Toyota BTCC Men Head North In Search Of Further Podium Success
Fresh from scoring his maiden podium finish in the BTCC, Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan leads Toyota’s Independents Trophy contenders into battle again this weekend (22/23 June) at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire.
Morgan, 24, will be at the wheel of the Toyota Avensis ‘next generation’ touring car with which he has thus far maintained a 100 per cent scoring rate in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, and he will be joined on the grid by fellow Toyota men Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Racing) and Dave Newsham and Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport).
Adam is one of only four drivers to have scored in each of 2013’s dozen races, and in 11 of those he has finished inside the top 10. It’s a remarkable scoring rate and one which has earned Morgan seventh place overall in the drivers championship and second place in the Independents Trophy,
“I’m looking forward to it,” says Adam. “I really like Croft – it’s an out-and-out fighters’ track and it’s where I scored my first win in a Ginetta. I’m going in fairly confident after the podium I scored at OultonPark… I don’t want to jump the gun, but if we can be there or thereabouts, who knows, we could be in with the chance of another podium come the final race of the weekend.”
Wrathall and the Dynojet Racing team are hoping that Croft will mark a turning point for their fortunes. For although Frank’s Avensis has shown top-eight pace at all four circuits visited so this season, strong points-scoring finishes have been hard to pin down for the Lancashire 25-year-old.
Last time out, Wrathall scored a finish in all three races and broke into the top 10 in the finale. He hopes it is an omen for better things to come: “We are just waiting for everything to come together. When everything clicks and we finally get a good weekend I’m sure that it will be very good. We just need a few things to go our way and then we’ll be sorted… I am sure that speed won’t be a problem – we will be there or thereabouts in terms of pace, and at least at Croft it is easier to overtake than at OultonPark.”
Two weeks ago, Speedworks drivers Newsham and Jackson scored their most positive results of the season so far, both of them finishing all three OultonPark races and with Newsham making the top six.
“I’m really looking forward to the weekend,” said Inverness-based Dave. “We made some big steps during OultonPark. We started the weekend with a car which was good over one lap and we managed to fine-tune it to the point where it was good for a whole race distance, so I’m looking forward to taking the Toyota to Croft to see if it works as well there. I have fond memories of the circuit – I won my first car race there in 2004, in the Scottish Legends series.
“It could be raining this weekend and we’ve tested recently in the wet and found the Avensis much more predictable and friendly in bad conditions. Wet or dry, I think we’ll be OK.”
Sunday’s Croft race action gets underway, live on ITV4, from noon. Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session will be streamed on itv.com/btcc at 1510.
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