Senna Proctor homes in on double BTCC podium success at Croft
Bridlington’s Senna Proctor continued his fine form on his return to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) after a three-year hiatus.
In the 26-year-old’s home meeting at Croft he powered to a double podium performance and bagged another fine haul of championship points.
Proctor’s Hyundai was immediately on the pace from the moment Saturday’s track action got underway, taking second fastest overall on the timesheets in both free practice sessions. He then progressed through the first phase of qualifying, ending up on the fourth row of the grid for the opening race on Sunday.
After heavy Sunday morning rain, conditions had dried enough for slick tyres for the start, with Proctor going for the soft compound rubber on his 150th BTCC race.
A rapid start for Proctor saw him rocket up the order to sit third by the end of the opening lap and from there he was able to keep Daniel Rowbottom at bay for his first podium since returning to the grid.
As a podium finisher Senna was then forced to take the hard tyre and he was unable to match the pace of the majority of the field, who were out on track on the quicker and better handling soft rubber.
Having been forced wide off track at Sunny Out early on, Proctor battled back and was still running in the points at the flag but a 10-second penalty for exceeding track limits meant he was classified back in 19th.
In the final race of the day Proctor produced an astonishing drive blasting upwards through the order to finish in third place despite starting way back in 19th on the grid.
On the soft tyre, he got away well off the line to make up numerous places and then vaulted up the order when he deftly avoided a multi-car incident that brought out the safety car.
At one stage moving ahead of teammate Tom Ingram on track as the pair worked to clear Moffat’s BMW, Proctor then slotted back in behind his team-mate to take his second podium of the weekend and at the same time helping Ingram maintain his BTCC points lead.
Proctor said: “The only thing I can be disappointed with this weekend is that we didn’t execute race two on the hard tyre as well as we could have done, but to come away from my home weekend with two podium finishes is an absolute dream.”
“Getting onto the podium in race one from eighth on the grid was a really good way to kick things off and I’d have been happy with that for the weekend after race two - my wife actually decided to go home when I was going to be starting the final race back in 19th!
“I was aiming for a top 10 but with everything happening ahead, we managed to make up ground to be in the top six after a few laps and then I just had to get my head down and push forwards.”
The BTCC next visits the unique challenge that is the Knockhill Circuit near Fife, Scotland, a track with undulations and high kerbs that launch cars airborne around parts of the 1.27mile lap.
The season calendar and points standing can all be found at www.btcc.net. Live coverage of the racing is shown on ITV4 as well as catchup viewing via ITVX.
Saturday qualifying is shown live on the ITV Sport YouTube channel.