IN the end, it turned out fine. Croft Circuit’s biggest weekend of the year survived the ravages of the British weather, but for a while yesterday, it was a close-run thing.

On and off the track, Saturday’s torrential rain threatened to ruin Croft’s staging of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, but the show went on and thousands of motorsport fans were left satisfied. If a little soggy.

Saturday’s programme was curtailed when the heavens opened, and with the car parks having turned into a quagmire, yesterday’s showpiece proved a logistical challenge.

Spectators were forced to queue for up to two hours to make it into the venue, such was the difficulty of negotiating puddles and mud. “A bit of a shambles,” said Darren Morgan, who had driven from Sheffield with his family, only to miss the first Touring Car race because he was stuck on the road from Northallerton. “A challenging day,” admitted British Automobile Racing Club chief executive Ben Taylor.

“I’ve spent most of this morning in the car parks, trying to help people get in,” said Mr Taylor. “It’s fair to say we’ve had a challenging day.

“The staff have been amazing, and we’ve been trying to get all the cars in. I think for those people who have been stuck in traffic, it’s taken them a couple of hours to get in, and we apologise to those who missed the first Touring Car race.

“It’s a great catchment area for Croft as a circuit. There’s a huge population from up to Newcastle to down to Leeds. It’s really important the championship comes up here, and Croft is the home of motorsport in the North-East and we’re proud to host it.”

Motorsport fans tend to be a fairly stoic bunch, so while there were plenty of grumbles on the walk from the car park to the entrance booths, the mood was much happier in the grandstands as the day’s second Touring Car race began.

With the sun finally popping out from the clouds, the frustrations of the morning were forgotten. Instead, attention switched to the track, and a driving masterclass from Andrew Jordan, who drove his BMW to victory in the day’s opening two races.

“You can’t do much about the weather,” said Jane Harris, who had set out early to drive to Croft from Durham. “I spoke to some people who were here on Saturday, and they said everything was pretty wet, so we knew what to expect.

“It’s just one of those things. At least it’s stayed dry for most of the day and we’ve been able to see plenty of racing. And we’ve had a local winner to cheer too.”

That local winner was Scorton’s Max Coates, who claimed a win double in the Renault UK Clio Cup. Having successfully dealt with the wet conditions on Saturday, Coates followed up with another victory yesterday to strengthen his hopes of winning the championship title.

“It’s been a great weekend,” said Coates. “I always love racing at Croft – I only live a couple of miles up the road – but it’s even better when you can come away with two wins.

“I’ve had a lot of support over the two days, and hopefully people enjoyed watching me racing.”