Tag: Croft

BTCC Croft Testing Introduction

The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) test day at Croft was held on 1-2nd April 2025. This was a much-anticipated event on the motorsport calendar. Not just for the fans but also for the many spectator photographers, us included, as this would be our first chance to see the 2025 cars.

Croft Circuit, with its unique blend of challenging corners and straights, provides an excellent platform for teams to test their vehicles and strategies ahead of the racing season. Scott Grant went along for PistonClick to capture the action ahead of the Championship start.

Croft Circuit Overview

Located in North Yorkshire, Croft Circuit is renowned for its technical challenges and thrilling racing. The track, measuring 2.12 miles in length, combines a mix of high-speed straights and tight corners, making it a favourite among drivers and teams for testing the capabilities of their touring cars.

Croft is a great circuit to take motorsports photographs, especially BTCC. There are loads of great locations to view the action at Croft. The paddock and pits were open for the fans during this event, making the BTCC one of the most accessible motorsport series for the fans. If you are not familiar with Croft, our photographic guide will show you the best locations for taking photographs and spectating. 

Team Performances

17 year old Un-Limited Motorsport driver #93 Max Hall, who has moved over from the Mini JCW Championship topped the time sheets on Tuesday. The Cupra Lean of Hall was more than half a second quicker than last year’s times. The 2025 cars are 55kg lighter than last year so we can expect lap records to fall in the upcoming season championship. The usual suspects of Cammish, Hill, Ingram and Doble filled the top five places in dry sunny conditions.

Mikey Doble in the Vauxhall Astra topped the time sheet on Wednesday with a stunning best lap time of 1:20.391. Dan Cammish replicated his second place from Tuesday with Daryl Deleon third fastest on the overall time sheet.

Jake HIll in the BMW 330i M Sport sporting the number one plate as the reigning champion was 11th.

The big drop in lap times is down to the 2025 BTCC cars specifications being changed for this season. Out is the Hybrid systems, with extra power, which is the same as last year, being supplied by turbo boost. The deployment of the Hybrid boost last year lit up the LED lights on the side windows when deployed.

This year the Cosworth Electronics controlled turbo boost will do the same so the fans can see when the boost is being used. However, it won’t be available to the teams on the timing screens affecting race strategy. Lighter cars making the same power will always produce faster lap times. So we can expect even closer racing this year, if that’s possible in BTCC!

BTCC Croft Testing Day Overview

The BTCC championship continues to innovate, it was the first series to bring in Hybrid systems and now the first to have a full championship running 100% sustainable fuel. The loss of the Hybrid systems hasn’t been detrimental to the close racing as I feared. With the electronically regulated turbo boost and the reduced car weight we are sure to see more exciting racing this season.

The improved lap times at Croft is an indication of closer racing in the series but not an indication of form. We have seen many time before that a fast test lap doesn’t replicate during racing. Rookie Max Hall is an exciting prospect and it would be great to see him challenging for honours in the upcoming season. The established drivers were there or there about with the top ten teams recording very close lap times. 

As with all test days not all of the cars were sporting their 2025 liveries, some were completely naked!

The season launch and final pre-season test day will take place at Donington Park on 15 April. This is a free to enter event with the bonus of a pit walk and autograph session. Hopefully we see some more of the teams dressing their cars when they take to the National circuit. The PistonClick team will be there to capture the action as spectator photographers and will report back to you on the days events.

BTCC Croft Testing Tuesday 1 April Overall Times.

