British fans are getting ready to welcome international racing stars to Brands Hatch for the latest FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) round and past performances from home favourites, Andy Priaulx, Rob Huff and James Thompson, indicate a crowd-pleaser is on the cards.
Harrogate’s Thompson has won at the undulating track five times in touring cars and leads the British WTCC drivers’ Brands Hatch league table. Huff, from Cambridge, is second after scoring a win during his first year of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 2004 as well as securing three class wins in the BCV8 Championship.
Reigning World Champion, Priaulx, is still chasing his first touring car victory at the Kent circuit but says it just motivates him to go that little bit further.
“I had a tough one last year,” said the 32-year-old, who is currently one point off the WTCC championship lead. “It rained and BMW is a little bit slower in the wet but I’ve had some successes here in previous years in other formulae.
“It’s like a mini Nürburgring here; it’s all about experience. Having said that, I raced here in F3 and Renault Spiders, so I know the circuit pretty well but even I struggled to get into the top ten last year simply because we were carrying so much success ballast from the previous rounds.
“This year is a bit different. A number of drivers are heavier with ballast so I’m going for a win.”
Other WTCC drivers to have won at Brands Hatch include:
Alain Menu, who is the most successful WTCC driver with eight touring car wins over the last 12 years. The Chevrolet driver was already a dab-hand by the time he got to touring cars, having raced at Brands Hatch in the British F3000 championship in 1990 with one second-place finish Menu is closely followed by SEAT’s Yvan Muller, who also has eight wins with the first three coming during his victorious 1992 British F2 season After Thompson, Gabriele Tarquini has the next best record, winning four races at Brands Hatch during his 1994 BTCC season Another notable performance is that of BMW’s Alex Zanardi, who came to Brands Hatch with the FIA Formula 3000 Championship in 1991, qualifying on pole and finishing second against the likes of Damon Hill, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Allan McNish and Heinz Harold-Frentzen.
Adult admission to Brands Hatch on Sunday 23 September costs £30, but only £24 if you book online at motorsportvision.co.uk, with an online weekend ticket costing £34.
Children aged 12 and under go free.
Grandstand seating starts at £5 and the Race Day Pit Walkabout, which opens at 09:00 on Sunday, costs £12. Advance booking is available from the Ticket Hotline on 08709 509000 and closes at noon on Tuesday 18 September.
