Double blowout for Butcher at Brands Hatch

After two podium finishes in round one of the BTCC at Donington Park Butcher’s confidence was high heading into the second round and was rewarded with pole position after practice.

But two punctures meant he was only able to finish one of the three races on the day.

He said: “The success of our first outing meant I’d carry 48kg of success ballast in round 2 at Brands Hatch GP.

“I expected a challenging weekend ahead, lugging around this extra weight! The weather in the south of England was due to be 30 degrees plus all weekend so physically we would pushed to our limits.

“After strong performances in both free practices I went on to set the fastest lap in qualifying, pipping Honda driver Dan Cammish by just three hundredths of a second and securing my second ever pole position in the BTCC. I left nothing on the table for that lap and in the heatwave I was seeing stars afterwards!

“Qualifying on pole is a fantastic achievement, but it doesn’t mean a thing on Sunday.”

Butcher describes race day as one of “ups and real downs”

“We put on a great performance but weren’t rewarded for our efforts,” he said, “I led 13 of 15 laps in race 1 but had to retire with two laps to go due to a puncture.

“We came back stronger in race 2, fighting from 25th on the grid to finish 4th and salvage some good points.

“In race 3 I battled with Sutton and Oliphant for the lead of the race only to have another tyre failure with 2 laps remaining, forcing me to retire for the second time.

“Tyre failures are rarely seen in the BTCC.

“The frustrating thing is that we reacted to the first tyre failure and were confident that we had cured the issue after the success of race two, only to hit disappointment once more in the final race.”

“We have a strategy going forward and I just can’t wait to get back behind the wheel and start upping the pressure on my championship rivals.”