Alex MacDowall is looking to continue his fine BTCC form as the series heads to Croft Circuit near Darlington this weekend (19/20 June), follwing a strong showing at Oulton Park just over a week ago in his Silverline Chevrolet.
The Cumbrian born 19-year-old is looking forward to his home race, one that is unsurprisingly a favourite of his: “Croft is definitely one of my top two favourite circuits – it's my local track and there's always a very good atmosphere. It's a daunting track and it's fast too, which is what I like, plus it's been a good circuit for me in the past. Last year I had a double pole, a win and a second place in Clios so I'm focused on trying to re-produce that sort of performance in the touring car.”
MacDowall narrowly missed out on pole position at Oulton by 0.069 seconds following a small mistake that forced him to lose time in the final sector of his best lap. During the third race of the day he was forced to retire from leading the race after a driveshaft failure on the fourth lap.
Talking of the last weekend he said: “We should really have had pole position for the first race at Oulton but I made a mistake on my best lap in the final sector and that made all the difference. At Croft, I think we should be just as strong so I'm aiming to qualify on the front row – it'd be nice to take the pole we should have had at Oulton.”
Looking forward to the weekend ahead he added: “Although we should be quick on the straights, the Chevy will probably be strongest through the twisty parts of the track as it has very good grip on turn-in. I'm looking forward to the weekend, hopefully we can have a strong qualifying and three trouble-free races.”
Photo credit: Jackob Ebrey Photography