Aaron Irwin

Colin Turkington led from start to finish to take his 57th career win at Snetterton in round four of the British Touring Car Championship.

He took his eighth win at the Norfolk circuit, with Tom Ingram finishing second and Rory Butcher third.

Turkington led from the start, with the front wheel drive Hyundai of Ingram hot on his tail. The rear wheel drive BMW of Turkington took longer to heat up, giving Ingram chance to capitalise. At the Agostini hairpin Ingram made a move but couldn’t make it stick.

As Turkington got his car up to speed and pulled away his team mate Stephen Jelley made a good start, taking fourth before losing it to Ollie Jackson.

Gordon Shedden had pole position taken away from him after a rear wing infringement saw him disqualified from qualifying yesterday. He made a cracking start and was fighting Aiden Moffat with the pair tapping but no serious incident.

On lap seven Ingram set the fastest lap and appeared to be closing. Jake Hill started to lose ground due to him being championship leader he had maximum ballast onboard his Ford Focus ST. Tom Oliphant made his way through with Sutton trying the same. The reigning champion couldn’t get around the outside and lost a few places.

Jackson was the highest of the prime tyre runners, which was a slower tyre but longer lasting. Jelley retook his fourth place with Jackson then coming under pressure from Dan Lloyd.

On the penultimate lap Lloyd made a move on Jackson but it didn’t work and left him vulnerable to the BMW of Adam Morgan who swooped inside and took the place from him.

Jackson held on however in his slower Focus and held off the challenge of Morgan.

At the Wilson hairpin on the final lap Tom Chilton lost the backend and spun his BMW. He fell down the order and almost collected Jessica Hawkins in her Motorbase Ford.

Turkington took the win by nearly three seconds from Ingram and Butcher was seven seconds back in third. Jelley was fourth, with Jackson, Morgan, Lloyd and Oliphant coming next. Jake Hill finished ninth to retain his championship lead, with Chris Smiley finishing tenth.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team
1	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	23:36:287
2	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+2.932
3	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+9.451
4	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+13.960
5	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+16.921
6	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+17.572
7	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+18.049
8	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+18.373
9	Jake Hill	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+21.951
10	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+22.583
11	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+22.852
12	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+23.759
13	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+24.993
14	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+25.415
15	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+26.015
16	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+27.736
17	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+28.663
18	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+29.382
19	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+29.942
20	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+32.857
21	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+34.464
22	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+35.358
23	Jessica Hawkins	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+38.361
24	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+40.530
25	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+41.030
26	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+41.774
27	Glyn Geddie	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+42.730
28	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+43.230
29	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+58.734

 

Gordon Shedden took his first pole position since returning to the sport at Snetterton in an exciting qualifying session.

He stole pole position from Colin Turkington, who looked imperious throughout the two sessions, setting quick laps all the way through.

In the first of three special qualifying formats this season, there was a two-part aspect to it. A top ten shootout followed the first 20 minute session, with some notable names missing out on the final action. Ash Sutton, Josh Cook, Jason Plato, all missed out.

The track evolved over the original session and the times came down. Turkington went fastest originally with a 1:57.3. Sutton soon went quicker with a 1:56.7.

Plenty of drivers had times removed for track-limit infringements going wide on the exit of some corners.

Turkington regained top spot with a 1:55.2 and held on for the last ten minutes.

By the end of the session Dan Rowbottom missed out by just 88 thousandths of a second in his Team Dynamics Honda Civic.

In the final session, the ten fastest drivers go through into the shootout. Turkington reigned supreme for the majority of the session, his BMW setting fastest lap after fastest lap.

Power Maxed Racing’s Dan Lloyd fell a victim of track limits, losing two times, with one being the fastest of the session so far.

By the chequered flag, Shedden put in a 1:55:2 to steal pole position from the WSR driver, with Turkington having to settle for second, one and a half tenths down.

