Lynch Aims to Bounce back in Scotland.

Westhoughton-based racer heads north of the border and the Knockhill circuit, looking to get his 2011 Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship back on track after recent bad luck.

Lynch and the Lucas Oils Team Geriatric make the trip north to Knockhill, looking to bounce back from two difficult weekends in Belgium and at Lydden Hill. He heads to Knockhill third in the Swift Sport Rallycross Championship standings.

His run of bad luck started in the final head at Maasmechelen after he was caught up in a fellow driver’s accident, he headed to Kent looking to bounce back but his Lydden Hill trip was compromised by a spin in the final, which left him stranded on the circuit with a puncture. The race was red flagged but it was then restarted before the team had repaired his punctured tyre.

This meant that he was classified last in the final, but the results remain provisional as Lynch has appealed against the incidents at Lydden Hill – similar events happened with Richard Norman in Belgium.

Heading to Knockhill, Lynch provisionally lays just two points off second overall but with the trip to Mallory Park cancelled, Lynch has seen his hopes of catching the runaway Championship leader, Dave Bellerby, all but dashed.

“As it stands, I’m third in the championship going into this weekend,” he said, “and with the current situation, my only goal is to go out there and win. I’m not sure yet what the outcome on my appeal against what happened at Lydden Hill will be but the incident there, and the fact that the round at Mallory Park has had to be cancelled, means my chances of catching Dave for the title are now slim.

“However, that doesn’t change my approach as we head to Scotland. My aim is to score the maximum points possible to make sure that, at the very least, I end the season in second place and victory in the final two rounds would be the perfect way to reward the boys in the team for their hard work and the sponsors who have backed us all year.”

Plenty to Play for at Donington Park for British Formula 3 Field.

The battle for the position of the 2011 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series Vice Champion is hotting up as the series heads to the East Midlands once again and the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit – it is the series first experience of the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit for seven seasons.

Next weekend, 24/25 September, will see Kevin Magnussen (Carlin), William Buller (Fortec Motorsport), Carlos Huertas (Carlin), Jazeman Jaafar (Carlin) and Rupert Svendsen-Cook (Carlin) take to the track for the penultimate race weekend of the season and all with their eyes on the prize for finishing in the top three – joining Felipe Nasr (Carlin) for a free half day test at Motorland Aragon on the 28 November in a World Series by Renault car.

“It’s an exceptional prize,” said British Formula 3 championship manager Lisa Crampton, “and one which all those drivers who have a chance will be keen to grab. It’s going to make the last six races of the season particularly exciting.”

Heading into the three Donington Park Grand Prix races, three points separate Danish driver Magnussen and Ulsterman Buller, who currently occupy second and third in the Championship – while a trio of Carlin drivers sit just behind them and eager to close the gap to Magnussen and Buller.

Buller, who has shown some impressive form over the last few races – having secured three victories and two podiums in the last nine races is keen to keep this form going: “Even though the title has now gone, I’ll keep pushing hard to secure second place and the honour of being top British driver in the standings.”

Buller will have to fight Nasr all the way at Donington Park – having secured the crown last time out at Rockingham, the nineteen year old Brazilian driver will be taking risks to secure victories as the pressure is off.

Kotaru Sakurai (Hitech Racing) will win the British Formula 3 International Series rookie crown at Donington Park, as he is the only class entrant. The seventeen year old has claimed the class honours on eleven occasions this season.

Hitech Racing will arrive at Donington Park with three cars as Russian driver Max Snegirev joins the field alongside Rockingham victor Pietro Fantin, while Double R Racing may enter a third car alongside Pipo Derani and Scott Pye, another of the Rockingham race winners.

T-Sport will enter their normal trio of drivers, Menasheh Idafar, Bart Hylkema and Yann Cunha while Fortec Motorsport’s Lucas Foresti, Harry Tincknell, Fahmi Ilyas and Jack Harvey from Carlin complete the line up.

Donington Park Schedule:

Thursday, 22 September:

11.00 – Free Practice (55 Mins)
14.00 – Free Practice (55 Mins)

Saturday, 24 September:

10.40 – Qualifying
15.40 – Round 25 (30 Minutes)

Sunday, 25 September:

10.15 – Round 26 (20 Mins)
13.40 – Round 27 (40 Minutes)

Jackson Targeting Title Fightback at Rockingham.

Mat Jackson heads to Rockingham this weekend (17/18 September) with one aim – to resurrect his Championship ambitions after his trip north of the border last time out saw him pick up a single point in a weekend where he had two retirements and a whole load of back luck.

His rotten luck at Knockhill has seen the Warwickshire ace drop down from leading the way to third and while he still leads the way in the Independents’ Championship, his lead was dramatically reduced last time out.

Looking ahead to Rockingham, Jackson is confident that his #7 Airwaves Racing/The Money Shop Ford Focus ST can help propel him back into contention for the title. The Rockingham circuit mixes part American oval with a tight, twisty infield. He stood on the top step of the podium at the circuit in 2008, when racing a BMW 320si.

Speaking ahead of the Rockingham weekend, Jackson said: “Sure Knockhill with three retirements was a low point for all of us; after all we’d had only one DNF in the 18 races before that! But we also came away very encouraged by the improvements we’d made to the Focus: both our qualifying and race pace seemed to have increased despite us going there with the maximum ballast on a very difficult stop-start circuit.

