AmD Tuning’s Rory Butcher believes he “has the right package” for more success in the 2019 British Touring Car Championship after he inherited his maiden series win by virtue of Tom Chilton’s time penalty.
Butcher, who had scored a previous career-best result of second in race three, was then promoted to the win as Motorbase’s Chilton received a five-second time penalty for contact with Matt Neal at Clarke Curve.
The Scot qualified 11th and struggled in race one after opting for the wet tyre, but was one of the fastest on the worn wet rubber and came home 10th.
“We made the wrong choice this morning by going on the wets. Despite being one of the quickest runners on the wets, we just should have gone for slicks,” Butcher told TouringCars.Net.
“It was a shame. But the strategy was then just to score points throughout the rest of the day and make progress.”
Butcher again progressed in the second race, coming home eighth, before the reverse-grid draw saw him line up fourth for the final encounter.
After a strong start, he stuck with the leaders and capitalised on contact between Stephen Jelly and Matt Neal, with Butcher sliding through at Clark Curve when Jelley was giving the position back to Neal.
He then followed winner-on-the-road Chilton home to finish second, but took victory by three seconds once the result was amended.
“We put ourselves in the position, starting P4 for the reverse-grid, and I just knew we had the chance of getting a podium,” he said.
“So it wasn’t an easy race but once I got past Ingram, Matt Neal and Jelley, I got some clear air, it was just about bringing it home, it was great.”
With the first victory now in the books, Butcher believes he has a great overall package to continue success for the remainder of the season.
“We’ve definitely got the right package, we’re in a good place in the series,” he said.
“So we’ve just got to keep the same mentality and same strategy going forward.”