Mikey Doble was ‘lost for words’ after claiming his maiden British Touring Car Championship victory at Snetterton, and the first for Power Maxed Racing since the 2019 season.
Doble played the strategy game to perfection at Snetterton, scoring the second-highest points tally of the weekend, second only to championship leader Ash Sutton.
After qualifying his Vauxhall Astra in an impressive fourth on Saturday, Doble elected to deal with the pain of running the slower hard compound tyre in the opening race of the weekend – one of only three drivers in the top ten to do so.
Limiting the damage to finishing in ninth, Doble then moved up to sixth in the second race, essentially only gaining places through the demise of the hard-shod Sutton, Dan Cammish and Tom Ingram.
Doble then lucked into the grid reversal for race three, as the top six were randomly selected to be reversed, handing him pole position in a race when he was the only driver in the top six on the faster compound.
Although he claimed a lights-to-flag win, Doble had to contend with heavy pressure from Sutton in the closing laps, ultimately prevailing by just under a second for his first win on his 67th start in the BTCC.
“I’m ecstatic – I don’t really know how to react to something like this,” said Doble to TouringCars.Net. “It just means so much to my family and to the team. It’s a monumental achievement for everyone.
“It’s been a long time coming, and it’s a long time since PMR were on the top step. I’m lost for words.”
Having already claimed a pole position in his début season in 2023, and coming so close to a first win at Oulton Park last year, Doble believes he has firmly established himself as a front-runner in the BTCC.
“I’ve well and truly earned my stripes – I’d done everything but win a race in this championship up until now, and now we’ve won a race.
“All we’ve got to do now is try to get more race wins, more podiums and start being a constant force to contend for the overall title.”
Doble elaborated on his successful strategy at Snetterton and how he had predicted the strategy moves of his rivals.
“I thought my best chance to get a win or a podium today is to run the hard [tyre] in race one. I know that a lot of people like to dump the hard [tyre] in that first race.
“We could have run the soft and finished fourth, fifth or sixth, more than likely. Ash was obviously also quick – he got a podium – so I would have fallen behind him. He got some glory there, but it’s just not a win, is it?
“Then I would have probably fallen back and had to take the pain of the hard tyre in race three when not many people are on it.
“Overall, with a P9, a P6 and a win – the plan worked out to perfection.”
Although Doble won’t be able to repeat his strategic approach at the next meeting at Thruxton, where only one tyre compound is used, he is still looking forward to the Hampshire event.
“It’s just pure racing at Thruxton which I quite like, but I also like the strategy side of British Touring Cars.
“It’s nice to occasionally have a round where it’s just about pure racing, so I look forward to that.”