BTCC: Menu on form as BTCC season beckons
7 April 2000
Brands Hatch Friday 07 April 2000 Weather: Sunny, dry Alain Menu sent a warning to his rivals today as the contenders for the 2000 Auto Trader British Touring Car Championship warmed up for the season opener on Sunday (April 9). In testing on the Kent track’s Grand Prix circuit, the Swiss star was in dominant form setting the fastest time by more than three tenths of a second. Menu, the 1997 Champion, loves the Grand Prix layout at Brands having won the last time the BTCC raced on the GP circuit in the mid ’90s. He now goes into tomorrow’s two qualifying sessions, to decide the starting grids for Sunday’s Rounds One and Two, in a very confident mood. He said: “The Grand Prix circuit here is great, a real driver’s circuit, and I won the last two races we had on this layout, so it’s great to be quickest again here. I’ve been consistently fast everywhere we have tested this year. I know we’ve got a good car, which is a good sign for the championship, I just have to make sure we are still on top in qualifying and in the races.” Scotland’s Anthony Reid, Menu’s team-mate, was second quickest with Honda’s Danish ace Tom Kristensen, new to the BTCC this year, third in his Honda Accord. The reigning Michelin Cup for Independents champion Matt Neal, of Stourbridge, set the fourth fastest time round the 2.62-mile circuit, with Italian Gabriele Tarquini (Honda), the 1994 champion, fifth. Alan Morrison was the fastest of the championship’s Class B runners in his Peugeot, just eight hundredths of a second quicker than James Kaye’s Honda. TOP TIMES FROM BRANDS HATCH GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT 1 Alain Menu (Swi) Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Zetec 1m27.389s 2 Anthony Reid (GB) Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Zetec 1m27.720s 3 Tom Kristensen (Den) Redstone Team Honda Honda Accord 1m27.925s 4 Matt Neal (GB) Team Dynamics Nissan Primera GT 1m28.050s 5 Gabriele Tarquini (Ita) Redstone Team Honda Honda Accord 1m28.254s 6 Rickard Rydell (Swe) Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo Zetec 1m28.313s 7 James Thompson (GB) Redstone Team Honda Honda Accord 1m28.387s 8 Yvan Muller (Fra) Vauxhall Motorsport Vauxhall Vectra 1m28.597s 9 Jason Plato (GB) Vauxhall Motorsport Vauxhall Vectra 1m28.654s 10 Vincent Radermecker (Bel) Vauxhall Motorsport Vauxhall Vectra 1m29.932s Class B 1 Alan Morrison (GB) Touring Car VIP Club Peugeot 306 1m38.263s