Hunter Abbott proved that the right tyre choice can make a huge difference over a Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship weekend. The AlcoSense Breathalysers racer enjoyed his most successful weekend to date at Croft last time out (28-29 June) scoring two points-finishes, with an alternative tyre strategy helping him to make up numerous positions on race day.
While the vast majority of his rivals elected to run the soft Dunlop SportMaxx tyre in the final race, the 33-year-old opted to fit the stickier rubber to his Audi A4 for the first contest. Having qualified 17th during Saturday’s record-breaking shootout, Abbott leapt off the line and was up in 13th at the end of the first tour. Avoiding the inevitable first-lap dramas, he found himself scrapping well inside the points-scoring positions, trading places with the likes of MG’s Sam Tordoff and AmDTuning.com’s Dave Newsham right to the end of the race.
Abbott took the chequered flag in tenth – his best result since coming to the championship back in March of this year – and looked set for another strong performance in race two. A small mistake was, however, to put the Audi out of the race, as slight contact with a tyre stack damaged the car and Abbott was forced to retire.
This left the #54 driver with it all to do in the final battle of the day, as his DNF put him down in 26th on the grid. Another strong start set the tone for Hunter’s race, as he carved through the field making up an impressive 15 places to cross the line in 11th.
After his most successful BTCC Sunday to date, he commented: “It’s definitely a breakthrough for me but I’d also say it’s overdue. My race engineer James Weaver and I have found a lot more pace in the car since qualifying yesterday and it’s felt terrific. We spent a lot of time going through the set-up of the car this weekend and with a few more tweaks it gives us a really good base to work from for the rest of the season.
“I’m very pleased with my day’s work and it rewards the fantastic work that goes into the cars and running the team behind the scenes. More please!”
Watch highlights of the Croft weekend below:
