Aaron Irwin

Rory Butcher allayed pre-race fears to convert pole to victory in race one at Silverstone.

A liquid spill from the earlier British F4 race on the start/finish straight meant Butcher’s start would be compromised. However despite losing the lead to Tom Ingram, he soon reclaimed his lead on lap three at Brooklands with an audacious and well executed move.

The opening lap saw five retirements, with Andy Neate suffering a puncture and causing damage. Gordon Shedden and Sam Smelt had a coming together, Jack Mitchell retired early on with a mechanical issue and Adam Morgan also never returned from the pits after pitting on lap one.

Once Butcher took his lead back, Ingram was reeled in by Dan Lloyd in his Vauxhall Astra. Of the five title protagonists Ingram finished highest, with Josh Cook, Colin Turkington and leader Ash Sutton finishing fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Jake Hill however struggled with 66kg of ballast in his Ford Focus, and was embroiled in a race-long fight with Tom Chilton and Jack Butel. He eventually finished 21st, and out of the points.

Butcher cruised to a win, with a winning margin of just over three seconds. Ingram held off Lloyd for second with Aiden Moffat’s second half renaissance to the season continued with fourth place.

History was made as the BTCC’s Hybrid car competed in its first race, driven by former champion Andrew Jordan. While it finished last, this wasn’t due to lack of performance. The Hybrid programme was simply to run the car in racing conditions, and so stayed near the back to avoid any incidents or affecting the championship.

Ash Sutton remains in the lead of the championship with only a handful of races left to go.

Jake Hill cruised to a dominant win in race two at Croft to take his second British Touring Car Championship win. The win also boosts his title credentials.

While Hill pulled away there was chaos behind him with around 20 cars all running close behind each other. Aiden Moffat defended incredibly well to take second with Josh Cook in third.

Cook was in the action from the off as he and Colin Turkington made contact into the high speed section, thankfully both drivers came out unscathed. The end of lap one saw Rory Butcher’s wretched luck continue as he was out after a collision.

Tom Oliphant also had another race to forget as he retired with suspension damage and the safety car was deployed to recover the two stricken cars.

Just before the safety car was deployed Hill managed to squeeze past Moffat to take the lead.

On lap six came the restart, Hill managed to get away well with Josh Cook all over the back of team mate Senna Proctor, looking to find a way past the local driver.

By la eight Hill was two seconds clear, with Moffat fighting to hold off the BTC Honda duo of Cook and Proctor with the maximum 75kg ballast in his Infiniti.

Cook finally managed to pass Proctor with a gutsy move down the inside into the Sunny corner.

While Hill was strolling to the win, the action was behind him as Moffat was still defending, but with a gaggle of cars behind him all exchanging places. Turkington the biggest loser as he dropped a handful of places after contact with Gordon Shedden into turn one.

Tom Ingram came out of nowhere to be fourth by the end of lap 15 from 12th on the grid.

Hill took the win, the second of his career, with Moffat showing some incredible racecraft and defensive driving to take second, with Cook third.

Ingram finished fourth with championship leader Ash Sutton fifth, Shedden was sixth with Turkington seventh. Proctor finished eighth with Chris Smiley ninth and Adam Morgan tenth.

Aiden Moffat converted pole to victory in race one at Croft in the British Touring Car Championship. He fended off Jake Hill to take his fourth BTCC win of his career.

Having taken the first pole position of his career on Saturday, he led off the line with second placed qualifier Colin Turkington losing places to Hill and Senna Proctor to sit fourth. His BMW team mate Tom Oliphant had an off on lap one and finished 20th.

On lap three Ollie Jackson came off worst as Chris Smiley dove down the inside of Dan Rowbottom, the pair collided, and with Jackson on the outside of both, he was spun and retired with suspension damage.

The safety car was introduced on lap five as Dan Rowbottom was in the tyre wall as Aron Taylor-Smith clipped the Honda driver and it sent Rowbottom off into the wall.

The race restarted on lap nine and Hill was doing all he can to put the pressure on Moffat.  But the Infiniti driver was defending well and did all he could to hold off the Ford driver.

There weren’t many overtakes at the front with the drivers thinking of the bigger picture and the vital championship points on display. After the first lap the top five didn’t change order once.

