Jack Goff says his recovery drive in Sunday’s first British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch, from last to 12th, saved his weekend after the Eurotech Racing driver spun out of the lead in race one.
Having secured a third pole of the season on Saturday, Goff spun out on the opening lap of race one at the very first corner, with the Eurotech Racing driver putting the error down to the slippery conditions.
That left Goff at the back of the pack in 28th position, but he determinedly and stoically fought his way back through the field in the race, eventually finishing in 12th place, despite carrying damage to the rear of his Honda after going backwards into the barriers.
From 12th on the grid for race two, Goff hauled himself into the top ten to take eighth by the chequered flag, giving himself a reverse-grid gain for race three after the top ten were inverted, leaving him in third at the start.
That then led to second in race three, and Goff held off the Subaru of new champion Ash Sutton to claim his seventh podium result of the season and secure him sixth overall in the drivers’ championship standings – his best ever end of year classification in touring cars.
“I actually made quite a good start [in race one] and went to the inside,” explained Goff to TouringCars.Net. “Aiden [Moffat] did what I would have done to him, he squeezed me slightly, pushed me up to the kerb and I just nibbled the edge of the kerb.
“The back of the car went around and being on the wet side of the track there was no chance of recovering it. It was a really unfortunate way to start the day, after what was a good Saturday.
“What saved our weekend was probably the fightback after that – we were down to P28 and about the length of the straight behind, so I was really happy to come back to P12 in that race.
“My neck and back hurt slightly after the impact; it was a big hit, but luckily I hit quite square on. We had a bit of damage, but thankfully the suspension wasn’t too bad. It was slightly out, but nothing major so we got away with it really.
“Luckily, I spun to the inside; if I was on the outside it would have been a different story. It was a good fightback in that race and that saved our weekend.”
Goff’s attentions now turn to the off-season, in which he explains that he has to work hard in order to generate enough sponsorship revenue to tackle a sixth straight season in the BTCC.
“I’ve got to go away and work hard on sponsorship. I don’t have the luxury of being able to pay for it through family, I have to work hard behind the scenes to get all my personal sponsors together. Without my personal sponsors I don’t even get on the track in the first place.
“It’s a shame it has to be like that sometimes in motorsport, but it’s nice to have the support of everyone else in a weird way – it makes it a bigger family atmosphere.
“I’d love to be back with Eurotech Racing – I’ve had a great year with them and they’re like a family and so are we.
“It would be lovely to come back next year to consolidate where we’ve been this year and try and move forward to put a proper championship challenge together, because I think we’ve got the pace.”