383 723337.

It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of double champion and cherished member of the British Touring Car Championship community, Jack Sears.

'Gentleman Jack’ has been a popular and important part of the BTCC right throughout its near 60 year history, having seen it evolve from the British Saloon Car Championship which he won in its inaugural year of 1958 and again in 1963.

In recent seasons MSA British Touring Car Championship rookies have challenged for the 'Jack Sears Trophy', with which Jack helped to nurture and support the next crop of BTCC stars.

Everyone in the BTCC sends their condolences, thoughts and prayers to Jack’s family and friends at this difficult time.

The next Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship event, which takes place this coming weekend at Knockhill (13/14 August), will be marked with a minute's silence.

BTCC Series Director, Alan Gow, said: “It is with great regret and genuine sadness to learn of Jack’s death. I really liked Jack a lot... not only as an extremely talented and inspirational racing driver, but more importantly as a hugely popular, humble and impressive human being. Jack loved this championship and continued to play an active part in the BTCC right up until his passing. He will be sorely missed by everyone involved in the BTCC, but our immediate thoughts are with his family and closest friends at this time.”

WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan bounced back from troubled weekends at Oulton Park and Croft with three excellent top ten finishes at Snetterton last weekend.

Morgan was a firm championship contender after taking two wins earlier in the campaign, but the Ciceley Racing-run outfit looked surprisingly out of sorts during the events immediately prior to the mid-season break.

A positive test at Snetterton in July led to Morgan’s best ever BTCC qualifying run during the race weekend – the Mercedes man taking third at the Norfolk track.

He lost out to Mat Jackson’s Ford in the opening two races, but still brought home solid fourth and fifth place finishes.

“My WIX Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class just didn’t seem as good as yesterday, with the front and back of the car not being quite as sharp,” he commented after the contests. “I tried hard to catch Mat but that Ford Focus is really quick in a straight line so it was very tough.”

Adam ran third at the restarted final race, but again it was Jackson diving forcefully up the inside of the A-Class. As Morgan was nudged wide, he rubbed into Tom Ingram’s Toyota Avensis and both picked up damage. Adam dropped to ninth and spent the ten-lap race involved in huge battles, fighting for position and defending at the same time. By flagfall, the Ribchester Rocket had raced to a hard-fought seventh place.

“I got roughed up a bit at the start,” said Adam. “I was ahead going into the corner and got a massive whack in the side that forced me wide and I whacked Ingram. That dropped me to ninth but I was able to battle back to seventh, although the engine seemed to be losing a bit of power towards the end and I was losing about four lengths at the end of each straight.

“Three top ten finishes is a great result, though, after a difficult time at Oulton Park and Croft so all round it has been a very positive weekend and we go to Knockhill which has suited our car in the past.”

Gordon Shedden returns to Knockhill as Jason Plato reaches milestone

Speedworks Motorsport tallied another points-scoring hat-trick at Snetterton, with Tom Ingram making the best of an off-colour weekend to close in on the top of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship title standings.

Ingram comfortably set the pace back in June at the tyre test, breaking the lap record in the process. Speedworks headed back to the Norfolk circuit in confident mood but right from the outset, the independent outfit struggled to unlock the same kind of form from the #80 Toyota Avensis.

Qualifying fourth, the 22-year-old cemented his spot as the season’s best average qualifier to-date, having missed the top five just once in six attempts.

Ingram found himself shuffled back to sixth with 33kg of ballast on board as the pack jostled for ground on the opening lap of race one. Thereafter, he had his mirrors full of two-time champion Jason Plato’s Subaru Levorg.
 
The Speedworks man conceded the spot on the penultimate lap, but he staved off then championship leader Sam Tordoff to the chequered flag and a late puncture for Ashley Sutton secured him his eighth top sixth finish of the campaign. The fact that he was only able to set the 15^th-quickest lap time underlined how hard he’d had to fight for it.
 
A rapid getaway in race two saw Ingram settle into the top five with a gap back to the chasing pack, but a multi-car shunt further down the order brought out the red flags. On the restart, Ingram initially lost out, but regained seventh place and was pushing Matt Neal for sixth when a squabble directly ahead delayed him and dropped him once more behind nemesis Plato. He ultimately crossed the finish line seventh to secure more valuable points and a front row grid slot for the finale.
 
In race three, Ingram was removed from podium contention with contact sending his Avensis bouncing across the grass and down to 14^th recovering to 12^th at the flag, in so doing continuing to close in on the overall championship lead and maintaining his title bid in the Independents’ Trophy. Speedworks, meanwhile, advanced from seventh to sixth in the Teams’ classification and consolidated second place in the Independent Teams’ Trophy.
 
“We felt really positive about our prospects going to Snetterton after the tyre test, but right from the outset, the car just didn’t feel the same and we’re not sure why,” echoed Ingram, who will travel to Knockhill sitting seventh in the Drivers’ standings and second in the Independents’ Trophy. “The Avensis had been awesome during the test, but straightaway in FP1, it was like a totally different animal and we hadn’t changed a thing. The cooler conditions probably played a small part, but I don’t think that fully explained our loss of pace so there was a fair bit of head-scratching going on.
 
“That was then compounded by my error in qualifying, which cost us a shot at pole but fourth was far from a bad place to start in the circumstances – it put us ahead of most of the guys directly around us in the championship, while the three drivers in front of us were all carrying less ballast. We were hopeful of being able to push for the podium from there – but unfortunately, that never really happened.
 
“Midway through lap two in the first race, I picked up a huge vibration through the steering and we were effectively fighting a losing battle from that point on. I held Jason at bay for as long as I could, but he’s a wily old fox and I could see he was getting increasingly feisty so in the end I decided to let him go rather than risk an accident – and with Sutton suffering a puncture, we didn’t actually lose a position.
 
“I got a really good start in race two that was undone by the red flag, and having taken a lot out of the clutch first time round, I knew the second one would be somewhat compromised – and sadly, I was proved right. It turned pretty messy in the early laps, and after getting stuck behind Plato, we didn’t really have the speed to properly attack him. Following some changes, the car felt better in race three and I made another cracking start before the red flag – but at the re-start, exactly the same happened as in race two.
 
“Overall, it was a pretty below-par weekend by our recent standards, but in this game, the key is to make the most of those weekends so to come out of it having taken three points finishes and actually closed on the championship lead wasn’t too shabby. Saying that, it was the first time all season that we’ve not really had podium-challenging pace, so we have plenty to go through between now and Knockhill to try to get to the bottom of it and ensure we come back fully on-song – and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

Tickets are still available for Knockhill circuit (13/14 August), the BTCC’s only venture north of the border. Prices start at just £37 for adult weekend tickets with discounts available for family bookings with children under 12 able to enter free of charge. For more information and to order tickets head to knockhill.co.uk or call 01383 723337.

Colin Turkington thrust his name squarely into the championship reckoning, becoming the first driver in 2016 to score three wins as he stormed to another Subaru victory – this time in Round 16 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton.

The post-Thruxton resurgence of the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing outfit has been encapsulated by Turkington's recent form. The Irishman took race one at each of Oulton Park, Croft and last time out in Norfolk, adding three podiums in the second encounter at each.

His championship standing had meant that he headed into those events lacking ballast, though the car's undoubted capabilities – given the work BMR has invested over the course of the Levorg's maiden campaign – have shone through with weight on board in the second bout of recent weekends.

On top of that, it was something of a BTCC first as the outfit notched a quadruple top-ten in Snetterton's opener. First was Turkington, with Jason Plato in fifth and Warren Scott equalled his best-ever result to place ninth while James Cole followed in 10th.

All of this leaves Turkington top of the Subaru tree and now fifth in the overall Drivers' standings, with the aim of further closing the 34-point gap to the summit, now occupied by Rob Collard.

The double champion spoke to BTCC.net following that stunning race one performance last weekend, with a title tilt firmly on the agenda – continuing at Knockhill in little over a week's time.

“That was one of my most memorable races," said Turkington. "I’ve never won around here in a rear-wheel drive car so it’s great.

"My pace was much better than I expected, I just tried to be patient and I made the move when the opportunity came up.

"I was in two minds; do I let him go on up the road a bit and take the pressure off myself from the Ford behind? Then, I thought no… I’ll hammer Gordon (Shedden) while I can.

"I’ve been looking forward to Knockhill for some time and my aim is to build on this momentum and see how far up the leader board we can climb.

"I won’t give up on the championship until it’s mathematically impossible. If we can keep the momentum going then there’s every chance.”

Tickets are still available for Knockhill circuit (13/14 August), the BTCC’s only venture north of the border. Prices start at just £37 for adult weekend tickets with discounts available for family bookings with children under 12 able to enter free of charge. For more information and to order tickets head to knockhill.co.uk or call 01383 723337.

