Heroics Into Saint Devote

Good morning dear reader. You join me from the oldest motorsport circuit in the United Kingdom. The renowned Donington Park Circuit. The circuit, who famously played host to the 1993 Formula One European Grand Prix, today hosts a very different kettle of fish as the 2025 season of the KwikFit British Touring Car Championship gets underway tomorrow. Will reigning-champion Jake Hill start his campaign as he means to go on? Can Tom Ingram bounce back from the heartbreak he suffered in Brands Hatch six months ago? And what about NAPA Racing’s Ashley Sutton? The 4-time champion has to be looking to make it a fifth this year. So let’s get to some racing shall we?

Saturday – Practice and Qualifying

Conditions around the circuit are a fine mix of warm, sunny spells with a light breeze dancing through the infield trees here at the circuit. And following the triumphant pole by Henry Joslyn in the British F4 qualifying just a few moments prior, the track is now plenty of usable real estate for the touring cars to take advantage of. But heading into this weekend and the start of a new season, the biggest talking point among the touring car paddock was not the new and old faces up and down the grid, but more the four new, 4k, broadcast quality cameras that TOCA, the governing body of the BTCC, had invested in to help control track limits offences. These came into effect after a handful of incidents leading to damaged cars caused by large tyre barriers, which acted as a deterrent for running off-circuit. Unfortunately however, these have not helped the issue as much as BTCC boss Alan Gow wanted. Several cars were black-flagged for track limits infringements in the first session alone, including Ronan Pearson in the 14 Toyota GR Corolla. Who was black-flagged no more than three times across the two practice sessions. Reigning champ Jake Hill was first out of the blocks for the first session of the day in the number 1 Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, West Surrey Racing BMW 330i. And that car really does look magnificent out there.

A moment for Jake Hill. After his triumphant championship win in Brands Hatch last year, the Kent-born driver then began to broaden his horizons. He had his debut in the ever-competitive GT3 category at the Michelin 24 Hours of Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina circuit, which also plays host to the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix, and has done since 2009. And in his first qualifying session in the sleek Ferrari 296 GT3, Hill, along with ‘Eras Motorsport Ace’ Ryan Dazliel and Dwight Merriman, managed to find their way to second in class, behind Porsche Supercup star Harry King. They finished qualifying 4th overall, and the fastest Ferrari on track, ahead of factory drivers Dan Harper and Matt Griffin. At the start of the race however, fortunes were not shining on the 81 Eras Motorsport car, who suffered a puncture on the warm-up lap, dropping them to the rear of the 66 car field. Though teammate Dazliel stormed through the field and handed the car over to his teammate after briefly leading it’s class. Once the car was handed over to Hill, however, the car was running 17th overall and 5th in Pro-AM. Hill surged forwards to P12 and P3 in class. And that’s how it remained for the night. With Hill setting the car’s fastest lap of the race and on pace with leader and Supercup Superstar Harry King. But unfortunately, in the early hours of the morning, teammate Dwight Merriman was caught out at one of the higher-speed sections of the track and spun, damaging the rear of the 296 and forcing the car to retire with only 5 hours of the race remaining, having elapsed 19 of them. But nonetheless, a fantastic showing from all involved at the Eras Motorsport 81 crew, and it remains to be seen what can be done in upcoming races.

But back to the touring cars. Our focus for the day. I’ve just been made aware by the commentators about a new rule to do with the LED displays in the rear-windows of the cars. With the removal of the Hybrid in the winter, the functionality has changed of these displays. Now the can display blue if a driver is using the TOCA Turbo Boost (TTB), white if their allotment has been used for the lap, red if they have used it all completely, And now, they feature a coloured frame around them which displays white, yellow or red, depending on which compound of Goodyear tyres the cars are on. This is the responsibility of the DRIVER to change this for each session. Outside of competitive sessions, failure to display the correct colour will result in a warning from the stewards, however if this is done in a race session, a yet-to-be determined sporting penalty will be issued to the offending driver. Another rule change for the year is in regards to the famed Jack Sears Trophy. A smaller, separate championship, previously only open to drivers whom have never stood on a BTCC podium. This year however, this has been amended to allow drivers with no more than 1 career podium to be eligible for the trophy. This allows the Toyota of Ronan Pearson into the fight, who has only recorded one career podium. His maiden podium was also a win at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in the third race of the weekend in 2024.