Tom Ingram was third, almost half a second down on Shedden, with Rory Butcher, Stephen Jelley, Adam Morgan, Ollie Jackson, Jake Hill, Dan Lloyd and Tom Oliphant rounding off the top ten.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	Time
1	Gordon Shedden	Honda CIvic Type R	Team Dynamics	1:55:2
2	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+0.163
3	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+0.492
4	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo Racing	+0.804
5	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	++0.822
6	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	CIceley Motorsport	+0.948
7	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+1.054
8	Jake Hill	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+1.195
9	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed Racing	+1.284
10	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+1.618
11	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+1.061
12	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+1.166
13	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	CIceley Motorsport	+1.249
14	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+1.298
15	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+1.417
16	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+1.425
17	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+1.515
18	Jessica Hawkins	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+1.566
19	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed Racing	+1.654
20	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+1.692
21	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+1.739
22	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+1.784
23	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+1.804
24	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo Racing	+2.207
25	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+2.553
26	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+2.926
27	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+3.025
28	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+3.164

The 2021 British Touring Car Championship season burst into life at the weekend at Thruxton. Josh Cook won the first two races before Ash Sutton stormed to victory in a thrilling final race. A few talking points arose from the weekend’s action, with thrills, spills, and strong performances aplenty.

Never Discount Ash Sutton

The reigning champ took pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session to kick off his title defence in the best way possible. However, he was tapped by Colin Turkington into the Complex and spun, falling to the back of the grid. Not one to stay down for long, Sutton surged through the field finishing tenth on the road but was promoted to ninth thanks to Turkington receiving a penalty for their first lap collision.

Another ninth placed finish in race two put him in good position as the reverse grid draw lottery put him third on the grid for race three. The rain-affected race saw Sutton start strong and lead, before Jake Hill on slicks passed him, only for the rain to return and put Sutton back in the ascendancy to take the win. From despair on race one lap one, to victory on race three, final lap.

Jake Hill – Emergence of a new star?

The MB Motorsport team merged with Motorbase for 2021, meaning Hill swapped his Honda Civic FK2 for a new Ford Focus. He was one of the stars of the weekend, taking three podiums and leading the championship as we leave Thruxton.

His skill and talent were underlined when he drove around the fastest circuit in the UK, on slick tyres, in wet and greasy conditions. That’s no mean feat, and Hill was not only quick, but he could have won if the rain had held off. A strong performance from the MB Motorsport driver, and one he will be sure to build on at Snetterton in June.

Andy Neate hit with a £2k fine

On the opening lap of race two there was a big incident involving Andy Neate, Glyn Geddie and Jade Edwards. Neate dove down the inside of Geddie into turn one. Geddie had the corner covered and was tipped into a spin by Neate, sending both into the wall and Geddie’s Cupra Leon pirouetted in the air before landing. Edwards was on the outside and played innocent bystander as she was caught up in it.

Initially Neate suggested he had brake failure which caused him to hit Geddie. However, after checks there was deemed nothing wrong with his car and Neate was hit with a £2,000 fine and points on his licence for the incident. Why did Neate suggest brake failure instead of admitting he was at fault for the incident? Thankfully all three drivers walked away uninjured.

Life in Plato Yet!

The 53-year-old showed he’s not mellowed with age as he took a sixth, a fifth, and a second in the three races this weekend. He got stuck in and showed his great race craft in his Vauxhall Astra. He was involved in dicey battles with the likes of Dan Rowbottom, Dan Cammish and Jake Hill. The latter fighting Plato in a drag race to the line in race three, with Plato coming out on top. A fine weekend back after a year away from the grid.

Was Turkington’s Penalty Fair?

The aforementioned incident between Sutton and Turkington meant the four-time champion was given a 17 second penalty. This dropped him from fourth to tenth. The reason for this was Sutton finished tenth, and so the stewards gave Turkington a penalty which put him behind Sutton.

