BTCC - Knockhill 13/08/2023 (Rounds 19, 20, 21)

August 10, 2023

Must surely be some interest for the British Touring Cars on here? Especially with Speedworks receiving enhanced manufacturer backing from Toyota for their 3 Corolla's! Anyway, seems that it's been a while since there was a BTCC thread Here's a background to the season and a preview for Knockhill.....

Background

Toyota GR United Kingdom finished the 2022 season with drivers Rory Butcher and Ricky Collard achieving a total of 5 podium finishes in the final 6 races and looked to continue this strong finish into the 2023 British Touring Car Season. The team received new funding in the offseason which allowed them to run a 3rd car for 2023, and most importantly, run a bespoke Toyota engine (I believe from a Supra) which has been engineered by Neil Brown Engineering. Prior to this, the team was running the standard TOCA engine. Rory Butcher and Ricky Collard returned for the 2023 season, And George Gamble was named as the driver for the 3rd car making the switch from a RWD BMW to a FWD Corolla

Season So Far......

As I said above, the end of last season the team achieved 5 podiums in the final 6 which led people to think that Toyota and the drivers would be challengers for 2023. Well, currently the team has a single podium in the first 18 races this season (Arguably there should be a race win for Collard, But I'm not starting that debate again!) and Toyota GR UK sits last in the manufacturer's standings and 5th overall. I believe the car has pace, but it's just never really all come together at any point this season other than Brands Hatch where Collard held off the dominant Ash Sutton, Only to lose the win due to track limit offences...

Whether it's a poor qualifying that means the team has had to play catchup the rest of the weekend, or maybe a driver has an off in the race. There have also been frequent reliability issues with the car (Mainly on Gamble's car), although with a new engine, I guess teething problems are expected and the Neil Brown engines are known to be very good. I guess you put this season down to development, but the base is there for the team to be very strong in the future...

Knockhill

Ahead of the annual trip North of the border, Ash Sutton's NAPA Ford has won a quarter of the races this season, yet, he finds himself only 6 points ahead of Tom Ingram who himself has only had 1 race win this season (Lots of pointsy races) and veteran Colin Turkington is lurking ominously in 3rd, 34 points off Sutton. Butcher and Collard come into this weekend sitting in 9th and 10th respectively, and George Gamble in 18th. Last time out at Croft the team had a best finish of 8th x2 but struggled a bit in the other races with finishes outside the top 10, however, Knockhill is due to be wet all weekend which could shake the grid up and throw up a surprise winner...Hopefully a Toyota one!

Is anybody going to Knockill? Thoughts on the season so far?