Four events remain on the 2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship calendar and the Teams’ Championship battle is truly hotting up, with BTC Racing and Laser Tools Racing tied at the top of the table with 330 points each.
Brackley-based outfit BTC Racing kicked off the campaign with a pair of top-points finishes in races one and two, as Josh Cook and guest driver Dan Cammish notched first and fourth place before securing a 1-2 for the team in the second race. Despite not adding to its tally in race three, the team left Hampshire at the summit of the standings.
Laser Tools Racing meanwhile bagged consistent points in the opening races and topped it off with victory in race three.
Adding significantly to its score in the second event, the reigning Independent Teams’ Champions registered the most points of any team in the second race at Snetterton, which, alongside further consistent additions, saw the squad top the tables after round six.
BTC Racing’s trip to Snetterton however, resulted in the team dropping to fifth in the standings after a difficult time out in Norfolk.
The pair of Honda Civic Type Rs enjoyed a stronger weekend during the third event of the campaign, climbing the order one place to fourth at Brands Hatch, while Laser Tools Racing continued an impressive run to maintain its position at the head of the pack, clinching the best teams’ result in race three after Aiden Moffat delivered a podium and team-mate Ash Sutton finished in eighth.
Following BTC Racing ace Senna Proctor’s speed at the annual Goodyear Tyre Test at Oulton Park, the team returned to the Cheshire circuit for Rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the campaign with renewed optimism, and regular scoring throughout the weekend moved them up another place in the standings into third.
Laser Tools Racing had a similarly strong weekend, but it was Halfords Racing with Cataclean which stole the show on the 2.23-mile circuit, as the Kidderminster-based team became the first to achieve a teams’ top-scoring hat-trick in the campaign so far.
Heading to its local circuit of Knockhill leading the standings, with a 38-point advantage over third-place team BTC Racing, Laser Tools Racing was confident of success in Scotland.
BTC Racing kicked off the weekend with a double podium, while a race two win for Sutton put Laser Tools Racing on top in the second bout. A consistent weekend for Cook and Proctor saw the team move into second place and marginally narrow the gap to its rivals to 35 points.
The latest rounds of the campaign, at Thruxton last month, saw an impressive display from BTC Racing, as the squad bagged the greatest points in all three races and rocketed itself to equal the points tally of the Infinitis of Laser Tools Racing.
As both outfits head into the final four race weekends of the season on equal points – although BTC Racing holds to top spot due to its higher frequency of top-points finishes – the battle is well and truly on for BTCC Teams’ glory.
Catch the upcoming rounds at Croft this weekend (18/19 September) on ITV4 on Sunday from 1135, while Saturday’s qualifying session will be available from 1445 on itv.com/btcc.
