TEAM VERTU TARGETS SNETTERTON SILVERWARE
Team VERTU will look to add to its collection of silverware in the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship when the series heads for Snetterton this weekend for the third meeting of the year.
The EXCELR8-run team makes the trip to Norfolk on the back of a strong showing at Brands Hatch last time out, where Tom Ingram bagged his first victory of the campaign and team-mate Ricky Collard also visited the podium.
It means Team VERTU has scored six podium finishes already as it now returns to the venue where the Hyundai i30 Fastback N became a BTCC winner for the first time back in 2021 – with Ingram’s win last time out being the 33rd time that the team has taken victory.
Ingram heads into the weekend having now moved up into second place in the championship standings, with long-time rival Ash Sutton the only driver ahead of him in the points.
Heading to the longest circuit on the BTCC calendar, Ingram will hope to add to his own impressive Snetterton record of twelve career podium finishes to close the gap at the top as he seeks to defend his title.
Tom Chilton suffered another challenging weekend at Brands Hatch after incidents not of his making on both Saturday and Sunday hampered his chances of challenging for a first podium finish of the campaign.
A strong drive through the field in the opening race showed his potential however, with the most experienced racer in the field now hoping for a trouble free weekend to start his climb up the championship standings.
Series returnee Collard maintained his impressive start to the season at Brands Hatch, scoring podium finishes in the opening two races of the weekend to briefly move up to second in the standings.
An unfortunate retirement in race three after being run off track means he has slipped to fourth in the points race but will hope to add to his record of three podium finishes already this year to strengthen his own championship challenge.
Nicolas Hamilton meanwhile goes into round three buoyed by a first points finish of the season last time out, where he secured the second best result of his BTCC career to date and came close to picking up the bonus point for fastest lap.
The aim of the game for Nicolas is to keep developing as he looks to move a step closer to his seasonal goal of pushing for silverware in the Jack Sears Trophy – the competition open to those drivers in the field who have yet to score more than one podium finish in the championship.
Action this weekend gets underway with free practice at 10:30 on Saturday before qualifying and the qualifying race follow on from 14:00 – with the latter two sessions airing live on YouTube.
Sunday’s three races on ITV4 are scheduled for 11:30, 14:30 and 17:20.
Tom Chilton, #3 Team Vertu Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Luck really hasn’t been on my side so far this season and I don’t think the results so far are in any way a true reflection of our pace. We’ve got caught up in other people’s incidents on more than one occasion, and have been in the wrong place at the wrong time – but hopefully my bad luck is now firmly behind me!
“The saving grace of a difficult start is that I’ll be taking a decent amount of turbo boost into Snetterton, which can only help around such a long lap. The first goal is to stay out of trouble and avoid any drama, but having scored a podium at Snetterton last year, I’d love a repeat this time around.”
Ricky Collard, #12 Team Vertu Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“It’s been a fantastic start to the season for me, and the only real disappointment is that we missed out on a hat-trick of podium finishes at Brands Hatch because it really looked like it was on!
“Going into the third round of the year sitting fourth in the points wasn’t something I was expecting when I only got into the car for the first time during the season launch, and my focus now is on trying to at least maintain that position this weekend.
“I’m absolutely loving driving this car and with the support of the team behind me, I’m confident of fighting for some more trophies in the three races.”
Nicolas Hamilton, #28 Team Vertu Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Scoring my first points of the season at Brands Hatch was a real positive this early in the season, and I was pleased with the pace I displayed in really tricky conditions.
“I feel I was able to take a step forward compared to the opening round, and the goal as I head to Snetterton is to keep developing and moving forwards as I look to challenge for more points finishes.
“Snetterton is a totally different kind of circuit but like Brands Hatch, is one where I have been able to drive the Hyundai before during the off-season. I hope to hit the ground running in practice, and three solid results this weekend would be fantastic.”
Tom Ingram, #80 Team Vertu Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“We’ve had a challenging start to the season, certainly more challenging than we expected, but we still head into the weekend sitting second in the standings on the back of the win at Brands Hatch.
“There is no doubting the fact that we have a very quick car, but we’ve had some bad luck in the opening rounds that leaves us playing catch-up a little bit in the points. However, there is still a lot of racing to come and we all know how quickly things can change, so it’s important we just focus on ourselves and make sure we maximise every session.
“Moving up into second place does mean we are going to be hampered by the boost rules on Saturday but we know how strong the Hyundai is around Snetterton and I’m hopeful of a solid weekend with plenty of points.”
Justina Williams, Team VERTU Team Owner, said:
“Snetterton has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for us as a team, and hopefully that will be true again this weekend. Although we’ve had some mixed results so far, all four drivers have shown that they have the pace and the aim this weekend is to maximise that and deliver some strong results across the board.”