The second practice session was not dominated by a driver, but was decimated by black flags. 8 drivers were shown the black flag for track limits, including Ronan Pearson who made it 3 from 2 sessions. But also a trio of Vertu Hyundais, including title protagonist Tom Ingram, the returning Michael Crees and Vertu newbie Adam Morgan. Also in the sin-bin was the NAPA Ford of Dan Cammish, who fell foul of track limits whilst on qualifying simulations. The rookie Max Hall in the fabulously designed Cupra 93 also slipped up, alongside returning fan-favourite Nicolas Hamilton. This led to a harshly worded interview from a furious Alan Gow, who acts as the boss of the BTCC series. In an interview with Autosport.com, Gow explained the thought process and the actions he took between the sessions. He stated that “we said to the teams we will invest in this [The four new cameras for track limits] because no one likes tyre stacks”, referencing the controversial track furniture. He went on to say that he had discussed this with team managers and drivers before the start of FP1, where he told them “as long as you can control yourself, we won’t need to put the tyre stacks in.” Between sessions however, Gow was increasingly frustrated by the infractions being racked up by drivers. He went on to say “after FP1 we talked to all the team managers again and told them, ‘You’ve got one more chance to make sure your drivers can drive within the track limits, otherwise we’ll be forced to put the tyres back.’ And they didn’t.” Thus, the tyre barriers were re-installed for the qualifying session, but even then, a few drivers still fell foul of the track limits. Head of Racing at Speedworks, Danny Buxton said “You have to applaud the organisers for giving it a shot, No one want the tyre stacks. It reduces the amount of racing through there, it increases the damage, but everyone has to just stay on the track and we’re as guilty as anyone.” The tyre stacks thus, remained in place for the remainder of the touring car sessions.

Another point to note from the practice sessions, is that we are now in the fastest era of British Touring Cars. Tom Ingram obliterated the pole position lap record around the Donington Park National Circuit in free practice one. After going within 2 tenths of it, previously set by Ashley Sutton in 2023, with a lap time of 1:07.570s, setting a 1:07:720, he went on to obliterate his own lap time and set a 1:07:364, which is the fastest British Touring Car lap of the Donington Park National Circuit. Tingram also topped both practice sessions, with both the Team Vertu Hyundais and Napa Ford Focus’ leading the way, ahead of a struggling WSR team with their 4 BMW 330i M Sports.

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Now onto qualifying. BTCC run a very interesting format for their qualifying sessions, with some small amendments from last year. Following the conclusion of Free Practice 2, the drivers will be sorted into groups based on where they finished the session. Those who finished in odd-numbered positions are one group, and those who are the opposite are vice-versa. Both groups have the circuit for 10 minutes to set a laptime. The fastest six from each group go through to a top-12 shootout, and the remaining 12 driver’s positions will be set for the race. Group 1 will line up on the even side of the grid, and group 2 will line up on the odd side, to prevent any advantage from either group due to track conditions. In the fast-12, also referred to as Qualifying 2, this sets the grid order from 7th to 12th, with the top 6 then progressing to Qualifying 3, or the “quick-six”. Much like Indycar. And Q3 finally sets the top 6 positions for race one. With this in mind, lets go through it shall we?

In ascending order, out in Q1 were as follows:

Then, those who didn’t progress to the quick-six are:

And the top 6 for your session were:

In my view, there are some key talking points for the session. And I will shy away from track limits offences, as I have had enough of those. 2 WSR BMWs fell foul at the first hurdle of qualifying, which signifies to me a real struggle that the WSR team is facing this year. After a mega 2024 campaign, in which Jake Hill brought the teams first crown home since 2019, is the team struggling to adapt to the recent rule changes which may have benefited other rivals more? Also out in Q1 was two of the Team Vertu cars. Too bowing out at the first time of asking was Sam Osbourne of the NAPA racing team. Though I suspect it’s not worth reading into too far. I think it’s more a case of somebody’s got to drop out, and this weekend it just so happened to be the Vertu pair and the sole NAPA car. Especially considering both teams have gone well so far this weekend. When you look at the full results, it looks less glum for NAPA, with three of the four spots taken up by their cars of Sutton, Cammish and Rowbottom respectively. But the same cannot be said of the WSR crews, who need to find a solution to the issues they’re facing before the season is too far gone for Hill to defend his title. But that’s the grid set for the first race tomorrow morning. Let’s fast forward shall we?

