Brands Hatch BTCC RD’s 1,2,3

The reigning British SEAT Cupra R Champion arrived at Brands Hatch for his BTCC Debut in a good frame of mind looking for some solid finishes to kick off his BTCC career. However the changing weather looked set to make that as difficult as possible for the entire grid. Vaulkhards Chevrolet Lacetti was emblazoned with a black badge & the words R.I.P Ian Brocklesby to commemorate Harry’s race engineer that helped him to success last season, Ian sadly passed away the week before the meeting, our thoughts are with his family.

Qualifying: The 22 year old North Easterner set out on the wet circuit on wet tyres like the rest of the field however it was beginning to look as if the last person to get a good lap on slicks would be the pole sitter with the track drying rapidly. Towards the end of the session Harry was only 1/10th off Giovanardi’s time, with the lap times crashing every lap time was running out & as Harry started his fast lap he crossed the line to see the red flags being waved as Michael Doyle had beached his car in the Gravel at Paddock Hill bend. Session over, leaving an unfortunate Harry in a lowly 20th spot on the grid.
Harry said “It’s just one of those things, I should have pushed harder earlier but I suppose you can put that down to a bit of inexperience on my part”.

Race 1: Vaulkhard set off on the green flag lap having never completed a racing start in his Chevrolet Lacetti S2000. Confident of making up positions the newcomer was excited for the start. As the lights went out Vaulkhard made a storm of a start passing two cars on the run to turn 1, then a further car on the run to Surtees, however his luck was about to run out when John George spun on the inside of Harry & collected him, taking them both off the circuit & damaging Harry’s steering & taking a great chunk from the rim of Vaulkhard’s front wheel. With the damage to the car Harry was unable to push & had lost a lot of time to the leaders. He eventually finished 18th. Harry commented after his first ever BTCC race “Well that was disappointing, I must have got lucky off the line because she went like a rocket ship. I’m a little disappointed to be taken out of the race in someone else’s mistake but that’s just how the cookie crumbles sometimes”.

Race2: Starting from 18th on the grid Harry was confident of another rapid start, he held his position on the run to the first corner & had to defend against the two BTC spec Astra sport Hatches for the first lap, & after making a mistake was briefly overtaken by a Honda Civic however he made the place straight back & dropped the chasing pack, tagging onto the back of Jason Hughes’s MG. After the safety car had come out Harry tried to make an impression on Hughes however by this point the car had gone away badly from him and he was left to maintain position against the following BTC spec Integra of Andrew Jordan. In a forceful move Jordan pushed Vaulkhard wide at Surtees across the grass & took the position with one lap to go. Harry finished a creditable 15th from 18th on the grid.

After the race Vaulkhard said “I should have had 14th there but there wasn’t much I could do with the under steer we were struggling from, I don’t know why Andrew had to push me off I was struggling so badly for grip anyway. We’ll make some changes now & hopefully for race 3 we can push a bit harder”.

Race 3: From 15th on the grid the BTCC Rookie was again hopeful of a start like in race 1 however it was not to be! In only his 3rd BTCC start in the car Harry, by his own admit ion “fluffed the start” in tremendous style. Going from 15th to second last ‘about 21st’ however the safety car was brought out after Plato & Onslow-Cole got tangled up in a huge accident exiting Graham hill bend. Tom’s car was badly damaged & unable to continue. Meanwhile Harry was awaiting the re-start and as they raced across the line Vaulkhard had made up one spot on the way into Turn 1, & challenging for another into Turn 2, Harry locked up & had light contact with Turkish Touring car champion Erkut Kizilirimak. The battle raged on & Vaulkhard put a nice clean move on Erkut at the renowned clearways bend. By the end of the race Vaulkhard had fought hard to re-gain the positions he lost off the start & was now up in 1th place & catching the cars in front. The race was just too short with Harry having to settle in 14th position after demonstrating some well executed overtaking manoeuvres & impressing the crowd at Paddock Hill bend with some big slides early in the race.

Harry summed up the day afterwards, “Well I suppose you could say the day has been ‘solid’ we’ve come away with three finishes, albeit not as high up as I know I’m capable of running, but we’ve learned loads about the cars. With any luck at Rockingham, I can show a bit more of my potential. It’s awesome being out there in the BTCC, the Chevrolet Lacetti is a great car & Robertshaw racing has engineered it very well with the help of John Waterman who has also been priceless. I’d also like to thank RML & all of my sponsors, Whitmores Chevrolet, Orange Bus IT, David Price, Smuggling Duds, & my family & friends for helping me get to this level! I’d also like to thank Ian Brocklesby for all of his help over the last few seasons & who I owe just being here to, who sadly passed away last week.”

The next round of the Championship is taking place at Rockingham motor speedway in Northampton on Sunday the 13th of March.