“We’ll go to Rockingham with less ballast (27kgs) and it’s a circuit that I think will suit the Focus a bit better than Knockhill. We’ve got a great turbocharged engine from Mountune – I’d say it’s one of the two strongest engines out there which should serve us very well down the kilometre start-finish straight to Turn 2. The chassis and braking are two more areas we’ve improved which should enable us to get the job done on the infield where you need a car capable of handling a rapid change in direction.

“Shedden and Neal in the factory Hondas and Plato in the factory Chevrolet who are right behind us are where everyone expects them to be – fighting for the title – so to be among them at this stage of the season is only spurring on everyone even more in our privately run team to take it to them. We are certainly equal to them in the races at Knockhill before bad luck intervened. The gap to Shedden is 23 points but there are at least 50 available from Rockingham’s three races and another 100 after that at Brands Hatch and Silverstone. It’s a fair chunk to make up in nine races but certainly not impossible and we’re really going for it.

“I’m leading the indie drivers’ points and Airwaves are at the top of the Independent teams. Either of those at the end of the season would be a really nice bonus but the main title is our priority.”

Jackson will start his weekend off with two timed practice sessions before qualifying at 14.55, which will be shown live on ITV.com/touringcars.

Rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the season will be shown live on ITV4, ITV4 HD and on ITV.com/touringcars from 11am on Sunday.

Airwaves Racing look for Rockingham Redemption.

Airwaves Racing head into the eighth round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship looking to defend their Independent’s Championship lead while closing the gap to the series leaders in the main Championship.

Knockhill provided the Kent-based outfit a weekend to forget as their bad luck across the border meant that they conceded the outright Championship lead to Gordon Shedden in the Honda Racing Civic – they do, however, still hold the lead in the Independents Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships, but with seriously reduced advantages.

Third in the Championship heading to Northamptonshire is Mat Jackson and despite the disappointments which occurred at Knockhill, he is hoping for a strong performance on the semi oval circuit: “Knockhill was tough but we have to look at the positives and the car was on fire all weekend so it has given us a big boost looking forward to the Rockingham round where hopefully we can get our championship back on track.”

“This will be the first time that we will have been to Rockingham with the Airwaves Focus so it’s a bit of an unknown but I’m buzzing about it! The Hondas have a great car so we expect them to be quick, all we can do is be quicker and out race them over the three races on the Sunday! The big question is will Shedden be allowed to keep his championship position within Dynamics, or will we see Oulton Park all over again? From our side the gloves are off; we need to get back to the front and real those Hondas back in… I can’t wait!”

Earlier in the week, the team confirmed that their third car would be out on the grid, with the longest serving of all the Motorbase drivers at the wheel – Michael Caine will be making his debut at Rockingham, having been a part of the Motorbase outfit since 2006.

He said ahead of his BTCC debut: “I’m feeling pretty chilled in the run up to my debut this weekend.  Possibly when I see the timing sheets after qualifying on Saturday, I might change my mind! To be fair, no matter what I was feeling, I know that the Motorbase boys will do an awesome job and give me a great car to work with. It doesn’t feel any different to any other race weekend; I just want to make sure I’m doing my best for the team.”

“I have to finish in the top 10 in all three races – that’s what I’m aiming for. Qualifying will be interesting, wherever I am I’m sure that someone will try and knock me off, hopefully we can just make sure that Mat qualifies at the front to give him a good start for the first race. As for Rockingham, I like it, I’ve won a couple of races there, came second in the Porsche Carrera Cup and I’m also unbeaten round there in a touring car!”

Liam Griffin is pleased to have Caine joining the team ahead of the eighth round of the season. He likes the Rockingham circuit, as he explains: “It’s great to have Michael in the BTCC and I’m really pleased for him to get this opportunity. It would be great for the team if he is able to get on the pace and help Mat in the Championship, but failing that I just really hope for his sake that I don’t beat him!”

“Rockingham gets a lot of bad press but I actually like it. Turn one around the wall is unique in our calendar and combined with a twisty infield and you have an interesting circuit that has swings and roundabouts for each of the different cars. I have not had much luck recently so I’m hoping that changes this weekend!”

Ahead of rounds 22, 23 and 24 at Rockingham, the team have been busy getting the third car prepared for Caine while also fixing the damage to the #7 car piloted by Jackson. Team Manager Oly Collins explains: “We’ve been pretty busy since Knockhill getting a third car ready for Michael along with a test at Brands Hatch last Friday. There was a fair bit of damage on Mat’s car to sort out as well as normal re-prep of Liam’s. We’ve also been buying more Focus parts on Ebay to help the budget and increase the stock for three cars so the past couple of weeks have passed in a blur!”

“Despite the horrendous weekend at Knockhill, we were really pleased with how Mat’s car was running and happy to have qualified in seventh with full ballast on board. We’ve never been worried about race pace but at times we have struggled to string that one lap wonder together but Mat’s capable and so is the car so there is no reason why we can’t challenge for pole this weekend. The only thing is that small matter of success ballast, but we’ve carried that pretty much all year.”

Round eight of the 2011 BTCC takes place this Sunday at Rockingham, with live coverage on ITV4, ITV HD and ITV.com from 11am until 6pm, while Saturday’s qualifying session will be shown live on ITV.com from 3pm.