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BTCC Race One:

Race one. No messing around. Let’s get straight into it as I’m very late with this post. As soon as the light go out, Sutton get’s a great start compared to those ahead and behind, leaving Ingram in his wake and moving along side Cammish for turn one. Ingram got a almost lackluster start and that allowed Rowbottom to get alongside, looking to make it a 1, 2, 3 for the NAPA racing team. But Ingram defends well and maintains his third position ahead of Robo, Hill had a decent start and moved up a place when he got by the Civic of Josh Cook. Out of Hollywood they go and Sutton is up the inside of his teammate in Cammish, and gets by heading downhill to the Old Hairpin. It’s Sutton, from Cammish, Ingram, Rowbotton, Chilton, Pearson and Hill. Behind Hill come Cook, Rainford and Taylor-Smith. Though Ronan Pearson was soon handed a 10 second penalty for a jump-start. Nullifying what looked like a great start for the Toyota. Down the order, it’s looking like a real scrap, with cars literally nose-to-tail down the hill and then back up for Starkey’s. By lap two, it was clear both Rainford and Moffat had made great starts to their BMW WSR careers, both moving up 3 places on the opening lap. But at the back we’re THREE WIDE heading into the Roberts chicane at the end of the lap! This is already incredible stuff from both the seasoned BTCC drivers of Stephen Jelley and Adam Morgan, but also from the Mini Challenge championship runner up, Max Hall.

Lap three and the gap from Sutton in the lead to Cammish behind is already over a second, with the NAPA cars looking strong in these the early stages of the 18 lap mad dash to the line. Josh Cook is looking really racey, tucked under the rear wing of Jake Hill’s ‘Laser Beamer’, surely it’s only a matter of time before the Civic can force the issue and get by the reigning champion. But it was lap 3 we saw the start of the drama, aside from the false-start penalty. We saw Sam Osbourne locking up and getting into the rear of Dan Lloyd’s Hyundai on the run into the final chicane, forcing both drivers, as well as Gordon Shedden, to bail out and miss the chicane. Shedden, who was the innocent party in the situation was simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But back to the front, and Cammish has closed to within a couple of tenths of Sutton ahead, leaving Ingram behind in his wake. And here goes Cook down the inside of Hill at the old hairpin! Hill defends well and keeps the car pinned on the outside line, and maintains his position up the hill. Cook is moving about in his rear-view, getting ready to line up another move as they go nose to tail through Mcleans and run up toward Coppice. Cook gets up Hill’s inside for the double-apex right hander of Coppice. Jake tries his best to stay on his outside, the pair absolutely door-to-door for 7th position in this race. But Cook takes a tighter line and makes the move stick on Hill this time and claims 7th as his own on the straight before the Roberts chicane.

Lap Five now and Ingram is doing his best to stick with the leading pair of NAPA cars on a harder compound of tyre, and dropping Dan Rowbottom in the process. It’s looking like a 3-horse race at the moment. Aiden Moffat makes another move this race and gets by the returning Gordon Shedden into Redgate. Max Hall is also looking rather racey in his exceptionally-liveried Cupra, having made multiple overtakes in two laps. This kid’s special. You don’t just be championship runner up as a rookie if you have no talent. Though not much is being shown from the Laser Tools BMW camp, as Hill seems to be struggling more and more with the 330i M-Sport at his feet. Though the same cannot be said for Moffat and Rainford behind, who are both steadily moving up the order.

