Butcher 'buzzing' after maiden BTCC win

Rory Butcher says he's pleased to be the first driver to deliver the AmD Tuning squad their first ever British Touring Car Championship race victory after inheriting the race three at Brands Hatch.

Butcher had already taken what was his first ever BTCC podium after finishing in second behind Tom Chilton in race three. However, a maiden podium turned into a first ever win for the Honda Civic Type R driver after a post-race time penalty for Chilton saw Butcher move ahead of the Ford in the final classification.

As a result of his first ever win, Butcher sits fourth in the early championship standings after also securing two top-ten finishes before his race three heroics.

“It isn’t the way that you want to win a race, but you need a bit of luck in the BTCC sometimes and I’ll certainly take it," said Butcher.

"I’m so pleased to be the person who gives the AmD team its first win, and it’s an amazing feeling to be able to call myself a BTCC race winner.

“I’m delighted with the weekend as a whole as we battled back from qualifying. I stayed calm and tried to progress in each race, and I knew that we could take advantage of it we had the chance to be near the front."

With the tricky weather dominating most of the running during the opening day of the season, Butcher said he was pleased with the way his Civic Type R handled the conditions, but regrets not running the slick tyre during race one.

Despite most of the field opting to run wets, the slick tyre proved to be the winning option during the moderately greasy conditions in race one with the first seven finishers being slick-shod cars.

“I can’t thank the team enough and we showed strong pace in each race in different conditions," Butcher continued.

"The only mistake was not to roll the dice on the tyres in race one, but it’s a nice feeling to have some silverware and I’m buzzing about the way things have gone.”