Moffat took the chequered flag, with Hill and Proctor rounding off the podium with impressive drives. Turkington took fourth with Josh Cook fifth. He pulled off an incredible double overtake on lap one into the tight right hand hairpin.

Championship leader Ash Sutton was sixth with Smiley seventh, Adam Morgan, Dan Lloyd and Gordon Shedden rounded off the top ten.

Tom Ingram could only manage 12th place in his Hyundai as his title fight takes a hit.

Adam Morgan took his second win of the season in the final race of the weekend at Thruxton. Colin Turkington finished second with Senna Proctor third in a race which had three safety car periods.

It didn’t take long for the first safety car to be deployed. Gordon Shedden’s Honda made contact with Jade Edwards’ Honda, sending the pair into the wall and out of the race. The safety car came out to recover the cars.

On the restart on lap six, Ingram was hunting down Sutton, with both drivers fighting for the championship. On lap seven Ingram squeezed past Sutton at the final chicane. Jason Plato seized his opportunity and passed Sutton too.

The second safety car was brought out on lap ten as Sam Smelt and Carl Boardley made contact. Smelt’s car came to a halt on track while Boardley crawled back to the pits.

Just before the safety car was deployed, Ingram passed Stephen Jelley in a brave move around the outside at the high speed Noble corner.

The race was briefly restarted on lap 13 with Ollie Jackson retiring on lap 14 with a right suspension failure. The safety car was brought out for the third time to retrieve his car.

Lap 16 saw the restart, and a point of contention. Coming into the final chicane Morgan locked up heavily, and decided to cut the chicane instead of attempt to make the corner. He made a large gap on Turkington, which he later slowed down to rule out. However the argument could be made that it denied Turkington an overtaking opportunity.

On the final lap Ingram made another daring move on Rory Butcher and took fifth place.

Morgan took the win, with Turkington in second and Proctor in third. Hill, Ingram Butcher, Cook, Plato, Smiley and Sutton rounded off the top ten. 

Ash Sutton extended his championship lead with a win in race two at Thruxton. He reeled in race one winner Josh Cook, who finished second, with Tom Oliphant third for the WSR team.

Cook led from pole at the start, with Rory Butcher passing Jake Hill, who dropped from second to fourth off the line. Jade Edwards jumped the start, seeming to misread the lights and was given a five second penalty.

There was drama for the Dynamics Honda team as both Dan Rowbottom and Gordon Shedden were into the pits by the end of lap two with mechanical issues. Jack Mitchell joined them in the pits in his Team HARD Cupra Leon, with his team mate Aron Taylor-Smith not even making the start. He broke down on the formation lap.

On lap three Sutton passed Oliphant for second place, with Cook 2.2 seconds up the road in the lead.

The other battle was between Butcher and Tom Ingram, who were fighting over fifth place.

By lap seven Sutton was just a second behind Cook, who had the full 75kg ballast on his Honda Civic. On lap nine Sutton was on the rear bumper of Cook, and was looking for the right opportunity to pass, which he eventually took.

Sutton’s Infiniti made the best exit out of the final chicane and had a run on Cook. He cut down the inside and passed into turn one, taking the lead and cruising to the chequered flag.

Lap 13 saw a hairy moment between Butcher and Ingram, as they made slight contact at Noble, an incredibly high speed corner, thankfully Butcher regained the car and held on without losing a place. However on lap 15 Ingram passed Butcher with a nice switchback move at the Complex. Colin Turkington was in the mix too, but couldn’t pass either.

Sutton took the win and extended his championship lead, with Cook and Oliphant behind him.

Hill was fourth and Butcher inherited fifth as Ingram suffered a puncture on the final lap, sending him all the way down to 12th. Turkington was sixth. Senna Proctor took seventh with Adam Morgan eighth and the Power Maxed pair of Jason Plato and Dan Lloyd rounding off the top ten.

• – Jade Edwards received a 5 second penalty for a jump start.

Josh Cook cruised to his seventh win at Thruxton to keep his title challenge going in round 16 of the British Touring Car Championship.

He surged into the lead off the start line from third, passing Jake Hill and polesitter Dan Rowbottom and into the lead which he never surrendered.

Tom Oliphant also had a fine start from fifth and was third by the end of the first lap. Hill started well and passed Oliphant for second at the chicane.

