Ever-improving Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship team Handy Motorsport returns to home ground this weekend, 7th/8th May, as the UK’s most popular category makes its annual visit to the fastest track on the calendar, Thruxton in Hampshire, for the third event of the 2016 season.
Situated just 30 miles down the road from the squad’s Swindon base, Handy is looking forward to competing in front of its home crowd at Thruxton once again – and with a renewed confidence too this year with proven BTCC race winner Rob Austin piloting the team’s Toyota Avensis.
Making big strides over the course of the first two race meetings, at Brands Hatch and Donington Park, driver and team are relishing the unique challenge which Thruxton provides and particularly as a circuit where a true racer like Austin can make a huge difference.
“We’re all really looking forward to being back at Thruxton, the team has a lot of unfinished business there and with Rob onboard this season we go there with a lot of confidence and aiming to continue the good progress we’ve been making so far this year”, said team principal Simon Belcher.
“Everyone knows Rob is a racer through and through, you need huge commitment at Thruxton with so much of the lap being flat-out and Rob has that by the bucket load. We took our first ever top 10 at Brands Hatch and then bettered that last time out at Donington with an eighth place, so the top six and more is the target next weekend as we push on to keep moving forward.”
With average lap speeds of around 110mph, Thruxton is a circuit like no other in the UK. Over the last couple of years, with team boss Belcher at the wheel of the No.11 Toyota, Handy has suffered some terrible misfortune there – in particular in 2014 when the car was launched into the trees at the fastest part of the circuit. This year, it is hoped better luck will be with them.
Even though the current campaign hasn’t been completely straightforward, Austin goes into the Thruxton weekend seventh in the Independents Trophy standings while Handy holds the same placing in the Independents Team Trophy. Improving with each event, last time out at Donington Park Austin achieved Handy’s best ever result of eighth place overall in round six.
Relishing being back in action at Thruxton, the Pershore driver will arrive at the Hampshire speedbowl later this week fresh from an incredible fund-raising effort to cycle all the way from London to Paris.
Getting his adventure underway last Thursday, 28th April, from Trafalgar Square in central London, Rob and a group of fellow fundraisers from Freestyle 360 gym – one of his BTCC sponsors – set out to cycle the 200-plus miles to the French capital.
Just 30 miles from the destination, though, a flare-up of a tendon problem in his knee meant he had to unfortunately cut the challenge short only 30 miles from the finish to ensure it didn’t have an adverse impact on the Thruxton BTCC weekend. Even so, Austin still managed to raise £2,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and says he will go back to complete the full distance.
“It’s so frustrating I had to stop so close to the end because of the tendon, but I had to so we could avoid any big problems – we had to make sure it wouldn’t affect Thruxton”, he said, “The guys at Freestyle 360 put the ride on, I thought it’d be a good challenge and I wanted to support them and try and raise as much as possible for Pancreatic Cancer Research, a charity close to our hearts.
“I’m really looking forward to Thruxton, it’s one of my favourite tracks – I like a circuit that rewards bravery and commitment. I’ve won in all sorts of stuff there, it’s definitely one of my strongest tracks and even though the Audi last year was a handful round there we still dragged it into the top 10. I’m very excited to go back to Thruxton for the first time in the BTCC with a car that’s competitive.”
Austin added: “We’re not making any predictions, we’ll just go there and do the best we can. The team has been working better and better every time we go out, at Donington in the last two races we had fastest laps in the top five so it’s all going the right way. If we can have a clean run in FP1 and a half-decent qualifying, we can race well from there and do something.”
Free practice will take place at Thruxton at 10.00 and 12.40 on Saturday, 7th May, with qualifying following at 16.10. On Sunday, 8th May, round seven is scheduled to start at 12.10, round eight will follow at 14.30 and round nine is set to end the day’s action at 17.15 – qualifying and all three races will be streamed live online HERE with Sunday’s action also screened live on ITV4.
2016 BTCC Drivers Championship Standings:15th Rob Austin, 21pts
2016 Independents Trophy Standings:7th Rob Austin, 55pts
2016 HiQ Teams Championship Standings:11th Handy Motorsport, 21pts
2016 Independents Team Trophy Standings:7th Handy Motorsport, 57pts
