The Final of the Final: Brands Hatch
These words describe the weather as the touring cars lined up on the grid around 5pm today [Sunday 1st October]. Considering the success of Race 1, it was tempting to follow the template of a proven race and fit the Power Maxed Racing Astras with slicks, but as the track became more and more wet, it became clear that wet tyres were the way to go. Senna Proctor could be heard during the warm up confirming that wets were the right choice, proof that although it didn’t necessarily look that way, the cars were grateful for the added friction offered by the grooved tyres.
Following the warm-up, the lights went out and Tom Chilton almost instantly lost his reverse-grid position in 4th, completing the first lap in 8th place. Meanwhile, Senna managed to climb a couple of places into 12th.
During Lap 2, the race showed its true colours as Ingram nudged Jackson’s Ford into a slide which caught Turkington and retired his BMW from the race, a scuffle which Chilton’s Astra managed to avoid – just. This did, however, set him back a few places as the PMR Astras carried Proctor and Chilton across the line in 11th and 12th place respectively.
Senna has, during the 2017 season, shown himself to be a relatively strong driver on a wet track, as shown by the climbing of places in the very early stages of this race. Unfortunately, he was pushing just a little too hard and slid off the track and safely into the sand, retiring him from the race. This promoted Chilton to P11.
The safety car was brought out, consuming Laps 4 and 5. During this time, Dan Mayo of the BTCC visited the PMR garage and instructed that, despite Senna being retired from the race, he head to the podium to ready collect his Jack Sears Trophy. If there’s ever a symbol for putting effort in early on to pay off later, that is it.
The race started again on Lap 6 and saw Chilton in 11th place until the next lap, when he slipped back to P13. He stayed there until Lap 10 when he dropped another place to P14 and another in Lap 11.
By Lap 13, Tom was sitting in 18th place when Simpson’s Passat came off the track, raising his place back to 17th, which gave him the boost he needed to climb past Depper and Newsham in Lap 15 to make 15th place, where he crossed the line at the end of the 17th lap.
“It was a disappointing race for me but I had a great time and it’s been a very enjoyable season overall.” – Tom Chilton, Racing Driver for PMR
“I was pushing the Astra perhaps further than I should have in the conditions on the track, but ultimately I have come away from my first season in the BTCC as the Jack Sears Trophy winner, which is what we set out to do from the start.” – Senna Proctor, Racing Driver for PMR
“Whilst my goal has always been to win, I know that Tom put a lot of effort into his race, and Senna perhaps a little too much effort! These drivers have performed really well for us this season, driving brand new cars which have never been in the BTCC before, and I don’t think we could have asked for better pioneers over the unknown territory.” – Adam Weaver, Team Principal for the Power Maxed Racing team.
Stay tuned for information over the winter about what to expect from Power Maxed Racing in the 2018 season of the BTCC.
For press enquiries, please contact:
Phoebe Kingdon
Power Maxed Racing
Tel - 07714 669318