BMW and WSR aim to use their growing momentum to full advantage as they head to Snetterton this weekend to continue their British Touring Car Championship title challenge.
Riding high after a race victory and a third-place finish for Team BMW’s Colin Turkington at Brands Hatch less than a fortnight ago, the organisation’s quartet of BMW 330e M Sports will again be fighting to be on top of the podium in East Anglia.
“While it was very good to take our first win of 2023 at Donington, the unfortunate incidents for Stephen and Adam meant we didn’t score the points we wanted across the four cars,” commented Dick Bennetts, Team PRincipal. “Snetterton gives us a real opportunity to put that right.
“The BMW 3 Series has been one of the cars to beat here and has won six of the last 12 races at Snetterton. We have everything we need to arrive at Snetterton with four fast cars but we’ll all have to dig extra deep to make sure we maintain our terrific recent form there, such is the ultra-competitive level at the front end of the BTCC this year.”
For Brands Hatch winner and four-time series champion Colin, Snetterton has been a very happy hunting ground in recent years.
He has been victorious on the sinuous ‘300’ layout there every year since the current BMW 3 Series debuted in 2019 and last season was a double winner on his way to a 55-point haul – one of the highest single-weekend scores achieved by any driver in the BTCC.
Rising to fourth place in the Drivers’ standings and cutting the gap to the series leader from 25 points to 18 at Brands Hatch, the Northern Irishman is well aware that if he can win at Snetterton for a fifth straight season, he is almost certain to make further gains.
His Team BMW team-mates Adam Morgan and Stephen Jelley endured luckless Brands Hatch weekends as both were eliminated on the first lap of the opening race; the pair innocent victims of a multi-car incident caused by other drivers.
Adam showed all the racecraft that has made him an 11-time BTCC race winner to fight back from last on the Race-Two grid to sixth in the finale.
But the Lancashire racer is targeting a more straightforward weekend this time at a circuit at which he has twice finished on the podium – most recently with a second-place finish in 2020.
Stephen, meanwhile, was unable to start one of the Brands Hatch races, such was the damage sustained in the incident, but with his BMW fully repaired, he is aiming for a total reset to kick his season into life.
The Leicester racer was on course for a podium finish at Snetterton last year until he was spun off by a rival and has won there in other categories, so will be in a charging mood.
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill has been one of the most consistent performers of the season so far, qualifying third at Donington Park and Brands Hatch and taking four top-four finishes from the six races held so far.
The Kent driver has finished on the podium three times at Snetterton – including a pair of second places last year – and is sure to be among the contenders this weekend.
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