Charles Rainford scored a dominant Race to Pole victory in the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton, attributing the result to his WSR team and car.
Rainford’s Saturday did not start well, however, finishing P16 in Free Practice after showing little pace.
But, a strong qualifying lap of 1:55.419 earned him second on the grid, besting a star-studded Group 2 that included Tom Ingram and Ashley Sutton.
With just a resurgent Tom Chilton ahead as the Race to Pole commenced, Rainford pushed hard and eventually found his way past before the end of the first lap.
From there, it was academic. Although Josh Cook challenged, perhaps surprisingly, in his Speedworks Corolla, Rainford ran out victor by nearly two seconds.
“We were in control and I wasn’t going to do anything silly,” the WSR man told BTCC media.
“I was waiting for the tyres to go off on the front-wheel drive cars and that happened about halfway through so I’m very happy with that.
“Let’s try and repeat that tomorrow.”
Charles Rainford delighted with WSR work at Snetterton
Tyre management proved critical in the Norfolk heat, with track temperatures nearing 30℃ and heat haze visible throughout the circuit.
Although many projected the BMW to be strong at Snetterton, its weekend did not start well with both WSR cars off the pace.
While Aiden Moffat could not recover, retiring with a technical issue during the Qualifying Race, his team’s work between Saturday sessions delighted Rainford.
“I sat down with my engineer after practice and was like ‘right, how do we turn this around?’ and we’ve come together with a rocket ship.
“So I think it’s going to be car cover on tonight, don’t touch it, and away we go tomorrow.”
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