Restart Racing showed encouraging pace on a promising Saturday at Snetterton, with both cars running inside the top ten in Free Practice before James Dorlin and Chris Smiley secured strong starting positions for Sunday’s opening Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race.
The Norfolk circuit welcomed the BTCC paddock with hot and dry conditions, setting the tone for what is expected to be a demanding race day on Sunday. With the soft, medium and hard tyres all in play across the weekend, and each driver required to use all three compounds across Sunday’s three races, strategy is set to play a major role.
Saturday’s Free Practice session provided an early sign of the team’s pace, as Chris finished seventh and James ended the session tenth, putting both Restart Racing Hyundai i30 Fastbacks inside the top ten.
Qualifying for the Race to Pole then delivered a brilliant result for James, who produced the best qualifying performance of the season so far. Running strongly throughout the session, he placed third in his group to secure sixth on the grid for the Race to Pole, putting himself firmly in the mix at the sharp end.
Chris endured a more frustrating qualifying session after a vibration developed on the front right of his car, preventing him from fully committing to the lap. Despite the issue, he lined up 17th for the Race to Pole with the aim of making progress in the eight lap battle for pole.
When the Race to Pole got underway, James was immediately forced into a battle through the opening sequence of corners. Having started sixth, he was hung out on the outside through Wilson and Palmer, dropping to 11th by the end of the opening lap. Chris also lost ground early on, falling to 18th, but both drivers quickly began to settle into the race.
By lap three, James was putting pressure on Aiden Moffat’s Audi, while Chris started to move forward. The Northern Irishman climbed to 16th after passing Selby’s Ford and Doble’s Power Maxed Racing Audi. Both cars then gained another position when the championship leader, Ash Sutton, was forced to pit with a puncture.
As the race developed, James remained locked onto the back of Moffat but found clear overtaking opportunities hard to come by around the long Snetterton 300 layout. Chris continued to manage the vibration issue while holding 15th, keeping himself in contention for a better Sunday starting position.
James finally found a way through on lap seven, completing a strong move into Murray’s to climb back into ninth. He crossed the line just 0.150 seconds behind Tom Chilton, narrowly missing out on what would have become eighth place after Chilton’s five second penalty was applied.
Chris gained one further position on the final lap after Moffat was forced to pull off and retire, bringing his car home in 14th despite the vibration that had affected him since qualifying.
The result means the team will line up for Sunday’s opening race from inside the points with James starting 9th and Chris 14th.
James said:
“Saturday is done here at Snetterton and it has definitely been our best Saturday so far this year.“Qualifying was really good. We had a few things we wanted to try in free practice, which we then carried into qualifying, including a slightly different strategy with the tyres, and that really paid off.
“We were third in our session and had a small boost issue as well, so without that we might have even been right up towards the front row. That is encouraging because it shows there was still a bit more in it.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get the launch I wanted in the Race to Pole and dropped from sixth to 11th on the opening lap, but I managed to get a couple of places back and finish ninth.
“We’ll start race one tomorrow from ninth, which puts us right in the mix. There is definitely plenty to fight for from there, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
Chris said:
“That is qualifying and the Race to Pole done here at Snetterton. It was a pretty positive start to the day because the car felt good in free practice and the lap time came quite easily.“When we went out in qualifying, the car developed quite a bad vibration in the front right, so I wasn’t able to push it to its true limits because it felt quite severe. We then had to do the Race to Pole with the same vibration in the car, so it was always going to be a bit difficult from there.
“We finished 14th in the end, so we have definitely had better Saturdays, but we have also had worse ones. The focus now is on getting my head down for the three races tomorrow and trying to bring home some strong results for the team.”
With both drivers showing top ten pace during the day, Restart Racing now turns its attention to Sunday’s three races, where tyre strategy, race management and the expected high temperatures could all play a decisive role.