British fans are getting
ready to welcome international racing stars to Brands Hatch
for  the latest FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) round and past
performances from home favourites, Andy Priaulx, Rob Huff and James
Thompson,
indicate a crowd-pleaser is on the cards.
Harrogate’s
Thompson has won at the undulating track five
times in touring cars and leads the British WTCC drivers’ Brands Hatch
league table. Huff, from Cambridge, is second after scoring a win
during his first year of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in
2004 as well as securing three class wins in the BCV8
Championship.
Reigning World Champion, Priaulx, is still chasing his first touring car victory at the
Kent circuit but says it just motivates him to go that little bit further.
“I
had a tough one last year,” said the 32-year-old, who is currently one
point off the WTCC championship lead. “It rained and BMW is a little
bit slower in the wet but I’ve had some successes here in previous
years in other formulae.
“It’s
like a mini Nürburgring here; it’s all about
experience. Having said that, I raced here in F3 and Renault Spiders,
so I know the circuit pretty well but even I struggled to get into the
top ten
last year simply because we were carrying so much success ballast from
the previous rounds.
“This year is a bit different. A number of drivers are heavier with ballast
so I’m going for a win.”
Other WTCC drivers to have won at Brands Hatch include:
-
Alain
Menu, who is the most successful WTCC driver with eight touring car
wins over
the last 12 years. The Chevrolet driver was already a dab-hand by the
time he got to touring cars, having raced at Brands Hatch in the
British F3000
championship in 1990 with one second-place finish
-
Menu is closely followed by SEAT’s Yvan Muller, who also has eight wins with
the first three coming during his victorious 1992 British F2 season
-
After Thompson, Gabriele Tarquini has the next best record, winning four races at
 Brands Hatch during his 1994 BTCC season
Another notable performance is that of
BMW’s Alex Zanardi, who came to Brands Hatch with the FIA Formula 3000
Championship in 1991, qualifying on pole and finishing second against
the likes of Damon Hill, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Allan McNish and Heinz
Harold-Frentzen.
Adult admission to Brands Hatch on Sunday 23 September costs £30, but only £24 if you book online at www.motorsportvision.co.uk,
with an online weekend ticket costing £34.
Children aged 12 and under go free.
Grandstand
seating starts at £5 and the Race Day Pit Walkabout, which opens at
09:00 on Sunday, costs £12. Advance booking is available from the
Ticket Hotline on 08709 509000 and closes at noon on Tuesday 18
September.
For more information please visit www.fiawtcc.com
The first WTCC Champion
was Andy Priaulx. The title was decided in the final round with Priaulx finishing on 101 points to Dirk Müller’s 86 and Fabrizio
Giovanardi’s 81.
The 2006 WTCC saw 11
winners in 20 races. The reigning WTCC Driver Champion is Andy Priaulx.
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