However, this is potentially a dangerous precedent to set, as theoretically speaking, if Sutton had finished 30 seconds back, or a lap down, by this logic Turkington would effectively have to be excluded from the results. Would a standard five or ten second penalty have sufficed for what was effectively an innocuous mistake on cold tyres?

The BTCC is back, and now the long wait begins for the next weekend of action at Snetterton on June 12-13.

Ash Sutton took the win in a thrilling final race of the day at Thruxton. The weather was a factor with rain stopping and starting again meaning tyre strategies were needed.

Pre-race Josh Cook and Tom Ingram were handed 30 second penalties for not having their tyres on their cars in time.

While most of the front were on wets, Tom Oliphant gambled on slicks, meaning he fell down the order at the start. Sutton took second from him with Stephen Jelley led.

Sutton overtook Jelley at the Complex on lap two while Cook and Ingram served their penalties in the pitlane.

Jason Plato and Aiden Moffat had a nice battle for fourth until Moffat pulled off the road with a mechanical issue on lap seven.

On lap six the weather stopped and the drivers on slick tyres were starting to come good. Jake Hill and Oliphant started to surge through the field with Oliphant coming from 18th.

Dan Cammish and Dan Rowbottom pitted for slicks to try and capitalize on the changing weather but it was the wrong call.

Hill’s resurgence continued as he passed Plato for third. Tom Oliphant was given a five second penalty for not being in his grid slot correctly.

On lap nine Hill was five seconds faster than leader Sutton, and was in second place closing down the leader. By lap ten he was in the lead.

But just as Hill took the lead it started to rain again, with the pendulum swinging back into Sutton’s favour. The reigning champion regained his lead with ease on lap 14.

On lap 15 Plato moved into third, but further back Carl Boardley and rookie Rick Parfitt collided at the Complex. Parfitt resumed but Boardley drove into the path of Rory Butcher while recovering and both collided and were out of the race.

Sutton won but there was a mad dash to the line between Plato, Hill, and Gordon Shedden. Plato had the better exit and stole second place on the line.

Shedden finished fourth, Plato’s team mate Dan Lloyd made it a good race for Power Maxed Racing with fifth. WSR duo Turkington and Oliphant took sixth and seventh. Jack Goff, Ollie Jackson and Stephen Jelley rounded off the top ten.

Jake Hill leads the championship after this weekend’s racing by a point from Josh Cook with Jason Plato in third a few points behind.

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap
1	Ash Sutton	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	22:47:671
2	Jason Plato	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+4.789
3	Jake Hill	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+4.859
4	Gordon Shedden	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic	+5.025
5	Dan Lloyd	Power Maxed	Vuaxhall Astra	+9.927
6	Colin Turkington	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+10.105
7	Tom Oliphant	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+13.212
8	Jack Goff	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+14.014
9	Ollie Jackson	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+16.377
10	Stephen Jelley	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+18.713
11	Aron Taylor-Smith	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+21.321
12	Sam Osborne	Motorbase	Ford Focus	+24.962
13	Tom Chilton	Ciceley	BMW 330i M	+25.188
14	Sam Smelt	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+25.722
15	Chris Smiley	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+38.847
16	Rick Parfitt	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+40.064
17	Nicholas Hamilton	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+52.655
18	Adam Morgan	Ciceley	BMW 330i M	+55.339
19	Jack Butel	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+1:04.841
20	Josh Cook	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	+1 Lap
21	Dan Rowbottom	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic	+1 Lap
22	Tom Ingram	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+1 Lap
23	Dan Cammish	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	+1 Lap
24	Carl Boardley	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+2 Laps
25	Rory Butcher	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+2 Laps
Retirements
DNF	Aiden Moffat	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	Mechanical
DNF	Jade Edwards	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	Damage
DNS	Glyn Geddie	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	Damage
DNS	Andy Neate	Motorbase	Ford Focus	Damage

 

Josh Cook secured his second win from two races with the race marred by a big first lap incident between three drivers.

