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ROUND 1: BRANDS HATCH (INDY)
ROUND 1: BRANDS HATCH (INDY)

The Season starts here: Welcome to the Jungle

rands Hatch is probably the most
iconic and best loved track in the UK.
BThe Indy circuit is fast and can prove
to be a challenge for the entire field,
especially in the wet, as we saw during 2018.
Mind you, the big news of the weekend at
our first meeting last year was our rookie,
Dan Cammish, showing the field how to
drive by taking pole in qualifying, only to lose
it through an infraction while entering the pit
lane. Even so, he still started on the second
row in what was to be the first of many
outstanding qualifying results which
eventually would help him to winning the
Jack Sears Trophy.

2018 was a great outing for our new blood
but to our Matt, a little more frustrating. After
a DNF in Race 1 and a 29th finish in Race 2,
Matt did what Matt does best turned the FK8
into a hot knife and the rest of the field into days and there’s plenty more to come. Better
butter and carved his way to an impressive
yet, we are going to be light at Donington, so
12th finish.
hopefully we can fight back on home turf.
Due to earlier rain, the track remained very ”Dan Cammish on Brands Hatch
greasy and Matt took a chance in race 2 by
using slicks. It proved to be a risk that didn’t
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but the car is
pay off. Never mind, that’s BTCC for you.
back in one piece, with all four wheels
pointing in the same direction and I’ve come
Considering this was the first outing in the away with my first BTCC trophy, so I’d call
new Honda Civic Type R FK8, the season that a win. I was heartbroken after qualifying
appeared to look promising. Yes, it wasn’t
because it was probably the best lap I’ve
quite right but very solid foundations to
ever driven, but to top the timesheets
mount a challenge for the silverware on offer.
showed what this car is capable of so I think
I laid down a bit of a marker there. Pulling a
Matt Neal on Brands Hatch
time out over a single lap is something I’ve
always enjoyed, but I knew the races would
“My weekend obviously unravelled in race
be more brutal than anything I’d experienced
one. I tried to do something a little off-piste in before – at the end of the day, this is my
race two but it was a struggle, which was rookie season and this was my rookie
compounded by getting knocked around a weekend and it’s a completely different
bit for good measure. We at least made up
ballpark. You’ve also got to remember that
17 places in race three, which demonstrated
the FK8 is a brand new piece of it – I didn’t
the potential of the new Civic Type R, and drive my car for the first time until Season
there are a lot of reasons for optimism Launch – and we’re perhaps not getting the
moving forward. The car seems to be quick best out of the tyres yet but I’m with the best
in the dry, the engine is working well and
possible team for my learning curve in
Dan is clearly very fast – for us to both be
Halfords Yuasa Racing. It was nice to be on
inside the top six in qualifying with a car that the podium, and even though it wasn’t
has far from achieved its full potential yet is outright, we’ll get there. These guys always
very encouraging. We still have some work do.”
to do in wet trim, but it’s a new car so that’s
only to be expected and one of the biggest
Brands Hatch (Indy) for 2019
positives about the FK8 is its aerodynamics
and lack of drag; when we get to the longer Ok, prediction time. I think firstly we need to
circuits where it can stretch its legs a bit, that take a look at the potential of both drivers
should really pay dividends. It’s extremely
and a now seasoned FK8. We also have to
early
take other things into consideration such as
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