[BTCC] Round Two, Snetterton 12-13 Jun, Races 4,5&6

[crmalcolm]

Just over a month to go – and whilst the BTCC grid moves to Snetterton next, we are still uncertain what that grid will look like.

But first, a bit about the circuit. Another circuit, like Thruxton, that was built on the site of a former airfield, Snetterton was one of the circuits that featured in the first BTCC calendar in 1958 as a non-championship round. Class winners that day were:
A-John Sprinzel, B-Les Leston, C-Edgar Wadsworth, D-Tommy Sopwith.

Snetterton underwent extensive redesign ahead of the 2011 season, and the ‘300’ layout came into use by the BTCC from that point onwards. The first time that constructor NGTC cars raced there, Tom Onslow-Cole took the sole RWD podium of the day, with a Civic, Vectra and MG taking the wins that day.

It was mentioned in the race thread last year, but with fans back at the circuit a familiar site from the past will be missing. Snetterton’s ‘Scary Tree’ suffered damage at the start of 2020 and is now just ‘Tree’.


Last time the BTCC visited, it was late in the 2020 season as an October meeting. This time the series visits a lot earlier in the season. 2020 saw Turkington pick up two race wins as he enjoyed one of the best weekends of his illustrious BTCC career. Jackson won the final race that day, and Turkington managed to get on the podium to round his weekend off. Last season saw the first time a ‘Top Ten Showdown’ was used for qualifying, and Turkington took the honours that day too, before leaving the venue in the lead of the series.

Race One saw Ingram and Hill swap postiions throughout the race, as Turkington got away in the lead. Butcher, Sutton and Cammish all battled for vital championship points just behind the leading trio.

Race Two saw the top five drivers in the championship hold the top five track positions for most of the race, with the only real changes occuring in a last-lap frenzy following a safety car.

Race Three saw Jackson take his second career victory, with one of the moves of the season on the opening lap. Turkington saw his title chances take a boost as Butcher crashed into Ingram at the final corner. This allowed Turkington and Sutton through, with the latter cementing his Independents’ title before the final round.

Going into this event, the table reads:

The current table reads:

Position	Name	Points
1	Jake HILL	46
2	Josh COOK	45
3	Jason PLATO	38
4	Ash SUTTON	36
5	Dan CAMMISH	30
6	Tom INGRAM	27
7	Colin TURKINGTON	25
8	Dan ROWBOTTOM	22
9	Tom OLIPHANT	16
10	Jack GOFF	15

With 67 points available over the course of the weekend, the table is still wide open – which would be expected after just one event. Cammish is sitting fifth, although his outing at Thruxton was declared as being for one event only, so Ingram can consider himself de-facto fifth. Recent history has seen success for both FWD and RWD cars, so it should be wide open for all – although Turkington’s results in 2020 should give him encouragement of his chances to move up the table.

The form table for the last 6 races at this venue shows top six drivers as (excluding the double points):

Position	Name	Points
1	Colin TURKINGTON	95
2	Tom INGRAM	70
3	Rory BUTCHER	66
4	Dan CAMMISH	65
5	Ollie JACKSON	58
6	Ash SUTTON	52

Broadcast schedule, weather and event timetable will be added nearer to the date.

[BTCC frog]

Thanks for the intro again. That form table is very interesting, particularly the high placing of Ollie Jackson.

The Snetterton meeting will be my first time at a race circuit for a long time (and I'm sure the same is true of many others).

I am going to predict a double win from Colin Turkington, followed by Rory Butcher taking race 3.

[S griffin]

So what re we gonna talk about for a month then?

[Pickles]

Originally Posted by S griffin

So what re we gonna talk about for a month then?

Andy Neate, probably

[Alfisti]

Hope not!

Here's hoping Team HARD start tweeting pictures of a poorly motor car being fettled, looked like a lot of work was needed. Anybody know how much? Are the shell and chassis OK?

[Pickles]

The shell is repairable, was stripped on the Tuesday after Thruxton and sent straight off to Willie Poole. It was a proper mess but the cage certainly did its job.

[antnee]

The photo looked like it was just shell damage - which is an easy job for the wizards at WP.

[S griffin]

Sounds good. So they should hopefully have the car ready in time

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by antnee

The photo looked like it was just shell damage - which is an easy job for the wizards at WP.

I don't think that a photo of the externals of a car can adequately show what damage may have been caused to the structure of the car. That can only be truly gauged when the car is on a rig.

[crmalcolm]

The third BTC seat has now been confirmed, and Senna Proctor joins the grid.