A couple of cars were seen going off at the high-speed Church corner, with Paul Rivett spinning on lap two. Nicholas Hamilton later did the same, both losing the back end and spinning.

There was a battle developing behind the top three with seven cars all fighting for a better position. Ash Sutton put the moves on Adam Morgan into Church to take sixth and soon made light work of Rowbottom to chase down Rory Butcher in fourth.

The Scot did incredibly well in his Toyota to fend off the championship leader, despite the fact Sutton had 75kg of success ballast on his Infiniti.

On the penultimate lap Jason Plato was chasing down Ingram for tenth place on the road. Having been on his rear bumper for the majority of the race, the veteran finally made his move into the final chicane.

Plato squeezed past and Colin Turkington swooped in to capitalise on Ingram’s lost momentum. Ingram however recovered and passed Turkington into the complex.

Cook cruised to the win, his seventh at Thruxton and the 11th of his career. Hill and Oliphant rounded off the podium. Butcher impressively held off Sutton for fourth with Rowbottom going from pole on the grid to sixth. Morgan was seventh with Senna Proctor eighth. Plato and Ingram came home ninth and tenth.

Dan Lloyd was eighth on the road at the chequered flag but he was given a five second penalty for being out of position at the start.

• – Dan Lloyd given a 5 second penalty for improper grid position.

Tom Ingram maintained his title aspirations as he took the final race win at Knockhill.

The 19th BTCC win of his career, the Hyundai driver fought hard and passed polesitter Stephen Jelley and held on for the win to close the gap to championship leader Ash Sutton.

At the start Jelley led, Ingram managed to pass Senna Proctor in on lap one to take third. Proctor’s team mate Josh Cook lost power coming out of turn one and parked up his Honda. The safety car was brought out while the marshals retrieved his car.

Lap four saw the restart with Jelley, Plato, Ingram and Proctor all close together. Ingram had the quicker car and was chasing Plato for 2nd place.

It wasn’t until lap ten when Plato ran wide at the final hairpin and Ingram and Proctor snuck down the inside to take 2nd and 3rd respectively. The next target for Ingram was Jelley in the BMW out in front.

Plato then lost out to Ash Sutton in his Infiniti as he dove down the inside into turn one.

The move for the lead came on lap 17 as Ingram replicated his move on Plato as he dove down the inside of Jelley and Proctor again was the beneficiary as he followed Ingram through for 2nd place.

Proctor had had a fantastic weekend, holding on to the tail of Ingram and followed him home to finish 2nd in his BTC Honda Civic.

Ingram took the win to close Sutton’s championship lead. Proctor was 2nd with Jelley a distant third.

Shedden, Sutton, Chris Smiley, Moffat, Turkington, Plato and Rowbottom rounded off the top ten to cap off a brilliant round of racing at Knockhill.

Ash Sutton capitalized on a rare Colin Turkington error to take the win in race two at Knockhill and extend his championship lead.

After a titanic race-long battle, Sutton prevailed when Turkington ran wide on the final lap.

At the start, Chris Smiley stalled on the start and didn’t get away, but further back Nicholas Hamilton moved across on Tom Oliphant, and caught the BMW, spinning into the wall and bringing out the safety car.

Lap seven saw the restart, with Josh Cook having to fend off Ash Sutton. On lap nine Sutton managed to pass Cook at the hairpin and began his hunt on Turkington.

On lap 12 Turkington had a 1.1 second lead, by lap 15 they were bumper to bumper. In a fascinating battle Sutton was well in the ascendancy. On lap 17 the pair were side by side heading into the hairpin, but Turkington prevailed this time.

Rory Butcher was fighting up the order and passed Tom Ingram with a nice switchback into the hairpin. By lap 22 he was past Moffat heading down the start-finish straight. However he came across too much on Moffat and the pair collided. Butcher’s race ended in the tyre barrier and brought out a second safety car.

On the restart Turkington was defending hard, heading into the final lap Turkington made an uncharacteristic mistake, running wide and opening the door for Sutton to pass and take the win to extend his title lead.

Turkington came second, with Jake Hill a fine third. Cook, Gordon Shedden, Ingram, Proctor, Jason Plato, Stephen Jelley and Carl Boardley rounded off the top ten.