Lap 8 now and it seems Sutton is managing his pace and tyres. To his own benefit, but detriment of teammate Dan Cammish behind, who now has Ingram for company, attempting an audacious look down the inside of the NAPA driver into Redgate. But it’s only a matter of time before Ingram makes his move down the inside at turn four, the Old Hairpin. And claims second as his own before setting off on a charge after the leading Sutton. Jelley has an off at Mccleans in the One Motorsport civiv, which seems to be sporting some sort of damage on the front end. I didn’t see what happened. But Gordon Shedden is also sporting some serious damage now on lap 9, the halfway point of this race. The entire left front fender has been pulled off the car and is now flapping dangerously as he laps. Cook gets by Chilton into the final chicane, after dropping Hill’s Laser Beamer, taking P6 on the road.

Hill, among others, has been warned for track limits offences, and this is really starting to look like a serious issue for the series. Personally, I don’t see much problem with the drivers taking liberties with curbs. I think that’s what racing drivers do. But natrally, TOCA take a dim view of abusing the limits of the racing surface. And we’re not far away from further track limits penalties being handed out this weekend. But back at the front, Ingram is within half a second of Sutton, and I think we’re about to see a clash of the titans-esque battle for the first honours of the season. Aron Taylor Smith and Stephen Jelley are both forced to pit, for reasons as yet unknown. I imagine ATS was facing some sort of car issue as he seemed slower on the straights than others. But behind them, Shedden has been given the black and orange mechanical warning flag, meaning he has to pit to repair the damage. It seems the TOCA scrutineers are not happy with the dislodged bodywork.

Lap 11 now and the gap at the front is down to 3 tenths of a second. I think Ingram is just biding his time and waiting for the opportunity to arise and get by Sutton. But if anybody can hold off a hard-charging Tom Ingram, it’s 4-time-series champion Ashley Sutton. But trouble at the back! Adam Morgan’s Hyundai has sustained some hefty damage and a puncture. Tom Chilton, in trying to get back past Josh Cook, taps the rear of the civic and nudges it around into a spin. But before the car can rotate fully, it’s stopped by the tyre-stacks at the apex of the chicane in a rather hefty impact, showering the chasing Laser Beamer in gravel and debris. But now it’s lap 12 and the first safety car of the year has been deployed. This could spell trouble for both Sutton and everybody else on the soft compound tyre. But this could be good however, for the Laser Beamer, which seems to be more alive than ever. Maybe it’s just better on it’s tyres as a side-effect of not being the fastest car. Dan Cammish has also suffered a puncture, though it’s not clear what caused it. There’s talk from fans around me that it might be the debris from the Chilton/Cook incident a few laps before. But I think it’s more likely that the tyre surface is delaminating as drivers are using too much kerb. The kerbs themselves are not totally flat, with a small cliff-like edge on the inside. So I suspect this is slowly tearing the tyre to bits every lap.

Safety car comes in at the end of lap 15, leaving Sutton in control of the restart. Though with the new rule changes for this year, this could be interesting. Once the lights atop the safety car go out, all drivers must stop weaving and remain within two car lengths of those ahead. The lead car now though, cannot go whenever he/she decides, they must wait for the so-called “go-zone” which is defined by TOCA. Here at Donington Park, it’s after the exit of the final chicane and ends at the line. Sutton leaves it very late before finally mashing the accelerator, though this doesnt catch Ingram out, who goes right with him. Behind them though, the 777 car of Michael Crees is off the road, collecting the Kwik-Fit advertising boards as what I can only assume is a souvenir. The restart is better for Hill though, who takes advantage of the scrapping Civic and Hyundai of Cook and Chilton ahead. Hill makes it 3-wide down the hill, and overtakes both cars at once into the old hairpin. This is more like it Jake. Behind though, it’s drama for Hill’s rookie teammate Charles Rainford, who finds the gravel after a small wobble from his BMW 330i M-sport, but fortunately he keeps it from hitting the tyres hard and is able to rejoin the race, be it in 18th place. Heartbreaking for the rookie. After what had been a great debut race so far. Thankfully, the BTCC add laps to the end of the race should there be a safety car intervention. A maximum of 3 laps have been added to the original 18, making this a 21 lap race, with 6 to go. Ingram is absolutely glued to the rear of Sutton’s Focus. Six laps.

