Round 2 of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) proved to be a tough one for Daryl DeLeon. Despite showing so much promise during the season opener, the lone Filipino driver on the grid suffered technical issues all weekend long at Brands Hatch yet still managed to bring home some points.
The #18 Duckhams Cupra León proved to be troublesome since Saturday morning. It decided to throw out a suspension wishbone during FP1, which severely limited Daryl’s track time and explains why he ended the session dead last. FP2 was a bit better with slight improvements, but the pace still wasn’t 100% there.
Un-Limited Motorsport then pulled out all the stops in time for Qualifying that allowed Daryl to close the gap to the pole sitter, yet was still over a second off. It was only after the session did the team discover the culprit, which was attributed to a defective front differential.
With new parts installed by Sunday, Daryl now had full confidence going into the races and had high hopes of a good result. However, it soon became apparent that his woes technical weren’t over. The 18-year-old had to again wrestle the blue-and-yellow liveried Cupra León around the 1.944 km circuit in Race 1 and dropped further and further behind as the laps went on to end up dead last.
Daryl, though clearly dejected, put on a brave face and soldiered on for Race 2. And as there seems to be no quick fix to his Cupra León, he simply learned to drive around its faults and squeeze as much performance out of it as possible. It was ‘damage limitation’ mode for the entirely of 27 grueling laps and in the end, his resilience was rewarded with a 14th place finish and points towards the 2024 championship.
Running on the soft Goodyear slicks, Daryl had better pace in Race 3 and could now finally put up a fight. It allowed him to get right into the thick of the action as he battled for a Top 10 spot. But in all the chaos, he unintentionally made contact with another competitor and picked up a puncture in the process. An unscheduled visit to the pits for a tire change eventually dropped him out of contention and later crossed the finish line in 19th.
Un-Limited Motorsport will have a short break to turn things around as Daryl aims to keep his championship hopes alive when the BTCC hosts Round 3 at Snetterton on the 25th to 26th of May 2024.
Daryl DeLeon: “Difficult weekend from the get-go, struggling with the balance and problems with the car. Fast in Race 3 and had some good battles. However, due to a puncture, we ended up 19th. Time to regroup and focus on Snetterton in 2 week’s time. Massive thank you to everyone involved for all of the effort and support. it will go our way soon!
Daryl DeLeon is supported by Un-Limited Edition and Train Maintenance Services (TMS).