POS	NO	Name	Car	Time	Time	Gap	Diff
1	93	Max HALL	Cupra Leon	1:21.321	1:20.532
2	27	Dan CAMMISH	Ford Focus ST	1:21.495	1:20.561	0.029	0.029
3	1	Jake HILL	BMW 330i M Sport	1:21.648	1:20.571	0.039	0.010
4	80	Tom INGRAM	Hyundai i30N	1:21.654	1:20.781	0.249	0.210
5	88	Mikey DOBLE	Vauxhall Astra	1:22.138	1:20.994	0.462	0.213
6	116	Ashley SUTTON	Ford Focus ST	1:21.047	1:21.542	0.515	0.053
7	52	Gordon SHEDDEN	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:23.427	1:21.175	0.643	0.128
8	66	Josh COOK	Honda Civic Type R	1:21.316	1:21.605	0.784	0.141
	33	Adam MORGAN	Hyundai i30N	1:21.866	1:21.356	0.824	0.040
10	14	Ronan PEARSON	Toyota Corolla GR Sport		1:21.422	0.890	0.066
11	32	Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Ford Focus ST	1:22.049	1:21.426	0.894	0.004
12	40	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:21.981	1:21.496	0.964	0.070
13	2	Daryl DELEON	BMW 330i M Sport	1:22.329	1:21.569	1.037	0.073
14	17	Dexter PATTERSON	Cupra Leon	1:22.499	1:21.665	1.133	0.096
15	77	Sam OSBORNE	Ford Focus ST	1:22.436	1:21.736	1.204	0.071
16	99	Charles RAINFORD	BMW 330i M Sport	1:21.796	1:21.994	1.264	0.060
17	16	Aiden MOFFAT	BMW 330i M Sport	1:22.667	1:22.026	1.494	0.230
18	12	Stephen JELLEY	Honda Civic Type R	1:23.018	1:22.048	1.516	0.022
19	123	Daniel LLOYD	Hyundai i30N	1:23.409	1:22.263	1.731	0.215
20	6	Rory BUTCHER	Ford Focus ST		1:22.461	1.929	0.198
21	22	Chris SMILEY	Hyundai i30N	1:24.078	1:22.662	2.130	0.201
22	132	James DORLIN	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:23.797	1:23.066	2.534	0.404
23	28	Nicolas HAMILTON	Cupra Leon	1:24.783	1:23.817	3.285	0.751

BTCC Croft Testing Wednesday 2 April Overall Times.

Pos	No	Name	Car	Time	Time	Gap	Diff
1	88	Mikey DOBLE	Vauxhall Astra	1:20.885	1:20.391
2	27	Dan CAMMISH	Ford Focus ST	1:20.592	1:20.622	0.201	0.201
3	2	Daryl DELEON	BMW 330i M Sport	1:21.563	1:20.667	0.276	0.075
4	116	Ashley SUTTON	Ford Focus ST	1:21.122	1:20.801	0.410	0.134
5	80	Tom INGRAM	Hyundai i30N	1:20.805	1:21.168	0.414	0.004
6	93	Max HALL	Cupra Leon	1:20.964	1:20.823	0.432	0.018
7	52	Gordon SHEDDEN	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:21.632	1:20.833	0.442	0.010
8	99	Charles RAINFORD	BMW 330i M Sport	1:21.860	1:20.856	0.465	0.023
9	66	Josh COOK	Honda Civic Type R	1:21.513	1:20.873	0.482	0.017
10	17	Dexter PATTERSON	Cupra Leon	1:20.997	1:20.956	0.565	0.083
11	1	Jake HILL	BMW 330i M Sport	1:21.591	1:21.175	0.784	0.219
12	22	Chris SMILEY	Hyundai i30N	1:22.048	1:21.177	0.786	0.002
13	12	Stephen JELLEY	Honda Civic Type R	1:21.238	1:21.294	0.847	0.061
14	132	James DORLIN	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:22.651	1:21.298	0.907	0.060
15	77	Sam OSBORNE	Ford Focus ST	1:22.658	1:21.412	1.021	0.114
16	14 M	Ronan PEARSON	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:21.623	1:21.444	1.053	0.032
17	33	Adam MORGAN	Hyundai i30N	1:21.900	1:21.464	1.073	0.020
18	16	Aiden MOFFAT	BMW 330i M Sport	1:22.340	1:21.646	1.255	0.182
19	32	Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Ford Focus ST	1:21.686	1:22.466	1.295	0.040
20	123	Daniel LLOYD	Hyundai i30N	1:22.075		1.684	0.389
21	28	Nicolas HAMILTON	Cupra Leon	1:24.072	1:22.275	1.884	0.200
22	40	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	1:24.072	1:22.275ms	1.884	0.200

PistonClick BTCC Reports can be found here.