Dan Zelos stunned seasoned observers on his long-awaited Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship debut at Donington Park last weekend (24-25 August), scoring in all three races with a superb performance that saw him more than stake his claim to a permanent spot on the grid in the UK’s premier motorsport series.
Barely a week after clinching his third career crown in the fiercely-disputed MINI CHALLENGE, Zelos received an 11th-hour call-up to replace Ronan Pearson at Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS for the event, with former BTCC champion Tim Harvey describing it as a ‘long overdue’ chance for a ‘prolific winner and outstanding talent’.
Be that as it may, with next-to-no preparation time, the gifted young Norfolk ace knew he would be up against it, and the classically capricious British summer did him no favours either, as predominantly wet weather on Saturday morning made way for a damp-but-drying track surface in qualifying.
After adopting a typically methodical approach throughout free practice – completing 29 confidence-building laps behind the wheel of his Hyundai i30N – Zelos was pitted against no fewer than eight BTCC race-winners in his group in Q1, two of them multiple champions. Despite it also being his first time on slick tyres over the course of the weekend, he did not put a foot wrong in the tricky conditions and proceeded to qualify 16th amongst the 20 high-calibre protagonists.
With scant prior opportunity to rehearse any starts – a very different procedure to what he is used to in his MINI – the 26-year-old inevitably lost out at the beginning of the curtain-raising contest, but then swiftly settled into the pack. Wasting no time at all in getting stuck in, he had clawed his way up to 13th by the time the safety car was summoned on lap four to deal with an incident at the chicane.
Looking anything but a rookie, once the action resumed, Zelos showcased superb speed as he set the tenth-fastest lap of the race. Having overtaken Chris Smiley just after mid-distance, he subsequently hassled Aiden Moffat – a winner at Donington earlier in the season – on his way to 12th at the chequered flag to pick up four thoroughly well-deserved championship points.
The ever-evolving conditions threw another curve ball into the mix ahead of race two, with light rain before the start, but the highly-rated Dereham-born hotshot was once more right in the thick of the midfield battle. Despite twice losing ground on the outside line as drivers ran two or three-abreast in a frenetic fight – dropping him as low as 17th – Zelos grittily hauled himself back into the points again and ultimately wound up 13th, posting his personal best lap time on the penultimate tour.
That consistent improvement continued in the day’s finale, as – in front of the live ITV4 television cameras and a capacity trackside crowd – the former Norwich University of Arts and Dereham Sixth Form College student ran in close company with title-chasing team-mate Tom Ingram early on.
Coping artfully with another passing shower in the closing stages, Zelos applied some pressure to tin-top heavyweights Colin Turkington and Rob Huff, passing the latter – FIA World Touring Car Champion in 2012 – to cap his day’s work with an excellent 11th-place finish, as his best result of the weekend made the East Anglian the second-highest scorer of the four Hyundai drivers at Donington.
Dan Zelos, Driver, Team Bristol Street Motors, said: “What an unforgettable weekend, and such a massively proud moment for me and my family. The past week has been absolutely mental – a real whirlwind, and it has all felt a bit surreal, to be honest.
“I was really gutted for Ronan [Pearson] – he’s a former team-mate and a friend – but on a personal level, I can’t thank Team Bristol Street Motors and EXCELR8 Motorsport enough for allowing me to live my dream and show what I can do. EXCELR8 has been my racing family for a long time now, and I wouldn’t have wanted my BTCC debut to be with anybody else.
“We’ve been working towards this for so long, and I felt like I’d been ready for it for a while. I would obviously have liked a little more pre-event preparation, but the goal was to try to stay out of trouble and prove to everybody that I deserve to be here and stay here.
“Results-wise, I had no real expectations. Competing in the MINI CHALLENGE was the perfect stepping-stone, but the other drivers have all been in the BTCC a lot longer than me and it was always going to be a massive learning curve. The least I owed Team Bristol Street Motors for the faith they had placed in me was to repay them by bringing the car back in one piece, so that was my main objective.
“I tried to be like a sponge during practice by absorbing as much information as I could. The Hyundai has lots of buttons, lights and sensors that I don’t have in my MINI, and then you have to factor in the radio communication and hybrid – which makes the car feel completely different – not to mention thinking about how you need to approach the next corner! There’s generally just a lot more to deal with.
“I felt quite settled quite quickly, but the bigger challenge was to find out how far I could push the i30N to its limits. I spent Saturday building up slowly, and while getting used to the car and the set-up in those conditions wasn’t easy, we gradually found our way.
“FP1 was my first wet session in a BTCC car, but we weren’t a million miles off the pace. The circuit was pretty sketchy on slick tyres in qualifying; I was hoping the rain would continue as I would have felt so much more comfortable on a wet track after practice, but the team was calm and collected throughout and did a great job in helping me to keep my nerves under control.
“The focus for the first race was simply to keep my nose clean and enjoy the moment. There was a lot going on and I couldn’t believe how well it went – I honestly didn’t expect to score points so soon, but I got my head down, learnt quickly and we went forward! I was over-the-moon to finish 12th, and my shoulders felt a bit lighter after that...
“We got another solid result in race two following some great battles, and I knew everybody would have their elbows out in race three, so to come away with a full set of points-scoring results was just incredible. The Hyundai was phenomenal all weekend, and I really feel like I showed everybody that with a bit more time in the car, I can do some great things.
“Overall, it was an absolutely unbelievable experience – something my family and I have been working towards for most of my life, and I loved every single moment. My dream has become a reality and it wouldn’t have been possible without my parents, my loyal partners, Team Bristol Street Motors and EXCELR8 Motorsport. It’s the fairytale ending and for now, this is it, but I definitely want to be back and I’m hungrier than ever. Let’s see what happens next...”
Justina Williams, Team Owner, Team Bristol Street Motors, said: “Dan did an amazing job considering he was thrown in at the deep end, having never sampled the hybrid system before and with the weather conditions being so varied. He did everything we hoped and more besides, and to score three points finishes in the manner he did was very impressive.”