Andy Neate, Glyn Geddie and Jade Edwards were all in a big shunt on lap one which caused a red flag. On the restart Dan Cammish surged into second to back up his temporary team mate with Jake Hill third.

The race was red flagged on lap one as Glyn Geddie, Jade Edwards and Andy Neate were involved in a first corner collision. Neate dove down the inside at turn one of Geddie and collided. They took Edwards with them as she was an innocent bystander on the outside. Geddie hit the wall and his car pirouetted and rolled and all three were out with considerable damage.

On the restart Hill got away badly, Cammish capitalized on it and moved into third. Into the complex Ingram was battling Cook for the lead with the pair making contact. As Ingram regained his composure Cammish snuck down the inside to take second.

The Safety Car was brought out when Rory Butcher started to spin in the high speed section. He went across the track, with drivers doing well to avoid him, before hitting the tyre wall at speed.

On lap six the race continued, with Dan Rowbottom pulling off a nice move on Ingram as he struggled with ballast in his Hyundai.

The top three pulled away from Jason Plato in fourth who was being caught by the charging Rowbottom. Having pitted, Ash Sutton surged back through the field, ending the race in ninth.

Rowbottom finally passed Plato on lap ten as he got the better of the veteran out of the final chicane for fourth place.

The top two were the quickest cars, with Cook taking his second win from two with Cammish playing a good team mate to back him up.

Hill finished third as his encouraging start to the season continues. Rowbottom secured his best ever BTCC finish with fourth and Plato came home fifth. Ingram and Turkington were next, followed by the Laser Tools duo of Moffat and Sutton. Tom Oliphant rounded off the top ten in his BMW.

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap
1	Josh Cook	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	23:06:411
2	Dan Cammish	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	+0.234
3	Jake Hill	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+1.625
4	Dan Rowbottom	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic	+4.655
5	Jason Plato	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+4.976
6	Tom Ingram	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+6.961
7	Colin Turkington	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+7.303
8	Aiden Moffat	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+9.291
9	Ash Sutton	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+10.055
10	Tom Oliphant	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+11.411
11	Stephen Jelley	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+13.259
12	Jack Goff	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+13.759
13	Ollie Jackson	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+15.311
14	Dan Lloyd	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+15.826
15	Aron Taylor-Smith	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+16.944
16	Sam Osborne	Motorbase	Ford Focus	+17.540
17	Carl Boardley	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+19.551
18	Gordon Shedden	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic	+19.914
19	Jack Butel	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+26.245
20	Sam Smelt	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+26.623
21	Adam Morgan	Ciceley	BMW 330i M	+32.085
22	Nicholas Hamilton	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+35.931
23	Chris Smiley	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+1 Lap
Retirements
DNF	Rick Parfitt	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	Mechanical
DNF	Tom Chilton	Ciceley	BMW 330i M	Mechanical
DNF	Rory Butcher	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	Crash
DNF	Jade Edwards	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	Crash
DNF	Andy Neate	Motorbase	Ford Focus	Crash
DNF	Glyn Geddie	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	Crash

 

Josh Cook took the first win of the 2021 British Touring Car Championship season at Thruxton in an exciting opening race.

A first lap collision sent polesitter Ash Sutton spinning down the order. Tom Ingram’s first race for Excelr8 ended with second place and Jake Hill moved through the order to take third.

The first race is the only race all season which is ballast free, which means all drivers are on a level playing field and it’s purely a case of who’s fastest.

Sutton got away well, with Ingram and Colin Turkington in tow behind. Into the complex at Cobb, Turkington tapped Sutton in braking and spun Sutton around. This promoted Cook to the lead as he manoeuvred past the pair into a lead he never surrendered.

The Safety Car was brought out at the end of lap one as the returning Gordon Shedden tapped the back of Ollie Jackson. This sent the Honda driver into a spin before he collected Chris Smiley. The pair ended in the wall and Jackson pitted to fix an damage. Tom Oliphant appeared to be struggling to get heat into his tyres as he went off before pitting.

