SPEAKER_00 0:00

Matt James, we kick off the second half of the British touring car season in the sunshine at Thruxton and this seemingly never-ending summer that we're having.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

It's absolutely fabulous. It's always nice when we come here. Thruxton always generally provides a good weekend. I don't know what their ice cream sales are here, but they've got to be hitting record levels, and as you say, it's been a great summer. It did not seem a long time ago since we last saw a touring car at Angelo, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Absolutely. Is it six weeks or something? I can't remember. Four, six. I I lose track of time. I lose track of time. But the important thing is we are back and we've got a decent weekend of racing in prospect. Uh quite practice, free practice this morning. Uh saw Chris Smiley and Jamie Dorling at the top of the timings. And not unreasonably because, of course, now we've got this new idea that's being tested out, which is a medium tire for qualifying.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yeah, I uh I spoke to uh Mickey Butler from Goodyear about it, and uh he says he's not quite sure why you agreed to let them do it. It's um generally the the soft the medium tire isn't used here because it's such an abrasive circuit. Um, it doesn't give you grip for that long, but in qualifying, it's only 15 minutes this year with the new format we've got, so you don't need grip over a long period of time, you just need it for those two crucial laps that you'll get. So it's going to be interesting to see. We you know, we're probably gonna see record times, I would imagine, because all the running in in recent times here has been done on the harder compound. It means teams that or drivers that maybe don't have a particularly good handling car can mask some of that with the with the medium tar and get themselves higher up on the grid. When we get to the race to pole, not to call it the wrong thing, of course, which I've been caught out with before. When we get to the race to pole, they'll all be back on the harder tyres. So that in effect could make the race to pole more spicy because you might have some cars further up that maybe perhaps shouldn't be there on pure performance terms, and then others that will be coming through the pack. So, yeah, I think it's a it's it's a really good innovation. It's it's a not a shot in the dark, it's just something to mix up the mix up the order.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

It's another variable, isn't it? As if we need as if we need any more in this championship, yeah. But it's got it's gonna be an interesting uh you know uh conversation with the teams, isn't it? Where the the drivers and the teams are gonna have to wait for their window of opportunity, get some some clean space to go out in, which is gonna increase this sort of the chess game that we so often see in touring cars now.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yeah, it is a it is about sort of finding your spot, as you say. And also here, I mean we've seen it a little bit slightly in Formula One recently, the tow uh factor can you know you want to be coming up the Woodham Hill behind a compliant teammate who's gonna get out of the way at the last minute. Now, if you've got tires that are only gonna last two laps, you can't pay that favour back because it's you're not gonna have grip for long enough. So, how much of an impact is that gonna have? Are some people gonna sacrifice themselves for others? Is uh is that the end of towing around here? Um there's so many, so many different things, and as you say, finding track space is gonna be crucial. It's 2.36 miles, but there's 22 cars, and so that's one every sort of 150 metres or so, isn't it? If you spread them all out. Um so yeah, it's it's gonna be hard work, but uh yeah, just another, as you say, another variable and another example of teams having to use their brain, which is just as important as the drivers these days. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Now, talking to the drivers, Ash Sutton comes in with a a sort of I'm gonna say a safe lead, but it's a tidy little lead, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yeah, it's kind of 50 odd points. Now what do you do? Do you go on the attack or do you just bank the points? We know what Ash is like. He's he's he is there's he's on or off, isn't he? There's there's no sort of halfway house. He's not half pregnant ever, Ash, is he? Um he's on or off, so you'd imagine he'd be going for wins still. Um we are not quite actually at the halfway, so this is the halfway point, there's a halfway meeting. So he still needs to bank the points. Have you ever asked a racing driver to back off and then actually follow orders? It's not gonna happen. It doesn't happen, does it? So I think he's gonna go on the attack. I think maybe after this round, after we've actually got the 15 rounds out of the way, I think him and his engineer Tony Carroza will have a look and say, right, what do we need to do now? Because you you maybe go to some tracks that where uh the focus, even though it's brand new with a titanium with a with a boot on it this year, uh maybe wasn't quite so strong in the past, so maybe they'll they'll be a little bit more cautious in those places. But then, like I say, ask a racing driver to be cautious is like you know well impossible.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Two very hungry drivers uh hungry for points, that is uh behind Ash Shutton, Tom Ingram uh as we've uh we've just mentioned 50, whatever it is, points behind, and Dan Camis, who it just he needs to get that consistency in Dan, doesn't it? He or make up that ground.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, Dan's always had traditionally had a very strong second half of the season. So I think last year, I think he may have outscored Ash over the or over the last sort of five races. Dan sort of gets his bad luck out of the way earlier and then has to claw his way back through the points. It's again what he's doing this year as well. Um but we know Dan's quick, he's quick everywhere, he's he looked really strong this morning, and I think it'll be a good weekend for him. Tom, on the other hand, he's had a couple of DNFs that through no fault of his own, a few technical issues, a disqualification, but he's refused to get his head down, and I think that's benefit. He's been in this championship for a long time now, he's a two-time champion, and he knows that there's highs and lows, and he knows not to take it personally anymore. I think Tom of five years ago, six years ago, would be in a bit of a you know a blue fog at the moment, guy, and I don't know what to do. Now he's just well, we're right with it. This is Terry Cars, we've just got to crack on, and he's in a really good place. So I think he's gonna be quick, and I think this track is gonna be Ash and Tom all the way.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Absolutely. Um, and just to sort of round off that top four, um Charles Rainford, who's had a decent first half of the season, he's been pretty happy with what he's done uh with the BMW. Uh I know he said to me this morning that there's a bit more to find from this morning's uh you know quality session, but uh sorry, free practice session, but uh he's he's in that mix still, isn't he?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, the BMWs, all of the drivers look like captain car control this morning when I was watching out at Church Corner, absolutely on the limit. Funnily enough, this isn't a track that necessarily suits the rear-wheel drive cars too much because when you're pulling the car around with a front-wheel drive car, it's easier to get the rest of the chassis to follow what you're doing. When you've got a rear-wheel drive car, any oversteer moment that you have in the fast sweepers out the bat, you're gonna cost it's ultimately cost yourself top speed time. So it's a real killer for them. They can't monster the curbs as much as the front-wheel drive cars can at the Chicane and at the complex, for example. So this has never traditionally been a fantastic place for BMW. This is one where Charles is going to look to bank the points, and then you look what's coming up on the calendar, and we're going to places like Notkill, and we're going to cross traditionally a real wheel drive friendly circuit. I think his chances are going to come later on in the season. This is a weekend for him to get through and his teammates Dow de Leon and Lewis Gilbert.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

