Brands Hatch next weekend, 24/25 April, promises to deliver Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship fans with three of the most exciting races of the season, believes reigning champion Yvan Muller.
Vauxhall’s French superstar has endured his highs and lows at the Kent circuit - last year he was suspended from competition for grabbing another rival in the paddock - but he says he loves the place.
Taking time out in France to be with his young family, Muller said: “My friends from France ask me which race they should come and watch and I always say Brands Hatch. If you look at the history of the BTCC at Brands something spectacular always happens here. It’s that kind of place. And whatever does happen the fans are guaranteed to see it because it’s possible to see the whole circuit.
“Of course I prefer to be racing, but it must be fantastic for the fans around the circuit watching what is happening. It has a very special atmosphere. There’s also a very good Chinese restaurant just up the road that I enjoy!
“From a driver’s point of view, I love the track. I like the rhythm you get going and Paddock Hill Bend is very challenging. I think the three Brands Hatch races, particularly considering how close the competition was in the first three rounds at Thruxton, are going to be among the most exciting of the year - they usually are.”
In the last three years, Muller has won twice at Brands Hatch and holds the lap record for the current breed of BTCC cars, but he has also had his fair share of disasters at the venue:
· Last year he clashed on the track with MG driver Anthony Reid and afterwards got physical with him in parc ferme. Muller was suspended from competition
· In 2002, he was in hot water with his own team when he banged team-mate James Thompson off the track as their title fight reached fever pitch
· In 2001, his title hopes went up in smoke as his car’s engine caught fire and arch enemy and team-mate at the time, Jason Plato, became champion
Muller arrives at Brands with a ten-point lead over team-mate Thompson and SEAT Sport UK’s Plato thanks to excellent third, second and first place results in the opening three rounds at Thruxton on Easter Sunday.
Muller added: “What happened with Reid last year is in the past. I’m not thinking about it all. I am concentrating only on staying in front. I would prefer to have the ten-point advantage instead of trying to make it up, but there are still 26 races to go. A lead like that really is nothing at this stage.”
Thompson and Plato aside, Matt Neal and MG drivers Reid and youngster Colin Turkington are likely to be among Muller’s biggest threats. Neal, who drives for the Computeach Racing with Halfords team, won 12 months ago at Brands in his Honda Civic after controversially clattering his way into the lead at the final bend. Reid is also a past-winner here in his MG, while WSR team-mate Turkington took his first BTCC race victory at Brands when the championship visited last August.
Of local interest will be Team Honda’s Tom Chilton (Reigate, Surrey) who, at 19, is trying to become the BTCC’s youngest ever race-winner, and Tonbridge-based team Edenbridge Racing which will make its return to the championship with its spectacular BMW 320i for driver Justin Keen.
BRANDS HATCH TICKET HOTLINE: 0870 950 9000
Green Flag MSA BTCC Points (after 3 rounds): 1st, Yvan Muller (FRA), 38 points; =2, James Thompson (GBR) & Jason Plato (GBR), 28; 4, Anthony Reid (GBR), 25 etc.