On lap seven the Safety Car pulled in and racing resumed. Ingram was on the back of Cook instantly, and was looking to overtake.

Sutton’s resurgence began on lap eight as he passed Sam Smelt and Oliphant. Meanwhile further up Dan Rowbottom, who replaced Matt Neal this season at Team Dynamics, moved around the outside of ex-team mate Adam Morgan at the final chicane in a very impressive move.

A transmission failure ended Stephen Jelley’s impressive return to Team WSR as he pulled into the pits.

In the closing stages there was a battle between Jason Plato, Rory Butcher, and Dan Cammish. Plato fought with Butcher for fifth, and both were passed by Cammish. He swooped into fifth and pulled away in his BTC Honda.

There was a light splatter of rain at the end of the race but nothing to bother the drivers as Cook cruised to the win, keeping up his impressive winning streak at Thruxton dating back to 2018. Ingram was second with Hill third. Turkington came home fourth, but was handed a penalty post race for his part in taking out Sutton, dropping him to tenth., Cammish, Butcher, Plato, Rowbottom, Morgan, and Ash Sutton rounded off the top ten on the road but were all promoted because of Turkington’s penalty.

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap
1	Josh Cook	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	29:33:844
2	Tom Ingram	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+2.298
3	Jake Hill	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+4.227
4	Dan Cammish	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	+9.323
5	Rory Butcher	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+11.758
6	Jason Plato	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+12.046
7	Dan Rowbottom	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic	+12.607
8	Adam Morgan	Ciceley	BMW 330i M	+19.612
9	Ash Sutton	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+21.259
10	Colin Turkington	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+21.825*
11	Aiden Moffat	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+22.760
12	Carl Boardley	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+26.391
13	Jack Goff	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+26.720
14	Tom Chilton	Ciceley	BMW 330i M	+27.138
15	Tom Oliphant	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	+27.448
16	Dan Lloyd	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+27.791
17	Sam Osborne	Motorbase	Ford Focus	+29.846
18	Aron Taylor-Smith	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+31.038
19	Ollie Jackson	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+33.636
20	Jade Edwards	BTC Racing	Honda Civic	+38.774
21	Jack Butel	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+41.015
22	Glyn Geddie	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+41.932
23	Sam Smelt	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+42.886
24	Andy Neate	Motorbase	Ford Focus	+45.545
25	Rick Parfitt	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+45.928
26	Nicolas Hamilton	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+2 Laps
Retirements
DNF	Stephen Jelley	Team WSR	BMW 330i M	Transmission
DNF	Gordon Shedden	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic	Crash
DNF	Chris Smiley	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	Crash

• – Colin Turkington handed 17 second penalty for collision with Ash Sutton on lap 1.

Reigning champion Ash Sutton took the first pole position of the 2021 British Touring Car Championship season on a drying track at Thruxton.

Qualifying started off with a wet track and dried over the course of the 30 minute session, with the likes of Sutton, Josh Cook and Rory Butcher all exchanging fastest times throughout.

BMW’s Colin Turkington set the first competitive time of the session, and of the season, before Ford’s Jake Hill went faster. Tom Ingram, in his first qualifying session with Excelr8, was fastest five minutes in.

The track was starting to dry at a quick pace, which meant the times were starting to tumble. Cook went fastest and then Sutton regained the top time soon after. Dan Cammish, who returned to the grid with BTC Racing following Michael Crees’ shock departure this week, went third with ten minutes remaining.

With just eight minutes remaining the action began, as Hill went fastest by just under a tenth of a second. Tom Oliphant in the BMW then set a 1:19:7 before Butcher set a 1:19:4.

Not to be upstaged, Hill’s next lap was a 1:19:0, showing how fast the track was drying out. Butcher then snatched top spot straight back as the first driver to break the 1:18’s.

