Dan Zelos entered his second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship event at Silverstone last weekend (21-22 September) targeting a top ten finish.
Buoyed by a head-turning BTCC debut at Donington Park four weeks earlier – yielding a full house of points-scoring results – Zelos was aiming to build upon his early momentum, and behind the wheel of his Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30N, he chipped methodically away throughout free practice.
Amongst the 20 high-calibre contenders, the three-time MINI CHALLENGE Champion then pulled a sensational performance out of the bag in an increasingly wet qualifying to progress confidently through the first two sessions and secure himself a berth in the ‘Quick Six’.
His joy at lining up sixth in the UK’s premier motorsport series, however, would sadly prove to be short-lived, as a ride-height failure saw him relegated to the very rear of the grid. He did not let it hold him back.
In front of the live ITV4 television cameras and a hardy trackside crowd the next day, Zelos grittily gained eight places over the course of the opening five laps in the curtain-raiser as he settled into in a multi-car scrap for ninth. The talented young Norfolk ace later relieved former FIA World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff of 11th prior to benefitting from a spin for Adam Morgan to climb into the top ten, going on to take the chequered flag less than two tenths-of-a-second adrift of Andrew Watson in ninth.
In race two, Zelos was even more impressive, as he went on to pressurise Chris Smiley for sixth, closing right onto the Northern Irishman’s tail until a flying Morgan worked his way past. Holding firm to seal his finest finish to-date in eighth, he additionally tallied a maximum score in the Jack Sears Trophy contest for drivers without a BTCC podium to their name prior to the beginning of the campaign.
Race three would be the wettest of all, where Zelos eventually got the better of Huff to advance to fifth, but light contact as both cars slid wide on the grip-less track surface tipped the Toyota into a half-spin and gave Cammish the chance to counter-attack, which he did with the benefit of hybrid on the penultimate tour to demote Zelos to sixth.
A post-race penalty for the coming-together with Huff dropped the East Anglian to eighth in the overall classification, but that did not take the shine off a stellar weekend during which he consistently took the fight to drivers with considerably greater experience at the highest level. His results also earned him the Jack Sears Trophy prize for Silverstone – the perfect way to celebrate a superb display.
Dan Zelos, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS, said: “What an absolutely fantastic weekend! First of all, I was so happy just to be back out again to carry on living my dream. It felt like a long few, ‘will we, won’t we’ weeks since Donington Park, but I had amazing support from Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS, and together with my family, we worked really hard to bring some new partners on-board and make it happen.
“My goal was to make up as many places as possible – we could only go forward, and we did exactly that. To come through from the back of the grid to finish inside the top ten in race one was unreal, and then race two was another brilliant result. I wanted to go home afterwards because I honestly thought I couldn’t improve on that, but to come away with a trophy following race three was just an awesome end to the weekend.
“We definitely exceeded our expectations. I couldn’t have asked for anything better, although it did make me wonder what might have been possible if we hadn’t been put to the back of the grid after qualifying – and I know there’s still so much more to come.
“Honestly, I’m over-the-moon. We’re not a family with lots of money behind us, but results like this clearly help. We worked 24/7 after Donington and we weren’t sure if Silverstone would happen, but it did. Miracles do happen. We’ve had a couple come our way recently – maybe they come in threes…”
