AmD Tuning’s Rory Butcher says leaving the Thruxton British Touring Car Championship round as joint standings leader with reigning champion Colin Turkington is “incredible.”
Butcher, who scored a maiden BTCC victory in the final race at Brands Hatch after on-the-road winner Tom Chilton was penalised, displayed positive pace throughout the Thruxton weekend.
The Scotsman was initially on provisional pole before his time was disallowed for a track limits infringement, meaning he eventually qualified in fifth for race one.
Damper issues hindered his progress in the following couple of races, but once that was fixed Butcher described his FK2 Honda Civic as a “different car” and he enjoyed a three-way battle for the lead with winner Josh Cook and podium-finisher Ash Sutton.
Butcher hold off late pressure from Sutton to finish second, which he said “felt like a win” after the intense battle.
“It’s incredible,” said Butcher. “Definitely a really strong weekend for us, we’ve been quick every session.
“I probably didn’t have the race pace in one and two but we found an issue with the damper. Mike [Bushell] put that right and the car was just a different car in race three.
By the time I got to Goodwood on lap one I knew I could compete for a podium or maybe even a win. I made a good move on Ash at Goodwood.
“I tried my best to stick with Josh, I just didn’t have an answer for him he was just so neat and tidy, and as quick as me through the high-speed stuff.
“I think he just had a little edge on me coming through the first complex. Then Ash put so much pressure on at the end and I was just counting down the laps and it was a bigger and better feeling than the win that we got handed at Brands Hatch, that felt like a win there.”
Butcher admitted he was left frustrated by qualifying yesterday, and was very pleased to deliver a good result once the car “came together” in the final contest.
“I’m not going to lie I was frustrated yesterday with having the lap taken away, but looking back probably P5 was where my car was pace-wise today,” said Butcher.
“Like I said with the damper issue the car was different in race one and two, but it allowed me to work out exactly what had gone wrong and once we put it right it all came together.”