Moffat gets by teammate DeLeon down the pit-straight. But DeLeon stays tight to the inside for the first turn, acting like a sort of cork-in-a-bottle almost, holding a train of cars up behind whilst Moffat begins to stretch away. But at the front, it’s nose-to-tail stuff from the two former champions, with Ingram practically sitting on Sutton’s rear wing. Mikey Doble and Josh Cook have a scary near-miss at turn one, with Doble getting into the rear of Cook on the brakes for Redgate, thankfully though both remain unharmed, but Cook probably getting increasingly frustrated. Behind them though, James Dorlin in the Toyota Corolla GR has pulled off the circuit at Redgate. I didn’t see him getting into an incident, though thankfully, we seem to be continuing with nothing more than some double-waved yellows. The pair at the front are running almost inseparable lap-times, but comfortably faster than everybody behind. But Ingram is running out of time to make a move. Only 2 laps left. Moffat is up to 9th, having started this race in 20th place. A fantastic showing from the Scotsman in his debut for WSR.

On the final lap, Ingram sets up a move on Sutton on the outside into Turn 1, looking to cutback and get a better launch off the corner on the downhill run to the old hairpin. But Sutton is wise to it, and covers off Ingram’s line well. The pair are inseparable this lap. But Ingram doesn’t have enough time left, as Sutton is using his TTB to remain infront.

Sutton WINS the opening round of the Kwik-Fit British Touring Car Championship, ahead of hard-charging Ingram, with Rowbottom taking the final podium position. Hill is promoted to 4th after the application of Pearson’s 10 second penalty for the false start. Chilton brings his battered Hyundai home in 5th, closely followed by Mikey Doble. Behind the independent pair come Cook, Cammish, Moffat and Smiley rounds out the top 10. Dexter Patterson brings it home in 11th on his return to the series, followed by Dan Lloyd in 12th, Peason 13th on corrected time, Max Hall 14th and scoring points on his debut and Sam Osbourne collecting the final points paying position in what was a rather eventful, hard-fought season opener.

BTCC Race Two:

Here we go for race two then. The starting grid is the same order of that as they finished race one, with Sutton on pole, followed by Ingram, Rowbottom, Hill and Chilton rounding out the top 5. I am not quick enough to write the whole grid down though. The lights are already on. Sutton gets an absolute missile of a start, launching away from the lights. As does Hill who moves up onto the podium before the first turn as the expense of Rowbottom. Ingram is too far back on Sutton to think about a move, but things aren’t quite as tidy looking backwards. A mess of cars barrel into turn one, with no incidents somehow. Much like in race one, the midfield would remain an all-out melee for position, with Moffat escaping early in 9th, soon followed by Smiley and Ex-Laser Tools Racing Infiniti teammate, Dexter Patterson. The fast-starting Charles Rainford has an issue at the Roberts chicane, dropping him down the order from 14th, where he had been running nose-to-tail with his own teammate, Daryl DeLeon.

Lap two and Ingram is absolutely riding Sutton’s gearbox all the way down the Crainer Curves, just far enough back to allow Sutton to be safe for another lap. The leading pair are dropping the struggling BMW of Jake Hill, who seems to be on a damage limitation mission this weekend. And the number 88 of Mikey Doble has been handed a drive through penalty. I didn’t hear why. How bizarre. Fortunately, when Doble comes in to serve, it should free up Chilton, Cammish and Moffat, who can really open the taps. Ingram is really crawling all over the back of Sutton now, almost getting around the outside for Coppice. Sutton goes uber-defensive into the final chicane, forcing Ingram to wait another lap. Ash’s defensive driving always has been stellar. But the squabble on this lap as lured Hill back into the fray, who also has pulled a gap on Cook behind in 4th in Rowbottom in fifth, with the penalised Doble running 6th and yet to serve. Onto Lap 3 now and Hill gets a great exit from Redgate and he’s riding the back on Ingram all the way down the Crainer Curves. Can the reigning champion think about making a move? All three of the leading trio kick up a huge cloud of dust as they dip a tyre at the apex of the second of the Crainers, which just shows quite how hot today is. It’s baking. Hill doesn’t get by Ingram, but with Ingram looking in his mirrors more, Sutton has a moment to breathe. But with the jostling behind having ceased, you could throw a blanket over your leaders and it would cover down to 7th place. Who’s going to win this race?

In his squabble for first, Ingram gets a poor exit from Turn 1. Hill behind gets a better one, allowing him the draw alongside down the hill. Unfortunately he’s stick on the outside for the Old Hairpun and wisely backs out. But the ever-opportunistic Josh Cook dives down the inside and makes a fantastic move for the final podium place in this race. Both leaders are side-by-side heading down Starkey’s straight. Ingram draws ahead. Sutton goes later on the breaks and manages to hold his position. Ingram backs out of the move as appose to risking holding the outside. This is an excellent advertisement for the series, and a great way to welcome back British Touring Cars for the 2025 season. a 7-car scrap for the lead, battles up and down the midfield. What a season this could be.

At this point, I’m thinking Hill is the cork in the bottle for the rest of the top 7. The BMW is on the soft tyres in 4th place, and really not making any inroads on the podium positions ahead, unlike Cook’s Civic, which is also on the soft Goodyear rubber. The top 3 are actually pulling a gap on 4th and down. Dan Lloyd at the back as gone very wide out of the final chicane, mowing all the grass on the start/finish straight, before coming to a stop for what looks like some sort of mechanical failure. I’m hearing now that Michael Crees will only be driving that 777 Hyundai for the next 5 events, and at the half-way point of the season, Senna Proctor will be taking over the seat for ‘monetary reasons’. But also with the recent news of a return of Nick Halstead with Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing in the older Astra, money is proving to be a real issue for younger, talented drivers. Last year, Dan Zelos got a shot in the BTCC with Vertu after wrapping up his Mini Challenge campaign early. This year, Zelos is not able to race in the BTCC for a lack of sponsors and money, though it’s not all lost for him. He’s taken up Porsche Sprint cup.

Lap 7 now and Cook is all over the rear of the medium-tyred Hyundai of Ingram, looking to make a move anywhere, with Sutton having a few car lengths of breathing space between him and title protagonist Tom Ingram. And down the order, Max Hall gives Gordon Shedden a great welcome back to touring car racing, as the pair went door-to-door through the old hairpin, before Hall slamming Shedden, who took to the gravel to escape race-ending contact. Behind the lead group, DeLeon is piling the pressure on WSR teammate Moffat. And after a quick flash of the BMW’s headlights, Moffat runs a tiny bit wide through McCleans, and that allows DeLeon to get up the inside of him for Coppice. Moffat thought better of fighting DeLeon too hard, and filed in behind. Battles for the last few points positions still arge on however, with the experienced Shedden getting down the inside of rookie Hall at the final chicane for 13th on track. Six cars are currently scrapping for the final points-paying position in this race. How incredible to see. Dan Cammish however, in the less-seen NAPA racing Focus is currently on a charge up the order. Having displaced Chilton, he now gets by NAPA teammate Rowbottom up through Starkey’s. Can the Ford do anything about the leaders at this, the midway point in this race?

Lap 11 now and Ingram has managed to drop Cook back into the clutches of Hill in fourth, and set his sights, one again, on getting the race lead from Sutton. The pair fly out of Redgate with what I can only imagine is a frustrated Ingram on a charge in what’s seemed like a different class of car all weekend. Hall gets back by the three-time series champion Shedden in the same corner Shedden did it to him. Excellent stuff from the rookie.

Heartbreak for Rainford! After a quick spin through the gravel, and what seemed like a crunch as the car dug into the gravel rather than scooting over it, the driver pulls off the road and out of harms way. The young driver was on a recovery mission after losing all his positions nearer the start. That’s Rainford out of this race with WSR. Then a lap later Cook goes wide at McCleans! The Civic just seemed to drive off the circuit with a total lack of grip. I suspect he’s either ruined those tyres beyond believe, or they gave up the ghost and punctured. Either way, Hill goes through, Cammish, Rowbottom and Chilton too. Lap 15 and Shedden goes by Hall again. In the same corner. Wow. At the same time, Ingram is given the black and white driving standards flag for track limits infringements. That could spell the end of this race, with Ingram not being able to take risks and liberties in a bid to find pace where the Focus of Sutton cannot.