With just under two minutes to go Jade Edwards spun and collided with the tyre wall. She was on slicks and must have hit a damp spot as she hit the wall but soon got going again, but brought out the yellow flag.

Hill was looking to be on a fast lap to try and retake pole, but was held up by Jason Plato into the final chicane. The Vauxhall driver, who was not on a hot lap, had ample opportunity to move out of Hill’s way, but decided to hold him up into the final corner before peeling into the pitlane.

Ingram went fastest as time ran out with a 1:18:7 before Sutton smashed the fastest time, setting a 1:18:3, and taking pole position in the process.

Cook was second, with Turkington’s quiet session finishing third. Ingram, Butcher Oliphant and Hill followed, with Gordon Shedden, Ollie Jackson, and Chris Smiley rounding off the top ten.

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Ash Sutton	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	1:18:305
2	Josh Cook	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	+0.053
3	Colin Turkington	Team WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	+0.362
4	Tom Ingram	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+0.413
5	Rory Butcher	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+0.530
6	Tom Oliphant	Team WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	+0.586
7	Jake Hill	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+0.604
8	Gordon Shedden	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic Type R	+0.810
9	Ollie Jackson	MB Motorsport	Ford Focus	+1.641
10	Chris Smiley	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+1.740
11	Jason Plato	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+1.973
12	Dan Cammish	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	+2.088
13	Carl Boardley	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+2.408
14	Adam Morgan	Ciceley	BMW 330i M Sport	+2.458
15	Jack Goff	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+2.630
16	Dan Rowbottom	Halfords Racing	Honda Civic Type R	+2.677
17	Jade Edwards	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	+2.969
18	Stephen Jelley	Team WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	+3.171
19	Aron Taylor-Smith	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+3.172
20	Tom Chilton	Ciceley	BMW 330i M Sport	+3.310
21	Aiden Moffat	Laser Tools	Infiniti Q50	+3.547
22	Dan Lloyd	Power Maxed	Vauxhall Astra	+4.065
23	Sam Osborne	Motorbase	Ford Focus	+4.350
24	Andy Neate	Motorbase	Ford Focus	+4.574
25	Rick Parfitt	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+5.460
26	Glyn Geddie	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+5.547
27	Sam Smelt	Toyota Gazoo	Toyota Corolla	+6.152
28	Jack Butel	Excelr8	Hyundai i30N	+6.826
29	Nicolas Hamilton	Team HARD	Cupra Leon	+6.882

 

Toyota are currently a motorsports powerhouse. They’re an omnipotent force in the World Rally Championship, had all but monopolised the LMP1 class in sportscar racing, and have now given their full factory backing to a British Touring Car Championship team.

The Japanese marque have offered manufacturer support to the Speedworks Motorsport team, who were previously using the Toyota Corolla with Tom Ingram. However now Ingram has moved on, and Speedworks have two works Corolla’s to be driven by talented Scot Rory Butcher, and the returning Sam Smelt.

The Corolla has shown itself to be a fast car at the hands of Ingram since its introduction in 2019. It has won seven races over the last two years and has kept Ingram in the title fight for large proportions of those seasons. Now with two cars, Speedworks has the chance to really push for honours this season.

They’re no strangers to the BTCC, they won two drivers and manufacturers championships in 1986 and 1987, courtesy of Chris Hodgetts. Also two of the most memorable moments in BTCC history include Toyota’s, but perhaps not for the best of reasons. In 1992 at Brands Hatch team mates Andy Rouse and Will Hoy collided and took each other in to the wall and out of the race while running first and second.

The other incident came a year later at Silverstone. Hoy was involved again but this time with Julian Bailey as a team mate. Going into Brooklands, Bailey dove down the inside of Hoy, sending him onto his roof. The moment entered folklore thanks to the late Murray Walker’s famous line, “The car upside down, is a Toyota.” They were again leading one-two.