He will surely require a bit of time to adjust to the Honda, although his previous BTCC win did come in FWD machinery. However, Snetterton has not been his best of hunting grounds in the BTCC to date. His best result here is a 7th place, achieving this in the second race of 2018. 2019 was a particularly bad year, with two DNF's and a 19th place.

Proctor will be hoping he can at least match his 2020 results, getting in the points for all three races - but form suggests a podium is only an outside chance. As a minimum, he is likely to go into the weekend carrying 66kg of ballast and maybe more.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

As a minimum, he is likely to go into the weekend carrying 66kg of ballast and maybe more.

Correction - should read 'carrying 39kg of ballast and maybe more'.

[skells22]

Well itv has to think here with the French open tennis men's final and a football match so I think itv2 might be required for one of the race s

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by skells22

Well itv has to think here with the French open tennis men's final and a football match so I think itv2 might be required for one of the race s

It definitely looks like something will have to move from ITV4. ITV have only released their schedule out to 23:59 on the 11th at the moment (Wk23), but I am keeping an eye out for when they release their week 24 schedule and it should all become clear.

EDIT: Techadvisor are stating that the full day's coverage is on ITV4 for BTCC - however I am not certain this isn't just an assumption, because ITV haven't released the schedule for the 13th to the press yet.

[S griffin]

Maybe the French Open final will be on ITV1?

[crmalcolm]

ITV have already confirmed that their coverage of Euro 2020 will be shown on either ITV or ITV4. They have also confirmed that on the 13th, they will be broadcasting the Austria vs North Macedonia (ko 5pm) and Netherlands vs Ukraine (ko 8pm) fixtures.

I can't see football being bumped off ITV to make way for Tennis - and all of ITV's press releases to date have only mentioned ITV4 or ITVHub for coverage.
So one of either BTCC or Roland-Garross will not be live on ITV4, and it looks like BTCC will be the one that has to move.

Whatever happens - the schedule is due in the next few days, and everything up to then is speculation.

[sceptic]

The football doesn't start until 5pm, so they probably won't be on air until about 4.30pm for that.

The tennis starts at 1.30pm, so may well be finished by then.

Either way, it will be the tennis that moves away from ITV4, as Steve said the BTCC would be on ITV4 at the end of the Thruxton programme.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by sceptic

The football doesn't start until 5pm, so they probably won't be on air until about 4.30pm for that.

The football is now confirmed as starting at 4:15 on ITV - just waiting on confirmation of the tennis/btcc coverage.

ITV state that 'Coverage of each day's play throughout the tournament on ITV4' for the tennis, but for the btcc state 'The network continues its current broadcast arrangements in 2021, which features at least seven hours of live coverage from each race day, although due to the COVID-19 situation and delays to the sporting season, events may be broadcast across ITV, ITV2, ITV3 and/or ITV4.'

I expect the final confirmation before Friday.

For US, the coverage is simpler. Snetterton: Friday 25th June – 4PM(ET) on the MotorTrend Channel.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

The football is now confirmed as starting at 4:15 on ITV - just waiting on confirmation of the tennis/btcc coverage.

BTCC : ITV4 11:00 - 18:15
Le Tennis : ITV3 13:30 - 19:00
Kickball : ITV1 16:15 - 19:10

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by redshoes

BTCC : ITV4 11:00 - 18:15
Le Tennis : ITV3 13:30 - 19:00
Kickball : ITV1 16:15 - 19:10

Thanks -

[crmalcolm]

Update to coverage:

Qualifying - itv.com/btcc/qualifying-live - Saturday 12 June from 14.30PM
Raceday - ITV4 & ITV4 HD (LIVE) Sunday 13 June 11.00AM – 18.15PM
BTCC on MotorTrend Channel (US) - Friday 25th June – 4PM(ET)

[porsche962fan]

assume Jessica Hawkins will carry late entry ballast ? or is she a "guest" entry

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

assume Jessica Hawkins will carry late entry ballast ? or is she a "guest" entry

She is a substitute/replacement driver so should carry whatever ballast Andy Neate would have had, i.e. none

[S griffin]

I seem to remember Nick Foster carried the ballast Priaulx would have had when he stood in for him at Rockingham 2015

[redshoes]

Quick heads-up to anyone planning to record the coverage. Series-link appears to have not carried across, at least my Freesat box didn't.

[houston]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Quick heads-up to anyone planning to record the coverage. Series-link appears to have not carried across, at least my Freesat box didn't.

Thanks for the heads up. It was the same for me on Sky.