Bridlington’s Senna Proctor earns a couple of fourth places in BTCC races at Knockhill
Team VERTU racing driver Senna Proctor enjoyed another notable performance in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season after a weekend at the Knockhill race circuit in Scotland.
In unusually warm conditions, the 27-year-old from Rudston built up his pace in the Saturday free practice sessions as he prepared for the all-important afternoon qualifying sessions. He made progress into the second session and then onwards again into the ‘quick 6’ shootout ultimately securing a third row slot on the grid for the opening race of the weekend.
With three fast-starting BMWs ahead on the grid, teammate and Championship front runner Tom Ingram settled into fourth at the start before Proctor surged ahead to see if he could make better progress on the soft tyre, with Ingram having elected to run the slower medium compound rubber.
The pair then overhauled Daryl DeLeon when he ran off track and collected grass in his radiator to sit third and fourth, with Proctor tactically backing off on the run to the chequered flag to allow Ingram through to score a podium finish and extend his championship lead.
Proctor impressed again in Sunday’s race 2. Running as high as third in a hard-fought series of battles before he ultimately took the flag in fourth for a second successive race.
The finale race for Proctor had looked good for a well deserved top 10 on the slower medium tyre but he picked up a 10-second time penalty for exceeding track limits that demoted him to 13th, but still adding championship points to his season total.
Even with just a part season campaign Proctor now sits a highly impressive ninth in the overall championship standings ahead of the next event at Donington Park which will be shown live on ITV4 as well as Racer TV in the US and Canada and live on YouTube worldwide outside of the UK.
Proctor said: “We’ve had two strong results and although it was slightly unfortunate in race three, overall it’s been another good weekend - and I can’t complain with two fourths, and we were seventh on the road on the medium tyre before the penalty.
"I just pushed a bit too hard on the tyres, but it’s one of those things and we leave here with a decent haul of points and up into the top ten in the standings.
“We've driven around in the top five all weekend and that’s probably where we have been for 90% of the racing laps today. We just need to execute a few things a little bit better than we have done here and I think the trophies will be stacking up over the rest of the season.”
Justina Williams, Team VERTU Team Owner, said: “We’re pleased with another strong weekend on track and to have extended our lead in the standings is a job well done.
"The fact that all four drivers are now inside the top ten is a credit to how well the team is performing and we’re certainly in a fantastic position as we head into the final three rounds as a result.”