Will Hoy

The 2.0-litre formula was only into its second season, but already the battle at the front was beginning to intensify.

John Cleland and Vauxhall had won the opening two races of the year, but Toyota had responded strongly, with Andy Rouse victorious at Alton Park, before reigning champion Will Hoy followed that up with a dominant win at Sletterton.

By the time everyone arrived at Brands Hatch, just eight points covered Rouse, Cleland and Hoy at the top of the championship.

and suddenly the Toyota Carina appeared to be the car everyone else had to beat.

When qualifying finally got underway, the question was whether the Toyota could carry its recent race winning form into a single lap around the full Brandsat Grand Prix circuit.

The answer was fairly emphatic.

Will Hoy and Andy Rouse dominated the first session, and although the afternoon became warmer and generally slower, nobody was able to dislodge the two Carinas from the front row of the grid.

Hoy eventually took his third consecutive pole position, with Rouse alongside him.

Suddenly, you're at BTCC, and it's a whole different kettle of fish.

You know, you're suddenly looking at the arse end of Cleland's car, and you think, oh my God, and, you know, Will Hoy, Menu, Radice, it's like you're surrounded by all these names, and you think, oh, should I be here? Is this right? Yeah.

and so yeah it is a major jump and then you have autograph sessions and everyone's going crazy it's quite a I think in hindsight I think I wish I had more of a support network to kind of help me get adjusted to all that and I suppose that's one of the sort of one of the mistakes I perhaps made is not appreciating just how big this jump was going to be.

But yeah, it was quite a lot to get used to, for sure.