SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT: Harry knows his home circuit well

Motorsport reporter Matt Westcott speaks to some of the event’s biggest names and looks ahead to some close fought tin top action.

HARRY Vaulkhard still remembers his first drive around Croft Circuit.

The Newcastle-born Tempus Sport driver was a teenager and was behind the wheel of his dad’s Morgan.

“I think I was 17 and it was a track day,” he said. “He had had the Morgan for years and that was my first experience around a track in a car.

“I couldn’t believe how fast it was because it was a cronky old thing. I remember thinking it was a bit quicker than I was anticipating.

“It was then that I was bitten by the bug. I had had a taste of it and it sowed the seed which is still there now.”

Though it was his first time on the Croft tarmac, the 23- year-old was not a stranger to the circuit.

“I remember coming in 1997 when they had the first touring car meeting here,” he said. “My dad used to race and was competing in one of the support races. We camped down at the bottom of the circuit and because it had been really bad weather we helped push the cars out of the car park for a fiver a time until we got booted out by the local farmer who was annoyed we were undercutting him.”

This weekend Vaulkhard will be competing in the touring car championship himself, behind the wheel of his Chevrolet Lacetti.

He is currently 12th in the standings on 18 points and is looking forward to racing at Croft, where he is employed as a driving instructor.

“We had some problems at Oulton Park (in the previous round) and aside from the fact that it is my home round it is really important we get some points,” he said. “We had an engine problem which was a major blow so we need to get some performance out of this weekend.

“Because this is my home track there is always that added bit of pressure because I have my friends and family here and obviously I work here as well.

“It’s a bitchy business in some respects, as well, and there are people who are waiting for you to make a mistake or wanting you to not do well, so your home round is always that bit harder. But hopefully there will be lots of people to support me so there will be less people against me than normal.”

Vaulkhard is hoping his knowledge of Croft will give him an edge at the weekend, though he appreciates he will be up against drivers who have years of experience.

“I remember watching the likes of Jason Plato and Matt Neal driving around these tracks and they know them like the back of their hand,”

he said. “But you are looking for tenths of seconds and you can find that in two corners just by knowing a little trick here and there. Because I have done so many laps around here I like to think I know all these things, whereas I am not that sure of them at some of the other tracks. You always have that doubt in your mind, but I know exactly where the car should be at all times around Croft which is definitely a positive.”

Vaulkhard was a little coy about his approach to the weekend, but was hopeful of getting points on the board.

“We need to see what happens in free practice, because we don’t really know how the car is going to go here,” he said. “Last year, we didn’t do any of the free practices and the old car was way off the pace compared with the new one. We went straight into qualifying and ended up 14th, which for that car was fairly respectable.

“Hopefully, this car should be better. It’s good on the high speed stuff, we will struggle a little bit on the technical stuff, where the BMWs and the Honda Civics, which are short wheelbase, put the power down better than us, but on the quick stuff around the back I would imagine the car will be pretty unstoppable.”

Rider happy to stay off the track

TELEVISION anchorman Steve Rider has had a little insight into what it takes to be a touring car driver, but is happier standing on the sidelines.

The ITV frontman, who will present a full day’s worth of action from Croft tomorrow, was offered the chance to drive former championship ace Rickard Rydell’s Volvo some years ago and the memory lives with him to this day.

“Rickard had given me a couple of laps just before qualifying at Brands Hatch with about 20,000 at the circuit,” he said.

“With five minutes to go to qualifying he hopped out and said ‘right, get behind the wheel, it’s your turn’.

“I blame the fact that the tyres were cold, but it was my first experience of a sequential gearbox and after trundling around for a few laps I found a gear I liked and thought I’d stay in that but I threw it off at Clearways.

“I buried it in the cat litter and it took them the whole night to hoover out the bottom of the car.”

Rider, a motorsports fan, believes it’s important that Croft remains on the BTCC calendar.

“It is important to have a championship and a show that goes all over the UK, from Snetterton in the east to Croft in the North-East, Thruxton heading to the south west and Rockingham in the Midlands and Knockhill in Scotland,” he said.

“It is so easy to think of a championship as Brands Hatch and Silverstone and alternating between the more predictable circuits.

“Croft is a circuit that the drivers really enjoy and the spectators really enjoy because it offers such great access to the cars and the people involved – one of the characteristics of the championship.”

Lawson aims for more success

ROB Lawson is looking to build on a superb outing at Oulton Park when he takes to the Croft Circuit in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship.

Lawson, from Barton, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, opened up an 11-point lead in the Pro-Am 1 class standings and is fifth in the overall championship after two class wins and two fifth places overall.

“The gameplan will be to build on that, but it will be the first time we have been around Croft in a Porsche, so it will be a learning curve and depending on how well we work through the set-ups that will give us an idea of how competitive we will be,”

said the JHR Developments driver.