Following a six-week mid-summer break, the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship made an exhilarating return at Snetterton with Gordon Shedden retaining his composure on a dramatic day of racing to shoot up the table in the Drivers' standings.

The reigning champion took full advantage of carrying less success ballast aboard his Honda Civic Type R than has been the case for quite some time, as he laid down an immediate marker in qualifying by scorching to his, and Halfords Yuasa Racing's first BTCC pole position in more than three years.

The Scot converted that into the runner-up spoils in the opener after gamely fending off Colin Turkington’s Subaru for two-thirds of the race, but he found himself pinballed by rivals in race two as he was shuffled back to tenth at the chequered flag. Undeterred, Shedden bounced back in style in the finale to storm through the field and snatch the lead on the very last lap following a thrilling, typically tin-top scrap with Rob Collard, with the cars running door handle to door handle for a third-of-a-lap, inseparable.

Shedden flew through the order in the day's final bout, disposing of Rob Austin’s Toyota for fourth on lap three. Mat Jackson nipped by Plato for third, with Shedden following suit, but third became second for the Scotsman when the Motorbase Ford slowed with a problem on the Bentley Straight.

The Honda Civic Type R began reeling in Collard’s West Surrey Racing BMW at a rate of knots and was eventually on his tail during the final lap. He fired his #52 machine down the inside of the Team JCT600 with GardX BMW and the duo ran side-by-side for what seemed like an eternity. Collard eventually had to give up the challenge and settle for second, as Shedden stormed to a sensational victory.

Just in time for a return to home turf as the incumbent champion, the Snetterton weekend saw Shedden vault from ninth up to fourth in the Drivers' championship, right in his team-mate Matt Neal's slipstream and slicing the deficit to table-topping Rob Collard.

Shedden spoke to btcc.net after taking that enthralling contest in race three, strengthening his championship charge as he looks to Knockhill.

“First of all, I was glad to see everyone walk away from the massive accident at the start of race three," said the Scot. "For me, obviously, that was a fantastic win. Three laps from the end, I began to think I might be able to catch Collard and my car just came alive.

"With two laps to go, I felt sure I could have a go and that a win might be on the cards and then it all happened on the last lap, when it was bumper-to-bumper until we reached the chequered flag. It was fair racing, and I hope we gave the crowds a thrilling end to the day.

"I couldn’t be happier. It has put me back in contention in fourth in the championship and I will be heading to my home event at Knockhill in two weeks’ time on a real high!”

Tickets are still available for the champion's homecoming at Scotland's Knockhill circuit (13/14 August), the BTCC's only venture north of the border. Prices start at just £37 for adult weekend tickets with discounts available for family bookings with children under 12 able to enter free of charge. For more information and to order tickets head to knockhill.co.uk or call 01383 723337.

Our latest competition comes in conjunction with IHG® Rewards Club and we’re giving you the chance to win a weekend away in Scotland (13/14 August) to see the BTCC at the Knockhill circuit plus an overnight stay at Holiday Inn Express, Sirling.

The headline prize also includes a chance to meet Team IHG® Rewards Club’s star driver Jack Goff and the opportunity to take a walk down the BTCC grid right before the lights go out for one of the three rounds at the circuit.

The top prize includes:

• A pair of entry tickets to Knockhill on Saturday/Sunday 13/14 August.
• Meet driver Jack Goff
• Grid walk before a BTCC race
• Saturday night at Holiday Inn Express, Stirling

In addition, four runners-up will win a pair of tickets to enjoy the full weekend’s racing.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply like the IHG® Rewards Club Facebook page, share our competition post and comment on our Official BTCC Facebook Page to let us know you’ve entered! You may also enter on Twitter by RT’ing our competition post using #IHGracing and tagging @ihgrewardsclub.

The competition closes at 4pm on Friday 5 August. For full terms and conditions see below!

Good luck!

Terms and conditions:

1x Like + Comment on Facebook = 1 entry or 1x RT + tag @ihgrewardsclub/#IHGRacing on Twitter = 1 entry. 1 entry per person. A winner picked at random. The competition will close 4pm on Friday 5 August. The winner will be announced on Facebook and Twitter shortly afterwards. The winner will have 24 hours from the announcement to come forward. If this does not happen another winner will be selected. The winner must be available over the Knockhill race weekend, transport to and from the circuit is not included. The prize is non-transferrable. Children under 16 will not be able to take part in the grid walk.