In terms of the drivers, Rory Butcher has proven himself to be a fast and consistent driver over the last couple of seasons. Six wins in the last two years with AMD CobraSport and Motorbase. His expertise is front wheel drive, having spent his whole BTCC career in front wheel drive machinery. Therefore he’s well suited to lead the new manufacturer team.

Sam Smelt only has one season of BTCC experience under his belt, in the AMD Audi S3 in 2018. While he hasn’t quite hit the heights of his team mate, Smelt has potential, having spent 2020 in British GT with Speedworks in the Toyota Supra GT4.

Toyota’s latest motorsport offering has all the ingredients to be as successful as its stablemates, it’ll have its challengers from other teams on the grid, but the Corolla, and two talented drivers, mean it could well be a start of a beautiful relationship for Speedworks and Toyota.

We will have articles throughout the week to preview the 2021 BTCC season as well as race reports at the weekend from Thruxton.

A famous philosopher once said ‘There is no harm in repeating a good thing.’ This is the mantra of the British Touring Car Championship’s record wins holder going into the new season.

Jason Plato makes his return to the British Touring Car Championship for the 2021 season after sitting 2020 out. He is ‘itching’ to return to the paddock and to the grid, and will take part in his 600^th race this weekend. Proving the theory of his ancient Greek namesake to be true, there is indeed no harm in repeating a good thing.

The veteran, returning with Power Maxed Racing, is the sport’s record wins holder, with 97, the same amount of wins Lewis Hamilton has in Formula One. Plato is keen to hit the century of BTCC wins before he retires, and there’s nothing to suggest he can’t achieve that in 2021.

The 53 year old has been described as ‘rejuvenated’ in the press this week and his 12 month lay-off will have him raring to go at Thruxton this weekend. Six of his 97 wins have come at the Andover circuit and he qualified on the front row there in 2019, before being penalised for not parking in his grid slot correctly.

While Plato may not be a frontrunner for the title in terms of the odds, he will be doing all he can to be fighting at the front end, and in a car which still has a lot of potential, he and his team have the ability to surprise without the burden of expectation.

The Vauxhall Astra is a race winning car, with Jason himself picking up his and the team’s most recent win in the 2019 finale at Brands Hatch. The car is still quick, and after a selection of guest driver outings in 2020, the team are coming back to launch a full scale attack on the BTCC in 2021.

Power Maxed Racing’s Astra is a nimble front wheel drive car, which will be handy around circuits such as Brands Hatch and Croft, which require agility, and Plato is a driver who can easily get the best out of this car.

In pre-season testing at Donington Park he was fourth fastest in the first session, and while testing times, as Formula One has shown us, should always be taken with a pinch of salt, Plato’s times are impressive when you consider he’s been out of the car for a year. The encouraging sign is he’s showing no sign of ring rustiness. But can he achieve them final three wins?

With the often madcap nature of the BTCC, reverse grids and success ballast affecting cars at the front, Plato has every chance of being in a position to pick up the final three wins he needs. He won’t be solely relying on the lotteries of the BTCC to get his wins though, he will be getting his elbows out in his famous yet effective racing style in order to fight for those wins.

While most of the faces remain the same for Plato’s return, one which won’t be on the grid with him is his old sparring partner Matt Neal. The pair have famously butted heads on many occasions over the last 20 years, including an almost fist-fight in the pit-lane at Rockingham in 2011.

Neal is taking a step back from racing in 2021, with Gordon Shedden returning to the BTCC in his place. Matt remains in the paddock as he takes on a role in the Team Dynamics garage. Meaning one of Plato’s biggest rivals is out of his way. But that doesn’t mean his task will be any easier.

Plato is a vastly experienced driver, and it will be intriguing to see how he gets on this season. But statistics don’t mean everything, as ‘A good decision is based on knowledge and not numbers,’ which Plato has in abundance.

We will have articles throughout the week to preview the 2021 BTCC season as well as race reports at the weekend from Thruxton.