Power Maxed Racing’s Michael Crees scorched to the top of the times in the Independents Trophy class at Snetterton on Wednesday during the annual mid-season Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship tyre test – providing a major boost ahead of the second half of the campaign.

Joining the vast majority of the BTCC grid at the Norfolk track’s 300 Circuit for a two-day outing in scorching hot weather, Broadstairs driver ‘Creesy’ embarked on a wide range of work with his No.777 Vauxhall Astra.

After ending day one on Tuesday, 12th July, seventh in the Independents and 19th overall, the Glencar Construction, Geberit, DDS Group, PCS, Fire Control Services, CTD, Blue Rock Systems, Aquadart and BITA backed driver made marked improvements on day two. 

Punching in a best time of 1m55.849 seconds (92.25mph) on the second morning with his 16th lap of the session, Creesy ended the four-hour run an excellent seventh overall as well as the Independents pace setter. 

Although sitting out the final afternoon, Creesy had done enough to conclude the two days of testing as the lead Independents Trophy runner and he now goes into the second half of the season – which gets underway at Knockhill in Scotland in just over two weeks – with majorly boosted confidence.

Michael Crees said of his recent great pace:

“We really needed an opportunity to try some different things with the car, you just can’t do it to anywhere near the same level on a race weekend, and so these last two days at Snetterton have been vital for us to understand the car more and make some good progress. We conducted a lot of productive work and I’m obviously very happy to end the test as the quickest Independents driver.

“The conditions were far from easy out there, it’s been boiling hot in the car each day, but the whole team pushed forward and I really do think we can be confident we’ve unlocked some important stuff. We won’t know for sure until we get to Knockhill if we’ve made the steps forward we think we have, but I’m definitely feeling as positive as I have all season. It’s been two really good days.”

Rounds 16, 17 and 18 of the BTCC season will take place on Sunday, 31st July, at Knockhill Circuit in Fife for the championship’s annual visit north of the border to Scotland.

2022 BTCC Independents Trophy Standings
9th Michael Crees, 120pts

2022 BTCC Drivers Championship
19th Michael Crees, 27pts

Image courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography.