Daryl DeLeon secured his maiden BTCC win as he took the chequered flag for WSR in round five at Brands Hatch. A chaotic race dominated by tyre compounds and interrupted by two safety car periods, DeLeon was on the better soft tyre and powered to victory in his BMW. Adam Morgan finished second with Ash Sutton taking his 100th BTCC podium in third.
Race one winner Jake Hill started on pole with Charles Rainford second to make it an all-BMW front row. They sped off the line, both on the hard tyre, which would mean a deficit in pace to the soft tyre shod cars.
Dan Cammish made his way up to third, battling Rainford for second before passing him on lap four at Clearways.
Lap five saw DeLeon take third from Rainford, his hard tyres making it hard to defend. The first piece of drama came when Dan Lloyd was punted wide on the Cooper straight. He made a pit stop but finished a lap down in 21st.
The first of two safety car periods came on lap seven when Max Hall and Dexter Patterson collided at Paddock Hill and ended up in the gravel trap. After a near ten-lap delay, the safety car was halfway down the pit lane when it was to be re-deployed.
As is standard procedure with safety car restarts, Hill was bunching up the pack. However Dan Cammish encountered an issue with his Ford Focus, causing it to stop. Cars made their way past the stricken Yorkshireman, but Aiden Moffat wasn’t as lucky; running into the back of Cammish. Causing another safety car to clear his car and the debris on the circuit.
This promoted DeLeon up to second, and on the restart he wasted no time. He passed Hill into Paddock Hill bend in what was a gutsy overtake. He pulled it off and led away to the chequered flag. This began Hill’s descent down the grid as the soft tyre cars made their way through.
The best of the overtakes on Hill however, went to Adam Morgan, who rounded the BMW on the outside at Paddock.
DeLeon strolled to the finish, taking his first win in the series. Morgan and Sutton finished on the podium, with Chris Smiley following Sutton through the grid for fourth place.
Moffat finished fifth despite the contact with Cammish, making up 15 places in the process. Josh Cook was sixth with Rainford and Hill following behind. Dan Rowbottom and Ronan Pearson rounded out the top ten.
Championship leader Tom Ingram could only finish 11th on the hard tyre, with Tom Chilton in 12th. The final three points places were taken by Stephen Jelley, Michael Crees, and Aron Taylor-Smith.
Dan Rowbottom will start the final race on pole thanks to the reverse grid draw, with Sutton and Ingram looking to fight through the grid for vital points.
|
Pos |
Name |
Team |
Car |
|
1 (7) |
Daryl DELEON |
Team WSR |
BMW 330e |
|
2 (4) |
Adam MORGAN |
Team Vertu |
Hyundai i30N |
|
3 (10) |
Ash SUTTON |
NAPA Racing |
Ford Focus |
|
4 (12) |
Chris SMILEY |
Restart Racing |
Hyundai i30N |
|
5 (20) |
Aiden MOFFAT |
Team WSR |
BMW 330e |
|
6 (15) |
Josh COOK |
ONE Motorsport |
Honda Civic Type-R |
|
7 (2) |
Charles RAINFORD |
LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR |
BMW 330e |
|
8 (1) |
Jake HILL |
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport |
BMW 330e |
|
9 (18) |
Dan ROWBOTTOM |
NAPA Racing |
Ford Focus |
|
10 (11) |
Ronan PEARSON |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota Corolla |
|
11 (3) |
Tom INGRAM |
Team Vertu |
Hyundai i30N |
|
12 (22) |
Tom CHILTON |
Team Vertu |
Hyundai i30N |
|
13 (14) |
Stephen JELLEY |
ONE Motorsport |
Honda Civic Type-R |
|
14 (13) |
Michael CREES |
Team Vertu |
Hyundai i30N |
|
15 (16) |
Aron TAYLOR-SMITH |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota Corolla |
|
16 (21) |
Gordon SHEDDEN |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota Corolla |
|
17 (8) |
Sam OSBORNE |
NAPA Racing |
Ford Focus |
|
18 (17) |
James DORLIN |
Toyota Gazoo Racing |
Toyota Corolla |
|
19 (25) |
Nicholas HAMILTON |
Powder Monkey |
Cupra Leon |
|
20 (24) |
Nick HALSTEAD |
Power Maxed Racing |
Vauxhall Astra |
|
21 (9) |
Dan LLOYD |
Restart Racing |
Hyundai i30N |
|
22 (6) |
Mikey DOBLE |
Power Maxed Racing |
Vauxhall Astra |
|
DNF (5) |
Dan CAMMISH |
NAPA Racing |
Ford Focus |
|
DNF (19) |
Dexter PATTERSON |
RoKIT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport |
Cupra Leon |
|
DNF (23) |
Max HALL |
RoKIT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport |
Cupra Leon |
