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Arkas man set for second home round of BTCC season |
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Thursday, 29 May 2008 |
After a challenging weekend at Thruxton, Barrow-upon-Humber racer Martyn Bell will hope to run strongly in his second ‘home’ race of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season at Croft this Sunday [1 June].
Martyn picked up two finishes in Hampshire a fortnight ago but was unable to add to his Independents’ points tally and also suffered a disappointing retirement in race two after being caught up in someone else’s accident and damaging his Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch. Although unable to score points last time out, Martyn was left encouraged by the lap-times he produced in his Tech-Speed run car, which enabled him to run with the midfield pack, and he will now hope to make progress as the BTCC makes its annual trip to the North East. “I’m looking forward to my second ‘home’ race of the year,” Martyn said. “I’m going to have a lot of supporters there for the weekend and hopefully we’ll put on a decent show.  “If conditions are dry, I hope to be able to find more speed in myself as we know that the Astra is quick around Croft – it’s a circuit that really suits the car. We’ve shown in the dry that we can run with the likes of Jason Hughes, Rob Collard and Harry Vaulkhard and I want to get into a position to run towards the front of that group. “We knew Thruxton would be tough but the Astra should be stronger this weekend. We have some new ideas and I’m gelling more with the car. The key thing will be to keep out of trouble, as Croft is a circuit where it is easy to make a mistake and take a corner off the car.” Before the race weekend, Martyn will join Robertshaw Racing’s Harry Vaulkhard and Alan Taylor for the latest ‘fans forum’ laid on by series sponsors HiQ. The event, to be held tonight [Thursday] will run from 6.30-8.30pm at HiQ’s Meynell Road store in Darlington where Martyn will sign autographs, pose for pictures and talk to fans about life in the BTCC. “HiQ asked me to go along for the event and it’s really good to get the opportunity to give something back to the fans away from the track,” he said. “Hopefully some people who come to the forum might also become fans and head to the circuit on Sunday!”
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