Lap 17 and Cammish gets up the inside of Hill at Coppice corner. The reigning champion attempts to keep his foot in it however, holding his outside line. But with the tighter exit line, Cammish gets by for the final podium position. But that’s not our focus. Ash Sutton wins round two of the 2025 Kwik-Fit British Touring Car Championship in impressive style over Tom Ingram and teammate Dan Cammish. Hill comes home fourth ahead of Rowbottom, Chilton, Moffat and Smiley in 8th. 9th went the way of Patterson, with Mogran in 10th, followed by Shedden, DeLeon, Hall Dorlin and Jelley to round out your points scorers for Race Two.

BTCC Race Three:

Race three was different. Naturally, with BTCC grid procedure for Race Three, the top 12 of race 2 get randomised. 1st-12th also get randomly selected to start in the top 12 for the next race. Pretty cool… Would be better if it was the entire grid. Chilton got pole from Rowbottom, Hill, Cammish Ingram Sutton and Moffat. I have significantly fewer notes on this as I decided to watch from the Roberts Chicane. This is great if you don’t wish to get long, descriptive notes, as there is no TV screen. So this review will be shorter.

Tom Chilton held onto his lead from the beginning to come home and win for Vertu. Ingram also made it a hat-trick of P2s and a Vertu 1-2 finish on the podium. Sutton recovered well with Ingram to finish 3rd and limit the damage done. Cammish held fourth after displacing Hill on the race start. Morgan and Rowbottom came next, making it 3 NAPA racing Fords and 3 Vertu Hyundais in the top 6. They’re really showing their class this weekend. Doble recorded a great, hard fought 7th place finish, followed by Smiley, Moffat and Hill in 10th. Hill definitely had a rough race, with losing positons, and giving his Beamer a battering as the race went on. And after an incident with Gordon Shedden into the final chicane, where SHedden though he was clear of the Laser Beamer and almost turned himself around over Hill’s nose as he moved. Thankfully both remained in the race.

11th went the way of the Civic of Josh cook. After the heartbreak of losing a podium in Race Two, the Civic fought back to finish inside the points for race three. 12th to 14th was a trio of Toyota Corollas who seemed to find eachother on track every single race. Sometimes it was just three, sometimes all four were flying in formation around the Donington Park National Circuit, with Aron Taylor-Smith leading the charge for Toyota Gazoo Racing from Shedden and Pearson. DeLeon and Rainford finished together in 15th and 16th, with only DeLeon scoring a sole point for WSR in what’s been a weekend to forget. 17th came Jelley on his return to the championship, followed by Osbourne, Crees, Hall, Dorlin and Hamilton. With Lloyd and Patterson not classified as finishers.

Looking Ahead.

What a weekend then. Sutton heads to Brands Hatch in a couple week’s time in the lead of the drivers championship after this pair of wins and a P3 this weekend. Tom Ingram is a mere 7 points behind after Mr Consistency scored a trio of P2 finishes. Reigning Champ Jake Hill resides in 6th, and 26 points off the championship lead after a rough weekend for the WSR team.

Theres been plenty of talk all weekend abouyt why the WSR BMWs might be struggling more this year than they have previously. I can imagine it might have something to do with the abolition of the Hybrid. The battery units TOCA mandated for the series in the last few years weighed about an extra 50 kilograms. And whilst that might not seem like alot, these race cars are so finely balanced that such a small change anywhere on the car can have such drastic differences. Am I worried for WSR? No. If any team can sort out their issues, it’s them. And with Brands Hatch coming up next, Jake Hill will want to get back on track for his home race.

I am, however, very excited for the season to come. It looks like, from this weekend alone, NAPA really is the team to beat on track, with SUtton leading the charge, gunning for a fifth championship. But if anybody wants to stop him, it’s Tom Ingram. After being dealt a bad hand at the end of last season at Brands Hatch, and Jake Hill leaving triumphant, Ingram wants to make up. Ingram wants that title for himself again.

Chris Smiley also leads the Independent Championship after recording a finish on each step of the pdoium this weekend. But only by one point over Mikey Doble behind, who won twice in his category.

I really ought to get this out ASAP. It’s been a while. I’ll leave it there folks, and I do hope I’ll be seeing you all again for BTCC in Brands Hatch.