Quotes from the third race day of the 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch.
Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils
Dan Lloyd: “A really positive weekend, it was really nice to have the pace in the car to move forwards in the races and of course get the independent win. We’ve also scored some great points for the team which has kept us in the lead of the independent team’s championship.
“It was a real shame in race 3 to get knocked off on the first lap but we did a great job to battle back to P15 and a point scoring position before being knocked off again. It was a shame but the real positive is that we have the pace to move forward and it’s giving me a lot of confidence for the coming rounds.”
Bobby Thompson: ” A frustrating weekend despite the team working super hard to get us into the best shape possible. The engine change on Saturday really put us on the back foot as we were effectively a session behind everyone else after missing FP2.
“We tried to fight our way through but we had a balance issue which we have already sorted for Thruxton. We made great tyre choices on race day which helped us mask our problem somewhat which was good.
“After the issues we had, to come away with some points and remain in the top 10 in the championship is a real result. To complete the damage limitation, we are still leading the team’s independents championship which is a great result!”
Dan took to the podium for the first time this season after taking the independents victory in race 2. Photograph: Steve Akehurst
Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.
Dexter Patterson: “It was a good race day in the end with good progress made in the final race of the day on the soft tyre. We are starting to get to grips with the car and I can take good comfort that in race 3 I was right in the mix with Bobby and Dan.
“Let’s hope we can take this momentum into Thruxton and string together a series of point scoring finishes.”
Jade Edwards: “It was a really tough weekend for me and I’m gutted because out of the blocks, the car felt okay and I thought I’d have a platform to work with and get my best results of the season.
“Sadly, that didn’t transpire after a series of issues really put us on the back foot and I wasn’t able to show my ability to the Snetterton crowd. To add insult to injury we were unable to take the start of the final race of the day after a cracked sub-frame deemed the car unsafe to take to the grid.
“I’m hoping that all my bad luck has been used up in this one weekend and Thruxton will be much more rewarding, it’s a circuit I love so there’s no better place to kickstart my better luck.”
Dexter achieved his best result of the season in the final race of the day. Photograph: Steve Akehurst
Go Fix with Autoaid Breakdown
Jack Butel: “We went into Sunday with a better understanding of the car after some issues on Saturday. We made the decision to go for the harder, slower tyre for race 1 to get it out of the way and just try to maintain position which we manage to achieve despite straight-line issues hampering the car.
“Race 2 and we went for the softest and quickest tyre which we really had some good pace on, the chassis was fantastic and through the twisty stuff I really felt as if we had one of the best cars out there but something was still lacking.
“In the final race of the day, we had a different engine map and that really helped the overall performance of the car which put us closer to the pack. We made up some places and ultimately ended up in P16 and just a whisker away from our first point of the season which I have to take the positives from.
“We have learnt from this weekend and will take this into Thruxton where hopefully we can continue to build.”
Nic Hamilton: “We had a pretty decent Sunday in comparison to Saturday at Snetterton. We were on the back foot after only completing five laps on qualifying day but generally, we had very good, consistent pace and we made a lot of changes to the brake servo and they really worked.
“I wasn’t expecting a lot in race 1 as we bolted on the hard tyre but we stayed with the pack and we were very comparative to my teammates which was good.
“In the second race I made a few mistakes which put us just out of the touch with the pack in front which I’m kicking myself with but again, the pace was really good in the car.
“Race 3 was definitely our strongest race, I managed to make some great overtakes and move through the field which I’m delighted with. We were forced to box just two laps from the end due to an issue with the door but overall, myself and my engineer were really happy with the race pace.
“I feel we have turned a corner at Snetterton with the race pace of the car with the adjustments to brake servo so whilst it wasn’t the most successful weekend on track, I’m happy with the progress we’ve made and I’m feeling relaxed going into Thruxton next time out.”
Jack fought well in race 3 and narrowly missed out on a championship point. Photograph: Mike Hills