Jack Butel left Knockhill in a positive mood after the Jersey racer equalled his best-ever British Touring Car Championship race finish and bagged his first points of the season.
Although Butel struggled for pace in qualifying, putting his Hyundai i30 N Fastback in just 27th for race one with a lap which was more than a second off the pace, he made steady progress in Sunday’s races.
Starting race day on the medium compound tyre, Butel made up seven places in the opening encounter, finishing just ahead of Excelr8 Motorsport team-mate Rick Parfitt Jr to set himself up with a better starting position for race two.
It was the second race where Butel bagged his points, despite an opening lap scare when he had to go off the track to avoid stalled team-mate Chris Smiley, making up a further six places to finish the race in 14th and get his name on the scoreboard for the first time in 2021.
The Jerseyman was running in 12th at one stage in race three before a mistake at the chicane saw him go wide and allowed several rivals to pass as he dropped to 18th.
The 25-year-old ultimately finished the final race just outside the points in 16th after failing to make up all of the lost ground again.
Butel was pleased with his performance on race day, as he had not been anticipating fighting for points after his difficult qualifying session saw him as one of only two drivers over a second off the pace, amongst those who posted qualifying laps.
“It’s been an absolutely mega weekend for me in the end, and not what I expected after qualifying,” said Butel. “To be perfectly honest, my performance [in qualifying] was absolutely useless, and I went into race day thinking we had no chance of fighting for points from where we were starting.
“To then come away from the weekend having matched my best result in the BTCC is absolutely fantastic and I’m so happy with how things have gone.
“The first race proved to be massively important and to get up into 20th on the medium tyre really set me up for the two races that followed.
“It was a bit chaotic at the start of race two, but once we got through the opening lap I felt comfortable in the pack and the pace in the car was really good, particularly at the end when I could have come under attack after the safety car.
“To bring home a 14th place finish is great as we’ve worked so hard to get those points on the board.
“In race three I got a great start to move up into P12, but then I hit the kerb a bit too hard at the chicane and a load of cars got ahead of me, but that is racing and it happens.
“This weekend has shown that we have strong race pace and it was only down to a silly mistake on my part in that final race that we ended up just outside the points rather than taking home two top 15 finishes.
“This weekend has been a massive boost to the confidence, and I can’t wait to get back in the car at Thruxton.”