Rory Butcher has admitted that he is ‘not worried’ about the British Touring Car Championship title, saying that it is BMW’s ‘championship to lose’ as the AmD Tuning driver heads to Thruxton 59 points adrift in the title race.
Butcher pulled himself back up to third overall in the drivers’ championship standings with victory in race three at Snetterton two weeks’ ago.
But with Butcher being 59 points adrift of the leading BMW of Colin Turkington, and 24 behind Andrew Jordan, he knows that the title is ‘BMW’s to lose’ heading back to Thruxton this weekend.
Having been in the top ten throughout the weekend on the last visit to Thruxton in May, including finishing second in race three, Butcher believes that he knows where to improve this weekend on the series’ second visit to Hampshire this year.
“We were able to learn quite a lot when we raced at Thruxton earlier in the year, and I know there are places where I can improve when we return this weekend,” said Butcher.
“I know other drivers will say the same, but I’ve spent time looking back at the May event and I know exactly where I can gain time and improve when we return; it’s just a case of putting it into practice.
“It’s looking like the weather might not be too good, which could really mix things up as Thruxton is a challenging circuit at the best of times.”
Butcher, who has finished every race so far this season, says that he is in confident mood for returning to Thruxton, focussing on maintaining his position in the championship and his points-scoring run, which has seen him fail to score in only one race so far.
“On the back of my victory at Snetterton, I’m in a good place in the standings and I know what I need to do in the remaining rounds.
“If I’m being honest, I’m not going to worry about the two BMW drivers ahead of me in the standings as it really is their championship to lose.
“My focus is on doing the best job I can and beating the drivers around me in the standings because it’s so close between us all and I want to make sure I stay ahead.”
AmD Team Principal Shaun Hollamby says that the whole team are heading to the high-speed Thruxton in confident mood after AmD scored more points than any other team in the three races at Snetterton.
“We head for Thruxton with confidence high on the back of a fantastic showing for the whole team last time out at Snetterton,” said Hollamby. “Hopefully we can build on our results from there during the weekend ahead.
“We know that the Honda is going to be a good package from the pace we showed when we raced at Thruxton earlier in the year, and we now have the added benefit of more time with the car which can only help us.
“I’m confident that both Rory and Sam [Tordoff] can get the job done during the weekend ahead and it would be great if we can challenge for some more silverware to maintain our good form.”