Michael Crees goes into the seventh race meeting of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Snetterton 300 Circuit this weekend (13/14 August) retaining his usual positive and upbeat approach – despite the 2022 campaign having been more perplexing than expected.
Just over a week ago at Knockhill in Scotland, the most northerly event on the BTCC calendar and one of Crees’ favourite tracks, the CarStore Power Maxed Racing driver was ultimately left very disappointed as his hopes of progressing throughout the weekend were hampered.
In terms of the race action, the popular Broadstairs racer battled as well as ever and produced some impressive overtakes as he fought incredibly hard to try and claw his way up the order in all three Scottish contests.
Emerging with a best finish of sixth in the Independents’ Trophy class, Crees is aiming for a stronger weekend at Snetterton, especially after running very strongly during the mid-season Goodyear tyre test in Norfolk track last month.
Producing time-sheet topping pace at the two-day test on the second morning in the Independents’ class, seventh overall, the performance gave a big lift to the team but sadly couldn’t be replicated at Knockhill.
Pace in qualifying is one of the absolute keys to unlocking Crees’ potential, and the 38-year-old knows it will be particularly important at Snetterton. As always, he will be giving it the maximum in every session...with his trademark smile in place throughout!
“I’m staying positive as we head to Snetterton, we always like to keep that frame of mind and keep our heads high,” said Crees. “I won’t lie, Knockhill was a big disappointment and especially after we’d gone there off the back of a strong showing at the tyre test. We struggled all weekend with the power, which has been something we’ve had difficulties with most of the season, to be honest – it’s been tough.
“We just need to be able to have a fair chance of fighting on an even keel, but that’s obviously easier said than done. The team is working hard to try and solve the problems we’ve been battling, if we can get the car there or thereabouts I’m confident in my own ability I’ll be able to race well at Snett and hopefully challenge for some decent finishes.”
Following the usual pair of free practice sessions on Saturday (13 August) at 0930 and 1210, qualifying at Snetterton will begin at 1520 with the full session streamed live via www.itv.com/btcc.
The opener on Sunday gets underway at 1208 while Round 20 follows at 1415, with both races shown live on ITV’s main channel. The final contest kicks off from 1710, with ITV4 taking over the race-day coverage from 1500.
