Charles Rainford took his second win of the season with a win in race three at Oulton Park. He held off Hyundai pair Ricky Collard and Tom Ingram to consolidate third in the championship standings.

Rainford made an excellent start from third on the grid to pass Osborne and go second into Cascades. The Safety Car was deployed when Aron Taylor-Smith and Adam Morgan collided. The Toyota left turn one sideways and collected Morgan’s Mercedes, summing up the latter’s atrocious weekend. Nicholas Hamilton impressively avoided the sliding Morgan.

On the restart, Rainford showed pace in his BMW as he took the lead of the race passing Smiley around the outside at Cascades. Ricky Collard passed Smiley for second at Lodge.

Smiley’s descent down the grid continued with both Ingram and Cammish moving past him at Lodge before the second Safety Car intervention on lap nine. Tom Chilton was trying to stay out the way of Lewis Selby’s Ford, but the pair collided going into Cascades and ended up beached in the gravel.

On the second restart on lap 13, Rainford pulled away from Collard in second. Ingram held his own in third as Cammish was being hounded by Josh Cook. The Toyota man started 15th and was impressively fighting for fourth.

Rainford held on for the win, with Collard second and Ingram third, cutting Ash Sutton’s championship lead down to 48 points. Cammish was fourth with Cook fifth. Dan Rowbottom and Chris Smiley had a titanic battle but the Plato Mercedes of Rowbottom prevailed.

Dexter Patterson, Sutton and Aidan Moffat rounded out the top ten. Mikey Doble was 11th with Nicholas Hamilton finishing an impressive 12th. The final points places went to Sam Osborne, James Dorlin and Daryl De Leon.

Ash Sutton dominated race two at Oulton Park to take his fifth win of the season. He won at a canter, taking the lead on lap three and strolling to a win by 19 ahead of second placed title rival Tom Ingram.

On the start Sutton surged from seventh to fifth, dispatching of the PMR pair of Mike Doble and Aiden Moffat. Josh Cook slipped down the order over the course of the race from second on the grid, with Ingram and Aron Taylor-Smith passing the Toyota man. Sutton then passed him at the end of lap one.

Taylor-Smith was Sutton’s next target, and he made it easy for the championship leader as he went wide at the Island hairpin to take third. Ingram was next in his hit list for second place and he wasted little time.

The Ford man passed Ingram into Cascades with an excellently crafted move. He got the better exit out of turn one and the run on Ingram gave him the best line for second place.

Sutton’s team mate Dan Cammish duly moved aside for Sutton to pass into the final corner at Lodge.

There was a hairy moment for Tom Chilton as he was fighting Taylor-Smith for fourth. Going into the high speed Cascades Chilton got onto the grass and slid at speed across the circuit. Thankfully the veteran missed the barriers and managed to continue.

Ingram, now seeing title rival Sutton pulling away, was keen to pass Cammish, but the Ford man was doing an incredible job defending for his team mate.

Taylor-Smith was fighting for his life to hold onto fourth. He had Daryl De Leon, Doble, and team mate Gordon Shedden on his tail as he made the Corolla as wide as he could.

On lap 11 De Leon passed Taylor-Smith for fourth as Shedden also made his way past. At the front Ingram finally made it past Cammish on lap 13 into Lodge but Sutton was long gone, 13 seconds down the road.

Sutton strolled to the win, largely unfazed despite rain starting to fall in the last two laps. Ingram finished second with Cammish third.

De Leon came home fourth with Doble and Shedden close behind. Taylor-Smith finished seventh despite some excellent defensive driving. Ricky Collard, Dexter Patterson and Charles Rainford rounded off the top ten.

Sam Osborne, Chris Smiley, Dan Rowbottom, James Dorlin and Lewis Shelby rounded off the points.

Dan Cammish inherited the Race to Pole victory at Oulton Park due to polesitter Aron Taylor-Smith being penalised mid-race.

The NAPA Ford driver started the race second behind Taylor-Smith, who secured pole in qualifying. Cammish kept the Irishman honest up front, and following a Safety Car period, Taylor-Smith weaved on the lead up to the restart, which is not allowed. He was handed a five second penalty and fell to fifth at the chequered flag.

Cammish, often the understudy to team mate Ash Sutton, gratefully inherited the win, with Sutton banking key points to extend his championship lead.

At the start Josh Cook made an excellent leap off the grid to be third, passing Mikey Doble to be third. Tom Chilton was in the wars, spinning off on the run to the island hairpin, he recovered to finish 12th.

Gordon Shedden and Dan Rowbottom collided at the Hislop chicane, effectively retiring Shedden and Rowbottom languished around the back of the pack.

Lap two saw the Safety Car come out as Nicholas Hamilton crashed on the way down to the Island hairpin, ending his race in the wall.

After a three lap intermission, battle resumed, once the Safety Car’s lights went out and peeled away, Taylor-Smith up front started weaving, which is often used as a method of distraction to make sure the driver behind can’t tell when you’re going to apply the throttle and restart the race. The stewards handed the Toyota driver a five second penalty, the second time in four Race to Poles that the leader wouldn’t win the race following Tom Ingram’s penalty at Donington Park.

On the restart Sutton squeezed round outside of Doble for fourth, with title rival Ingram soon following suit.

Lap eight saw a small flashpoint between Sutton and Ingram. Heading into the final corner, Ingram pushed into the back of Sutton and sent him wide. Thankfully the championship leader kept it on track and Ingram, perhaps fearing a hefty penalty, allowed Sutton back through.

There was a heart-in-mouth moment for Sam Osborne in the third Ford Focus Saloon as he got onto the grass at Cascades, bouncing and drifting across the grass and thankfully avoiding any other drivers.

Taylor-Smith was doing all he could to bridge the gap knowing he had five seconds to find. He couldn’t as Cammish inherited the win, with Josh Cook second, Sutton third and Ingram fourth with Taylor-Smith demoted to fifth.

PMR’s Mikey Doble and Dexter Patterson sandwiched Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan for sixth and eighth with Aiden Moffat in the third PMR Audi ninth and Chris Smiley rounding out the top ten in his Hyundai.

* Aron Taylor-Smith handed five second penalty, finished first but demoted to fifth.

image credit: Naveen Kumar

Ash Sutton took his second win of the day in round three at Donington Park. Having won race two, Sutton started eighth and made his way through the field to take his 49th BTCC win and leave Donington Park with an 18 point championship lead.

Polesitter Ricky Collard, reigning British GT champion, made a good start while Dexter Patterson, who started second, fell behind the two WSR BMW’s who both flew off the line. Series debutant Lewis Selby was tapped coming out of Redgate and lost plenty of time.

By lap two Sutton was third already, while up front Charles Rainford dived down the inside of Collard at the Old Hairpin, taking the lead. On the start of the following lap Collard made an audacious move on Rainford into Redgate. The pair battled down the Craner Curves before retaking the lead at the same place he lost it a lap prior.

Sutton was tapped by Patterson going into the final chicane, powersliding his way through it and hunting down the top two.

Further down the order, Gordon Shedden and Daryl DeLeon made contact, both put into half spins. Josh Cook and Tom Chilton were collateral damage, both suffering race ending damage.

Just as Sutton had in race one, Tom Ingram fought from last on the grid through the field, running seventh by lap seven.

Lap eight and Sutton was hounding Collard for the lead, both drivers showing incredible race craft. Heading into Redgate on lap nine, Collard went wide, with Sutton capitalising and taking the lead.

Behind the pair, Dan Cammish was lurking in third, and while he was trying to emulate teammate Sutton by passing Collard, Ingram caught up, making it a three way fight for second.

The reigning champion passed Cammish for third and was soon past teammate Collard for second, but it would be the best he can do with Sutton far down the road.

Track limits were the downfall of Plato Racing’s Dan Rowbottom in race one, and in race three it was the turn of Cammish, suffering a ten second penalty for multiple offences.

Sutton cruised to the win, showing imperious form, and that NAPA Racing had managed to make the transition from the Focus hatchback to saloon look almost effortless.

Ash Sutton’s resurgent Sunday continued with victory in round two of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.

From second on the grid, Sutton surged into the lead and never lost it. Dan Cammish made it a NAPA Racing one-two, and a first win for the new Ford Focus Saloon. Gordon Shedden rolled back the years for third.

The drama began before the race started, with Tom Ingram putting on the end of the formation lap with an alternator issue with his car. His weekend going from bad to worse following his race one disqualification.

Rainford sprung off the line from third to pass Sutton and Doble for the lead. Sutton moved into second and on the exit of Redgate he nudged Rainford wide and took the lead. The Safety Car’s 100% appearance record continued with Nicholas Hamilton out in the gravel at Redgate. Tom Chilton went wide at the Craner Curves and almost collected team mate Ricky Collard on re-entry.

Dan Rowbottom pulled in during the Safety Car period and retired from the race, another driver whose weekend wasn’t going according to plan.

On the restart Sutton kept his lead, Cammish was up to third as race one winner Mikey Doble’s descent down the grid began. Shedden was past the beleaguered Audi driver on lap seven, not before a nudge from fellow Scot Aiden Moffat going into the Old Hairpin.

Lap eight saw Adam Morgan, Daryl DeLeon and PMR teammate Dexter Patterson pass Doble, with his car clearly suffering. Back up front Sutton was nursing a 1.6 second lead, untroubled in the lead.

Behind him Cammish was hounding Rainford for second, the Yorkshireman passed the WSR driver into Redgate, before going side by side down the Craner Curves, with Cammish finally making the move stick at the Old Hairpin. Shedden was now on Rainford’s tail.

Three laps from the end Shedden made the move for third on Rainford, with Moffat passing too as Rainford dropped from third to fifth in the blink of an eye.

Sutton took his 48th win of his career with Cammish following behind in the sister Focus. Shedden was third. Moffat was fourth with DeLeon squeezing past Rainford for fifth. Patterson finished seventh with Ricky Collard recovering from race one retirement for eighth. Adam Morgan was the lead Mercedes driver in ninth with Josh Cook taking tenth after ending race one in the gravel.

Aron Taylor-Smith took 11th with Chris Smiley, Tom Chilton, Mikey Doble and Lewis Selby rounding off the points.

Ingram and Rowbottom ruing car issues and losing early ground on Sutton.

It was a debut win for Power Maxed Racing’s new Audi S3 Saloon as Mikey Doble inherited the opening win of the season after a disqualification for reigning champion Tom Ingram.

Ingram secured victory in the first round of the 2026 British Touring Car Championship season leading from near lights to flag. He passed Dan Rowbottom off the line and led the rest of the way. But after the race it was found that Ingram’s Hyundai had over boosted, meaning a disqualification from the results.

Mikey Doble finished second on the road in a thrilling opening race while Ash Sutton came from 21st on the grid to finish fourth. Fourth initially became third though as Rowbottom suffered a ten second penalty for track limits offences – unable to repeat his Saturday heroics. It then became second after Ingram’s exclusion.

The new-for-2026 qualifying race on Saturday saw thrills and spills as Tom Ingram led from pole, being hunted down by Sutton and Rowbottom. Lap two saw Sutton and Ingram touch, with the former spinning out of the race, meaning he started 21st and last for Sundays race one.

The drama didn’t end there, as Ingram was handed a five second penalty for being marginally out of his grid box at the start. He showed scintillating pace trying to bridge the gap between himself and Rowbottom in second. The last lap saw Ingram just over four seconds ahead, he put in an incredible lap but it wasn’t enough, he lost the win to Rowbottom by just 0.024 seconds.

Rowbottom was on pole for race one, and gave Jason Plato and his new team the ideal start.

However off the line for race one, Rowbottom bogged down, seeing Ingram, Cook and Rainford leapfrog the Mercedes driver. Ingram burst free from the pack and was leading by the end of lap one by 1.5 seconds. Rowbottom’s recovery began by overtaking Rainford for third into the final chicane.

Speaking of recoveries, Ash Sutton surged up from the back of the grid to be 11th by the end of lap two. Cook and Rowbottom were chasing down Ingram, but the reigning champion was holding them at bay.

There were plenty of exciting battles in the midfield pack, with Gordon Shedden getting his elbows out in his Laser Tools Racing Toyota. He was battling the likes of Tom Chilton and Aiden Moffat. Sutton made his way past the Scotsman and was seventh by lap eight when the Safety Car made its first appearance of the season.

Going into the final chicane Josh Cook’s Toyota, running in second, suffered a left rear puncture, spinning him off and into the gravel trap, beached and not moving any time soon. After three laps the race resumed.

Doble made his way up to third on the restart with Sutton now fourth. Ricky Collard’s return to the BTCC ended prematurely as he suffered a puncture and damage, retiring from the race.

By lap 17 Doble was on the tail of Rowbottom, with the Audi man having more boost available to him. He managed to get past a lap later and made second his own. Behind them Rainford and Sutton were fighting for fourth. Rainford got past but was soon dispatched by the four time champion. Adam Morgan was close behind in the second Mercedes.

Sutton cleared Rainford and was hunting down Rowbottom in third – Morgan passed Rainford as an exciting battle was reaching its climax.

The final lap saw Rowbottom hit with a ten second penalty for track limits offences, dropping him from third on the road to 12th.

Ingram took the chequered flag, his 41st win of his career before being excluded. Doble won with Sutton finished fourth but inherited third then second, an incredible drive from the NAPA man.

Morgan was fourth but suffered a five second penalty for a separate infringement, finishing tenth, with Rainford now third. Dan Cammish finished fourth ahead of Shedden in fifth. Power Maxed pair Aiden Moffat and Dexter Patterson finished sixth and seventh respectively with Aron Taylor-Smith taking eighth.

Tom Chilton was ninth with Rowbottom finishing 12th once the penalty was applied. Daryl DeLeon was 11th, James Dorlin and Sam Osborne finished in the points with Lewis Selby taking 15th and a single point on his BTCC debut.

This article is the latest in a series looking back at the Super Touring era of the BTCC.

The Super Touring era was in full swing, and manufacturers from around the globe were staring to take notice. There were already representatives from the UK, France, Germany and Japan, but a certain Italian marque would make their mark in 1994; and in controversial fashion too.

Alfa Romeo entered the fray with their 155, bringing along Formula One driver Gabriele Tarquini with them. Volvo also joined the growing list of factory backed teams with their some would say kooky, this author would say excellent, 850 estate. Other drivers were in a sense of disbelief seeing the boxy entry on media day but the car is now a modern cult icon.

Alfa, and in particular Tarquini, hit the ground running. He won the first five races at a canter, with the likes of Paul Radisich and John Cleland chasing him down. But all was not what it seemed…

Their advantage was attributed to the aerodynamic wing package, a myth since debunked by Tarquini himself, who states the engineering in the car was what made it better than the rest.

The ToCA rules stated teams had to build their cars based off their road-going counterparts. So many of these had to be produced in order for the car to be legal to race. Alfa exploited this rule by creating a ‘homologation special’ of the 155 – named the Silverstone (I would’ve thought an Italian team would choose the Monza but there we go…). This was purely to receive the aero advantage, much to the chagrin of other teams on the grid.

Many teams complained, rumour has it Ford’s Andy Rouse actually bought a 155 Silverstone, just to see how it was engineered. At Oulton Park, Alfa famously withdrew from the meeting in protest, having been told to run without the aero package on their car. For the next round at Donington, Alfa returned with the wings lowered. While not as fast, Tarquini was consistent enough to maintain his gap at the top of the leaderboard, with wins at Brands Hatch and Silverstone and a bunch of second placed finishes sealing the title.

For 1995, the competition was only getting stronger, with Formula One teams now getting involved. Renault were being backed by Williams, and Volvo by Tom Walkinshaw of Benetton and Arrows fame. With reigning champion Tarquini departing (though he would return midway through the season), Alfa signed up ex-F1 racer Derek Warwick. Aero was now also legal to avoid any issues like the season before.

At Vauxhall, John Cleland was so confident after pre-season testing, he told his team: ‘Clean it, put it back in the truck, and bring it to Donington, don’t change a thing.’ Confidence? The charismatic Scot had the ability to back it up too. The ageing Cavalier had one last dance before the Vectra would be introduced for 1996 – and it saved the best for last.

He didn’t have it all his own way though, Rickard Rydell, now in the Volvo 850 saloon, and Alain Menu in the Williams Renault Laguna were at times faster and staked their own claims to the title.

