SIB Sport | News | Sibsport celebrate first BTCC championship point (Wednesday 25th April 2007)

Sibsport celebrate first BTCC championship point

Wednesday 25th April 2007

Following a triple finish at Brands Hatch three weeks earlier, sibsport were aiming to get nearer to the top ten at Rockingham as the team continued to focus on gradual progression.

Despite having to fit a new engine due to a failure in race one which meant he couldn’t compete in race two, Blanckley made it onto the grid for race three – round 6 of the series. Blanckley’s calm driving style meant he avoided the usual chaos that is common in BTCC race starts and by the end of the first lap he had moved his Honda Integra up from 21^st on the grid to 17^th. As Blanckley kept out of trouble, others in front of the Durham driver were having problems. Having overtaken several of his rivals, Blanckley made his way up to 13^th by lap 9, when the safety car was deployed. This caused the field to close up and a few laps later, Blanckley found himself in 11^th place, just over a second behind Turkish driver Erkut Kizilirmak in his Vauxhall Astra.

Determined to achieve the team’s first point and put behind him the disappointment of the first two races earlier in the day, Blanckley hunted down the Vauxhall and made the pass on lap 13. He stayed in 10^th to claim the last championship point, a result that his team were elated with as he passed the chequered flag. Blanckley’s consistency throughout the last race of the day – lapping in the mid 1 minute 27 seconds bracket – was also crucial to his result.

Round 7, 8 and 9 of the BTCC calendar are at the super-fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, close to the historic site of Stonehenge, on May 6th. Following the conclusion of that race, Simon Blanckley will then visit his local track of Croft for the next event of the championship on June 3^rd.

Team Quotes

Simon Blanckley, Owner/Driver

“The result in round 6 was really great for the team. The guys put so much effort in to get me out for that race. In the first race (round 4) I had a coming together with Chris Stockton (Lexus) which broke the anti-roll bar. I kept going, although the car felt like it was steering from the rear. Then towards the end of the race we had an engine failure.

"The fact that the team changed the engine in just a few hours was incredible. The bigger teams can manage it, but for a small independent team to get it done so fast is a real credit to the engineering expertise of Graham Hathaway Engineering and Neil Brown Competition Engines.”

“The way the day finished was really positive. It is amazing, scoring my first BTCC point in only my second event. I really wasn’t expecting it!”

Graham Hathaway, Team Manager

“A really good result in the final race. My guys did an amazing job with the engine change – it’s not an easy procedure. It really shows their commitment and professionalism.”