Moffat targeting home turf turnaround north of the border
Scottish star aiming to exploit home advantage in search for silverware
Team-mate Cook boasts excellent BTCC record at Knockhill
Toyota Corolla a multiple top-three finisher in Fife in recent campaigns
Aiden Moffat has not enjoyed the best of luck of late in the British Touring Car Championship, but as the series heads north of the border to his home track of Knockhill this weekend (10-11 August), the LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ star and team-mate Josh Cook are targeting a trophy haul.
In his maiden campaign behind the wheel of the Toyota Corolla GR Sport, Moffat quickly got to grips with the British-built ‘hot hatch’ by triumphing in the final race of the Donington Park curtain-raiser in April following an epic battle with Speedworks Motorsport stablemate Rob Huff as well as four-time champions Colin Turkington and Ash Sutton. The Scot reached the rostrum again a month later at Snetterton, but further potential podiums slipped through his fingers due to ill-fortune at both Brands Hatch and Oulton Park.
It was at Knockhill back in 2013 that Moffat made his BTCC debut, and two years later, it was around the undulating and demanding Fife circuit that he registered his first top three finish in the UK’s premier motor racing series – even if he did not get to celebrate his success on the rostrum as he crossed the finish line in fourth place prior to being elevated to third by a penalty ahead.
Last season, the 27-year-old – who hails from just down the road from Knockhill in Dalkeith – charged through the field from 19th to seventh in the final race of the weekend, taking the chequered flag barely a second shy of a top five finish and less than five seconds adrift of the podium.
Team-mate Cook has been a winner in each of the latest two outings in 2024 – at Oulton Park and Croft – and the 33-year-old Bath-born ace similarly boasts a stellar recent record at Knockhill, where he has ascended the rostrum four times since 2018.
The two-time BTCC Independents’ title-holder was sent spinning out of the lead in Scotland last summer by contact on an increasingly wet track surface. He returns sitting fifth in the Drivers’ standings amongst the 21 high-calibre protagonists – and eager to close the gap to the top of the table as the ‘business end’ of the campaign approaches.
Following Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session at 15:20 – streamed on ITV Sport’s YouTube channel – every moment of Sunday’s doorhandle-to-doorhandle action will be broadcast live and in high-definition on ITV4, beginning at 11:10. All three races will also be shown on the ITV Sport TikTok channel, in the UK and globally.
Christian Dick, Team Principal, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said:
“We travel to Knockhill with a real spring in our step off the back of Josh’s brilliant victory at Croft last time out. It was a performance and result that gave the whole team a real boost and validated our mid-season efforts, and we hope that upturn in form will continue this weekend at what is obviously a very different type of track.
“As he feels increasingly comfortable and confident in the Corolla, Josh is progressively putting together a title challenge. We all know how important consistency is in a championship as competitive as the BTCC, and he has only missed the points once all year. Indeed, since Snetterton in May, he has achieved 11 consecutive top eight finishes – an incredible run that he is aiming to extend this weekend.
“Aiden has similarly shown a blistering turn-of-speed on many an occasion, and hopefully the rotten luck that has plagued him in recent events will now disappear so that he can reap the rewards he so clearly deserves. He will certainly have the weight of the fans’ support firmly behind him, and it would be wonderful to see that spur him on to a podium finish on home soil.”
Aiden Moffat, Driver, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said:
“It’s always enjoyable to race in front of your home crowd and to feel that extra support – that invariably gives you a bit of a lift, and there’s a real buzz of excitement at Knockhill whenever the BTCC rolls into town. It’s also a fantastic circuit to drive – a proper drivers’ track, and one I look forward to visiting every year. You really need to attack every corner and those famous kerbs to get the very best out of it.
“We’ve had a couple of disappointing weekends recently due to reliability issues at Oulton Park and Croft, so I’m really hoping we can have a more straightforward time of things at Knockhill to get our season back on-track. I think it will be hard to use the full 15 seconds’ hybrid allocation around such a short lap, but having it is always going to help and as ever, I’ll be giving it my all. It would be brilliant to stand on the podium at my home circuit after missing out in 2015...”
Josh Cook, Driver, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said:
“It was great to come away from both Oulton Park and Croft with wins, and now the challenge is to take the next step-up again to score even more points each weekend. I’m really looking forward to Knockhill. I was competitive there last year, so I’m excited to go back and there have been a few track changes since, most notably regarding the new kerb at the chicane, which will be interesting for us all as drivers.
“I’m excited to see how the Corolla performs around a tight, twisty circuit. On paper, it should play to the car’s strengths but of course, being such a short lap, the times are always incredibly tight so we need to make sure we deliver in qualifying on Saturday, which will hopefully put us in a strong position to score a sackful of points on Sunday.”
Images: MJP Media