The British Touring Cars are back on track this weekend as they head to Hampshire for round three of the 2013 season.
It promises to be a bumper bank holiday weekend of action as the BTCC teams head to the high-speed Thruxton circuit and the challenges that it presents to the teams and drivers.
Kent based Airwaves Racing drivers Aron Smith and Mat Jackson will be hoping that Thruxton proves more fruitful for them than the first two races of the season at Brands Hatch and Donington Park. Despite the fact they have been picking up points in the opening rounds of the season they will be hoping that their NGTC cars can be up fighting for the podium places this weekend.
Also hoping that he has a better race weekend at Thruxton will be the Motorbase Performance team’s Addison-Lee S2000 driver Liam Griffin, who despite a second place in the first race two weeks ago ended up retiring in the final two races of the weekend.
Once again it looks as though it is going to be Championship leader and double world champion Jason Plato is going to be the man that they all have to beat. Although it is close at the top of the standings with Andre Jordan just five points behind after he has netted three podium places as well as a race win already in his Honda Civic.
Also looking to continue his good form in the Jack Sears Trophy will be the veteran James Kaye who has claimed two victories for the AMD Tuning team owned by Kent’s Shaun Hollamby.
Interestingly Thruxton is a circuit that due to its high speed nature means that teams do not run the ‘soft’ option tyre at this circuit, so for one weekend only all the teams will only race with the hard compound tyre. It means that there will be a level playing field in all three races as they all start on the same tyres.
Once again there will be three races live from Thruxton on ITV4, as well as support races from Formula Ford, and Renault Clio Cup UK amongst others.
Qualifying for the event takes place on Saturday afternoon, and the three races will be from lunchtime to close of the event, making it another entertaining weekend of racing for motorsport fans across Kent.