Menu was arguably the fastest over the course of the season, but the 1994 runner up suffered with teething problems between Williams and his Laguna. If he wasn’t winning he was out of the points. He took seven wins to Cleland’s six, including three of the last five races to help Renault to the manufacturers crown. Will Hoy, Menu’s Renault teammate, won the other two.

Rydell started the season strongly but a poor end to the season stunted his title hopes. He took just 13 points from the last six races of the season with a high speed spin into retirement at Snetterton being the nail in the coffin for the charismatic Swede.

Cleland was consistent and smooth in his Cavalier, giving the car the perfect swansong. A streak of seven podiums, including four wins, in mid-season helped his title bid. From 25 rounds, Cleland scored 18 podiums, and taking his second title in the process.

This one will have meant more to John, as his 1989 title always comes with the caveat of being won under the old class rules system where he was fastest in his class and secured the most points, but he rarely took the chequered flag. 1995 was different, he was the class of the field and earned it the right way.

For the majority of the season it was a three horse race, and with no less than eight different winners, 1995 was one of the closest seasons in a long time and a marker of things to come.

Josh Cook ended the season with a win in round 30, with his stop-start season being rewarded with a victory. Title runner up Ash Sutton finished second while Jake Hill bids farewell to the BTCC with a third place finish.

In a race where the overall title was already won, it was the other championships which took precedence. There was the independents and the Jack Sears trophy to fight for.

Aiden Moffat lead off the start from pole, with Sutton surging through from eighth on the grid. There was suspicion that Moffat had jumped the start but there was no further investigation.

Lap four saw two NAPA Ford’s colliding, as Dan Rowbottom tapped Dan Cammish wide onto the grass going into Druids. The Yorkshireman spun and suffered race-ending damage. He still managed to secure third in the standings despite not finishing. This brought out the final safety car of the season.

The restart came on lap eight, with Cook now ahead of Moffat, and Sutton and Hill forcing their way past the BMW driver. This led to a battle of the Scots as Moffat was defending from Gordon Shedden.

Dan Lloyd was leading the Independents title going into the final race, but his lead was under threat from teammate Chris Smiley and Mikey Doble of Power Maxed Racing.

The trio were together on track, fighting for 14th on the grid. Smiley was ahead but didn’t have enough of a gap to overhaul Lloyd. Lloyd lost places to Max Buxton and Nick Hamilton but managed to come home with a four point cushion over Doble and Smiley.

Daryl DeLeon and Charles Rainford were battling it out for the Jack Sears trophy, awarded for the best driver to have never scored a podium before the season began. Both have managed to not only achieve podiums but win races this season, but were still eligible for the title.

DeLeon secured the title with a 14th place finish, Rainford finished ahead in 12th but it wasn’t enough, as DeLeon, only 19, secures WSR’s first ever Jack Sears trophy.

Up front Cook won in the Toyota, ending his season on a high, missing part of the season after One Motorsport dropped out. He joined Toyota and secured a big win.

Sutton finished second with Hill, who’s leaving the BTCC, finished third. Shedden passed Moffat on the final lap for fourth while champion Tom Ingram finished sixth. Adam Morgan was seventh with Dan Rowbottom eighth. Senna Proctor and Sam Osborne rounded off the top ten.

Dexter Patterson was the top independent with 11th, while Rainford, Smiley, DeLeon and Doble rounded off the points.

Tom Ingram ended the season 42 points ahead of Ash Sutton as the champion, his second title.

Tom Ingram secured his second BTCC championship with a win in round 29 at Brands Hatch. The Hyundai man powered into the lead and never looked back. Title rival Ash Sutton followed him home in second, but couldn’t stop Ingram adding to his 2022 title win.

in a race affected by two safety car periods, Ingram kept his cool and secured his 40th career win.

Cammish was bogged down at the start, with Chilton taking the lead and Rainford squeezing past too. His rear wheel drive BMW starting well. Adam Morgan spun at Druids sending him down the order while Ingram made his way to third.

At the start of lap two Ingram slid down the inside of Rainford at Paddock Hill while Sutton, seeing his title chances slipping away, passed team mate Cammish for fourth. By lap three Ingram was in the lead, passing team mate Chilton at Surtees who didn’t make it difficult for the championship leader.

