Frank Wrathall enjoyed his most successful weekend in the BTCC to date at Knockhill.

The Dynojet Toyota driver in his first season in the series was on the pace for the entire weekend, finding himself in the top ten of both
practice sessions in damp conditions on Saturday morning.

He continued this form into qualifying by securing his best grid slot of the season, setting the third fastest time of the session.

In the first race Wrathall survived contact with Honda Racing’s Gordon Shedden on the opening lap to finish fourth, matching his best
result last time out at Snetterton.

He went one better in race two by finishing third, capitalising on Tom Chilton’s lack of pace mainly due to success ballast courtesy of his
race one victory, to overtake him in the closing stages. He then set about pressurising former double champion Matt Neal for second but ran out of laps to find a way through. Frank crossed the line third for his maiden outright podium finish and the best result yet for a car built to the NGTC rules. The race also saw him secure Independent class victory for the second time this season, and
also set the fastest lap.

Of the second race, he said: “That is a massive result for us, not just because we are on the podium, but because we showed we were as
quick as anyone and were close to being able to take a victory.”

Wrathall repeated his race two performance in the final race of the day, battling his way from fifth on the grid to clinch the final spot on
the podium for the second time in a hugely successful day.

He said: “I really feel like I’m a BTCC driver after this weekend. We mixed it towards the front of the field in all three sessions on Saturday despite changing weather conditions and then we’ve been right in the mix throughout race day. Taking two podium finishes – and setting a fastest lap -is a fantastic achievement for the team at this stage of the programme and it shows that the result we picked up at Snetterton last month was no fluke.

“We’ve worked so hard this season and have taken large strides with the car; now we are making refinements to the package. The car
felt really good all day and I’ll be more than happy if the car I had today is the car I have for the remainder of the season.”

The next round of the BTCC will be held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire in a fortnight’s time (18^th
September).

Photo Credit: Jonathan Hobley

Tom Surgay is the Porsche Carrera Cup GB correspondant for 2011. Tom's currently studying English Language with Journalism at Huddersfield University. You can contact him at tom@btcccrazy.co.uk or on twitter @tsurgay.