We we can't mention Truxton without mentioning Josh Cook, who's had immense success around here. Um wasn't at the top of the timings this morning, but never write Josh Cook off around Thruxton.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah, but it's really warm, isn't it? And he's ginger. So I just wonder if there's some kind of I might sap his powers a little bit. I'm not sure. I think he's got plenty of some tank room on. Um no, Josh is he's he's got the knack round here, isn't he? He's the king of Truxton as as we know. It's been a while since he's won here, but um but yeah, he's he's in a great place with that Toyota. It looked really quick when I was watching over at uh Church Corner. He was the quickest through the corner, you could tell. Just he needs to bolt it all together and he desperately needs a good result, is Josh.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Yeah, absolutely. Uh no Sam Osborne this weekend. Uh he's not well. We wish him uh the very best for that. And uh Sena Proctor jumping into his seat.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well he made his debut for accelerate here as well, didn't he? He's got a he's got a habit of making debuts, and I don't think he really, well I spoke to his father just now, and I don't think they knew until about six o'clock this morning that he was definitely in the car. Nothing like a late call-up is there, but we know Senna, he's he's got uh race running potential, race-running pedigree. Uh I think he's he's gonna be great in that car, and it's you know, it's uh it's gonna be really interesting to see how you adapt to, you know, if you're gonna blow away the cobwebs, Fruxton's not the best place you'd want to do it, but like I say, he knows what he's doing, so yeah, I reckon a top eight for it for Senna, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Okay, uh and just finally uh challenging weekends coming up for uh Lewis Gilbert at uh at BMW. Uh that's gonna that's gonna be a learning curve for him, isn't it? And Ryan Ryan Bensley with that uh that famous race suit is making a reappearance.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Ryan Bensley, the mortgage advisor to the stars, as as as he's known. Um yeah, Ryan's uh had a little bit of uh touring car experience before and he's driven front-wheel drive TCR cars, so for him, you know, this is just a question of adapting to the circuit and adapt readjusting to uh the speed of a BCC car. Whereas for Lewis Gilbert, straight out of GB3, he's done a couple of races, tested an F4 car as well. This is a real step into the unknown. At least it's real-wheel drive, so that's something you'll be familiar with. But he's got a super uh karting pedigree. Um had a huge success in that, so he can drive, we can see that. Um it's all about learning, isn't it? And uh yeah, it's gonna be fun to see how he gets on.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Absolutely. Um, I know that's uh we we mentioned at the top of our chat Chris Smiley, James Dorlin uh put in some good times this morning. They seem really happy with the car. But are we gonna see any surprises this weekend? Is there a stalking horse in there?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Well, I think you've just blown my cover because I was gonna say James Dorlin, because last year he qualified fifth here in the Toyota Corolla that he was driving. I know there were mixed conditions which played to his favour a little bit, but James was a super talented guy, really, really quick, and uh this track kind of suits him and suits his bravery. Again, another super spectacular driver to watch over at Church Corner on the apex there. Um it's not quite clicked for him just yet this year, but I really got a feeling that this weekend and is going to be a break for the room. I said this to you before, Steve, I really think the guy's got a great future. Absolutely. It's gonna be a great weekend, we're gonna have a good qualifying coming up.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Where are you gonna watch it? Uh Ice Chicane uh media box, I think. Yeah, that's I love that last Chicane. It's fabulous, a great place to watch. Good to catch up with you enjoy the weekend. Thanks, Steve.