Sutton knew that he had to finish ahead of Ingram to keep his championship hopes alive, and passed Rainford on lap four at Westfield for third place before the race was neutralised by a Safety Car. Heading into Paddock Hill at the start of lap five, Rainford was tapped into the gravel and wall by Aron Taylor-Smith’s Toyota – BMW’s miserable day continued.

After a three lap delay the race was restarted, but only momentarily as heading into Druids, Josh Cook tapped his Toyota team mate Taylor-Smith off and into the wall. While under safety car conditions Chilton’s Hyundai ground to a halt at Druids. He fell down the order and more importantly, Ingram lost his rear gunner, giving Sutton the chance to attack Ingram.

Lap 14 saw the restart with just five laps left for Ingram to hold on. On the faster soft tyres, he pulled away from Sutton, who both literally and metaphorically saw his title hopes sail off into the distance.

Senna Proctor pushed from 13th on the grid to the podium with a fantastic switch back pass down the inside of Cammish at Surtees for third and best of the rest behind the title chasing duo.

Tom Ingram took the chequered flag to seal his second title, his seventh win of the season and the 40th of his career. A magnificent campaign from Ingram, who has been first or second in at least half of the races this season with seven wins and eight second placed finishes.

Sutton finished second, doing all he could but just not enough. Proctor finished third to aid Team VERTU’s manufacturer title bid. Gordon Shedden was fourth with Cammish and Dan Rowbottom fifth and sixth. Jake Hill surged from the back of the grid to seventh in his penultimate race before leaving the sport.

Josh Cook, Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan rounded off the top ten. Chris Smiley finished ahead of Sam Osborne with Daryl DeLeon putting his race one woe behind him for 13th. Mikey Doble and Dan Lloyd were 14th and 15th, Lloyd in prime position to take the Independent title.

Dan Cammish cruised to victory in round 28 at Brands Hatch in a lights to flag win, while Tom Ingram has one hand on the title by finishing ahead of title rival Ash Sutton.

Pole sitter Daryl DeLeon pulled into the pits on the formation lap with an issue, meaning Cammish was what was effectively pole position. Ingram lined up seventh with Sutton 11th.

Cammish led off the line, never surrendering his lead. Tom Chilton had a good start from fourth, jumping Dan Rowbottom for second on the run into Paddock Hill bend. Rowbottom got back in front of the veteran further into the lap. Ingram was up to fifty with Sutton ninth.

Jake Hill suffered a puncture to compound WSR’s woes with DeLeon stranded in the pits. The only saving grace for the beleaguered BMW squad was Charles Rainford, who passed Ingram for fifth on lap two.

Chilton managed to pass Rowbottom for second at the Druids hairpin. Adam Morgan wanted to pile further misery on Rowbottom and follow his team mate through. He tapped Rowbottom’s Ford going into Surtees and nudged his way through, with Rowbottom dropping to sixth. Ingram back through for fifth.

The title protagonists had a very quiet race, with Ingram happy to consolidate his fifth place finish and bank the all-important points he needed. Sutton was ninth but under pressure from Chris Smiley, himself fighting for the Independents title with team mate Dan Lloyd – who was further up the order.

Smiley managed to pass Sutton for ninth on lap 12 but went wide on Graham Hill bend and Sutton surged past.

Cammish took the chequered flag and strengthened his grip on third in the standings. Chilton and Morgan did Team VERTU’s Teams championship bid a world of good by finishing second and third.

Rainford finished fourth to secure points for BMW with the other three cars finishing out of the points; Aiden Moffat had to pit, speeding in the process, and earning a drive thru penalty. He finished 20th.

Ingram took fifth, extending his gap to 37 points with just 44 left to fight for. Rowbottom was sixth with Gordon Shedden seventh. Dan Lloyd finished eighth to lead the Independents title.

Sutton was ninth with Smiley tenth. Josh Cook battled from the back of the grid to finish 11th. Aron Taylor-Smith and Senna Proctor were next while Mikey Doble and Sam Osborne rounded off the points.

Featured image courtesy of Warren Nel