Charles Rainford led the way at the end of the British Touring Car Championship’s final official pre-season test day at Brands Hatch.
A late afternoon run propelled the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport to the top of the times by a significant margin.
Rainford, whose maiden BTCC race win came on the Indy Circuit last year, went 0.317 seconds clear, although that lap was over 0.4s quicker than his next best.
For much of the day it looked as though the newly built Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloons would claim the pre-season glory. Mikey Doble was fastest in the morning session with Dexter Patterson completing a PMR 1-2, and it was Patterson who sat top of the times in the afternoon before Rainford’s late effort.
That heralded a late flurry, and the Scot was further demoted by the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium of Dan Cammish and the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook, who ended up second and third respectively.
But neither could get near Rainford, who along with team-mate Daryl De Leon, will be competing this season in the Independents’ class – WSR is transferring into that division for the first time since 2014.
“I’m very happy that I’ve managed to go quickest, which has been a very nice surprise, and I’d like to thank West Surrey Racing for providing me with such an amazing car,” said Rainford.
“It’s all eyes forward now to Donington [scene of the first round on 18-19 April]. It’s been very hot today, but I can’t imagine we’ll get that lucky for the first event.”
BTCC 2026 grid shot
Photo by: JEP
Patterson and Doble finished up fourth and fifth respectively. Next up was Ashley Sutton in his Alliance Ford, which completed the most laps with 133.
An estimated crowd of over 9000 attended the test, during which most drivers set their quickest times in the afternoon.
Among the exceptions were Aron Taylor-Smith (Speedworks Toyota) and James Dorlin (Restart Racing Hyundai i30 N Fastback), who were third and fourth respectively in the morning. Those times stood for seventh and ninth by the end of the afternoon.
Sandwiched between them at the end of the day was Taylor-Smith’s team-mate Gordon Shedden, while Adam Morgan rounded out the top 10 in the quickest of the Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloons.
In 17th, reigning champion Tom Ingram was quickest of the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundais as the team almost monopolised the bottom of the times, clearly focusing on race runs and set-up work.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here