ANDREW Watson says the Kwik Fit’s four-week summer break has allowed him to “reset and refocus” for the second half of the season.
Reigning Jack Sears Trophy champion Watson is provisionally fourteenth in the drivers’ standings after visiting five circuits and starting fifteen races in his Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Corolla GR Sport – three spots behind his new team-mate and one-time World Touring Car Champion, Rob Huff.
Watson’s pace in both the wet and dry has been central to keeping his scoreboard ticking over; to date, he has failed to register any points on only two occasions in his Speedworks Motorsport-run hatchback.
As well as giving Watson and his colleagues some time to catch their breath, engineers have also been busy working on a series of improvements for the British-built front-wheel-drive Corolla.
How these stack up is set to become clear when the UK tin top series resumes this weekend at Croft, with a 55-minute qualifying session on Saturday (3pm-3.55pm) followed by three races on Sunday.
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A mainstay of the British Touring Car Championship since 1997, and measuring 2.1-miles in length, Croft presents a unique challenge for both teams and drivers, and is widely considered to be the truest, all-round test on the calendar.
“It has been a good break – I think everybody in the team needed it after such a busy start to the season. It has provided an opportunity to reset and refocus, and we are approaching Croft as a fresh start,” said former McLaren , Aston Martin, and Porsche endurance driver, Watson.
“The team has been working hard on developments and upgrades back at the workshop and I am feeling optimistic. Croft is another of the more old-school circuits on the calendar; it is bumpy and doesn’t have the same kind of run-off as some of the bigger tracks, so you need to be more precise. It also tends to produce really good racing with decent overtaking opportunities at various points.
“I think everyone is itching to get back out there again, and we definitely want to be somewhere up near the front, scoring lots of points and targeting trophies,” added Watson, who is as determined as ever to end his wait for a first top-three finish with the Japanese manufacturer.
Team Principal Christian Dick echoed Watson’s views on the benefits the summer break has brought, with the Englishman saying this gave everyone the space to “decompress” and make time to “better understand what we need to do to get the best out of the Corolla”.