WSR’s Charles Rainford enjoyed an ‘unbelievable weekend’ in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch, as the rookie became a race winner on only his sixth start.
Rainford had failed to score a point in his début weekend at Donington Park, but at Brands Hatch the BMW racer was on the pace from the off, topping the opening practice session of the weekend.
Sixth fastest in second practice, Rainford then took the fight to stable-mate Jake Hill in qualifying, narrowly missing out on pole position by 0.021 seconds to line up on the front row.
Rainford followed Hill home in second in the opening race of the day to not only score his first points but also bag a first podium at the same time.
On the slower hard compound tyre for race two, Rainford did well to finish in seventh as the best of the hard-shod drivers.
Drawn to start third for the reversed-grid final race, the 26-year-old moved into second when the lights went out, before taking the lead from Daniel Rowbottom on the second lap.
Thereafter, Rainford held off a challenge from Hill for much of the second half of the race to claim his maiden win in the BTCC.
“It’s been an unbelievable weekend,” said a delighted Rainford to TouringCars.Net. “I was so, so happy to get a second place, then to stay in seventh in the hard [tyre] race was really, really good. To take a win in the last one was just incredible, really.
“We had good pace in qualifying, but racing is a completely different thing. I learned so much from Donington in terms of the racing that I was excited to put it back into practice. I’m starting to become a touring car driver, which is pretty exciting!
“It’s just an incredible feeling. I don’t think it will really sink in until tomorrow morning. What a day!”
Rainford enjoyed his battle with Hill, which saw the gap open and close over a series of laps depending on when Hill, who had marginally more TOCA Turbo Boost, was deploying his extra power.
“When I was following Jake this morning, I felt like I was slightly quicker, and when he was following me, I was definitely slower!
“There’s a lot of pressure leading a touring car race and I certainly felt it. Jake is very good at just putting you under pressure without really doing anything.
“To extend the gap once I got through the cycle of driving worse then driving better was good. I just drove better at the end and was able to extend the gap and manage the boost quite well – I had a few more laps at the end there.”
With a win already under his belt, Rainford is looking forward to Snetterton later in the month.
“I absolutely love Snetterton. I seemed to be really quick in testing when we went there, so I’m looking forward to it.
“I’ll get studying – there’s a few little bits we need to work on at Snetterton, but I’m excited to hit the ground running in FP1 and we’ll see where we’re at.”