Blundell primed for BTCC race debut

Ex-F1 racer Mark Blundell says he's keeping his expectations in check ahead of his British Touring Car Championship race debut at Brands Hatch.

Blundell will start his first BTCC race from the rear of the field after the TradePriceCars.com racer slipped off the track during yesterday's qualifying session, causing a red flag and losing his best time in the process.

Nevertheless, despite his off, Blundell still took the positives from his maiden qualifying run in the AmD prepared Audi S3.

"If you asked to have something mapped out for you, you’d have mapped it out very differently. But we had to deal with what we had to deal with and ultimately I didn’t deal with it very well," Blundell told Crash.net.

"I ended up coming off because I got a bit over confident. I whacked in a time early on which put us up the timesheets and the car felt good. I felt at one with it coming up through Paddock Hill and felt I could take it into Druids and obviously couldn’t.

"The positive is that the lap time came and would’ve slotted us in P18 at that point and we probably could have gone a bit quicker again. The lap I came off was a bit quicker again. We know the pace is there. We’ve just got to fulfil it by staying on there."

Starting from 30th in race one, Blundell believes he's in the perfect position to gain a better understanding of how a touring car race unfolds as the 52-year old looks to secure three solid race finishes on his debut foray.

"The biggest for me is that I don’t have any expectations on myself. I know full well that this is a big challenge and I’ve got to get used to it," Blundell continued.

"It’s going to be about understanding what these races are going to consist of. You can watch on TV but until you’re actually in one and get a feel for it.

"I’m in a good space because I can see everyone. So we can see what’s going, keep out of trouble and understand what it takes to manage the tyres, relevant to what the weathers going to be.

"I’d like to get three races under my belt so I can leave here with an experience day that’s counted for something."