Dan Zelos Earns Second BTCC Shot At Silverstone

Dan Zelos Earns Second BTCC Shot At Silverstone

Dan Zelos will once again look to impress with Team Bristol Street Motors when the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship heads for Silverstone after securing a second outing in Britain’s premier racing series.

Zelos, three time winner of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE title, made his debut in Britain’s premier racing series at Donington Park last month after being given an eleventh-hour opportunity to step up into a race seat from his role as official reserve driver for the Hyundai squad.

Despite the fact that the 26-year-old hadn’t been behind the wheel of a BTCC car since mid-2022, and had never sampled the series’ hybrid system, Zelos produced an impressive performance on track from the moment he hit the track in the East Midlands.

Even though mixed weather conditions made his learning curve even greater than expected, Zelos was able to battle his way to 16th place on the grid in qualifying and followed it up with three points scoring finishes from three on race day.

That included a personal best of eleventh place in the final race, which saw Zelos battle wheel-to-wheel with former World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff, as well as four-time BTCC title winner Colin Turkington.

Recent weeks have seen Zelos hard at work to secure the support needed to remain at the wheel of the Macklin Motors-backed Hyundai i30 Fastback N, with the launch of a special DZ4x5 initiative offering new partners with the opportunity to join his journey being particularly well received.

As such, Zelos will once again line up alongside Tom Ingram, Tom Chilton and Nick Halstead in the Team Bristol Street Motors line-up for three races around Silverstone’s National layout where he will look to not only fight for overall points finishes, but also push for three strong results in the Jack Sears Trophy.

A fresh challenge will come in the shape of different tyre rules to those that was in place at Donington Park, with the use of the soft tyre for one of the three races on Sunday, adding an extra element of strategy into the mix for Zelos to work on alongside the team.

Dan Zelos, #45 Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Joining the BTCC grid at Donington Park was the realisation of a dream, and the whole experience only left me wanting more. So much hard work has gone in since then, and I’m over the moon to be in a position where I can now continue to fly the flag in the Macklin Motors-backed car for the event at Silverstone.

“I had no real expectations going into Donington Park given that I had no time in the car prior to the weekend, and I was proud to come away from my first BTCC meeting with three points finishes from three having battled against some of the very best drivers on the grid.

“I feel very fortunate to have such amazing support around me, which has helped to get me to the position I now find myself in. With extra experience now under my belt, albeit still nowhere near as much as my rivals on track, I want to go out and there and try to build on the performance at Donington Park and really let the racing do the talking.”

Justina Williams, Team Team Bristol Street Motors Team Owner, said:
“Dan did a fantastic job at Donington Park on his first weekend in the car in difficult circumstances with the weather conditions as they were, and more than showed he has the talent required to be part of the BTCC grid.

“We’re delighted to confirm that Dan will once again be out on track at Silverstone and look forward to seeing what he can achieve with the additional knowledge and experience he now has after a weekend in the car.

“We’re sure he will continue to give his all to aid the team at a vital stage in the championship battle.”

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