“Things have gone very well so far. It was always going to be difficult being a new team and me new to the Porsche.

You have to set your standards fairly high, but you have to keep your feet on the ground. I am happy with the progress we are making, but we have still got a lot of room for improvement.”

Thompson planning victory at Croft

JAMES Thompson says he is hatching a cunning plan as he bids to extend his rich vein of form at his ‘home’ circuit.

The 35-year-old, who hails from York, has lifted the British Touring Car Championship title twice previously and returned to the series this year after a stint in the World Touring Car Championship.

Despite only joining up with Team Dynamics after the first race of the season, Thompson has proved more than a match for his rivals in his Honda Civic and has notched three wins in the last six races. He is currently sixth in the standings on 74 points, behind leader Matt Neal (111), Colin Turkington (109), Fabrizio Giovanardi (92), Jason Plato (87) and Rob Collard (78).

In addition to his participation in Britain, Thompson is also racing in the Danish equivalent and currently leads the standings there.

Given that, Thompson says he will be going for glory this weekend when the lights go out.

“I am going to try and win, we are not going there to just try and pick up some points, we just want to win races,” he said.

“We are on a bit of a roll at the minute. I am leading the Danish Touring Car Championship, I have won three races in the UK and one in Denmark and I want to keep that run going.

“We are going to go there, see how competitive we are, look at whether we win races in the first two races or whether we look at winning race three (when the grid is reversed).

“We will assess where we are in first practice and qualifying and come up with a cunning plan.”

Thompson had a successful time driving in the World Championship, finishing third in an Alfa Romeo in 2007, and isn’t keen to say which series he prefers.

However, he believes the British version provides more entertainment for its legions of fans.

“The World Championship, by its very nature, has a lot of the best drivers in the world in it, all driving top machinery,” he said.

“So the level of competition is exceptionally high.

“The difference between the two championships is that the British Championship has been run exceptionally well to provide entertainment for spectators and television – the weight system, reverse grid, three races – it’s all designed to create entertainment.

“There have been some fantastic races, probably the best racing you will see in any form of motorsport.”

And Thompson believes the BTCC offers a more level playing field for those taking part.

“The World Championship is purist racing whereas the BTCC is entertainment-based and gives everybody a chance, whether they are privateers or works teams. I think that is a very good compromise, particularly in the current economic climate. Everybody has the chance to challenge for top honours.”

Thompson has a liking for the Croft Circuit. He has won there four times in his illustrious career and is the current lap record holder.

“The nice thing about Croft is that I can have my family there. It is also a very crowdfriendly track and you are very aware of all the people that are there,” he said.

“It is a very nice place to drive and the circuit is a little bit different to a lot of others, because you have the new part of the track, which is a little bit smoother, and then you have the bumpy part where you really have to take it by the scruff of the neck.

“There’s a little bit of everything.”

Turkington has Neal in his sights

COLIN Turkington says scorching hot weather at Croft tomorrow will give him his best chance of sneaking past Matt Neal into the lead of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship just ahead of the series’ mid-season break.

Team RAC BMW driver Turkington won twice at Oulton Park to close to within just two points of Vauxhall’s Neal at the top of the table.

In fact the Northern Irishman briefly sniffed the championship lead after winning race two at Oulton, only for a non-score in race three to then enable Neal to claw back in front.

The 27-year-old, who this weekend at Croft will make his 200th race start in the BTCC, said: “I’m not too disappointed to have dropped behind Matt in that race. It means my car will have less success ballast than his in qualifying and race one and I see Croft being a more difficult circuit to carry the ballast.

“If it’s another scorcher, like at Oulton, then I think we can be very competitive again but if it’s cooler or there’s a bit of drizzle then it could even things out. I won twice at Croft last year, in very wet and then damp conditions, so I’m sure the car will be competitive whatever the conditions. But how close to the sharp end you never can tell until everyone takes to the track.”

Turkington’s two wins at Oulton were achieved in polished style after he first saw off 2001 title-winner Jason Plato and then reigning Champion Fabrizio Giovanardi.

The title race’s top three, then, arriving at Croft is Neal, Turkington and Giovanardi but the Portadown man believes others still have time to come into play.

He added: “It’s certainly not a three-horse race. Jason, Robert Collard and James Thompson are all pretty close as well and it’s still early days.

Yes, we’ve had 12 races so far but there are still another 18 to go. It could all look very different after Croft this weekend. In particular I think Jason is looking really strong – it seems his Chevrolet is going to be competitive everywhere and he’ll win more races.

“But results breed confidence. I feel I’m driving well but I don’t feel overconfident.

OK, I had a couple of cracking races at Oulton and you feel on top of the world when that happens but then you get a race like race three. It’s important you learn how to ride the highs and the lows as well.