Category: Touring Cars

Colin Turkington drew level at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings with a win in the first race at Snetterton.

The Northern Irishman cruised to victory in his BMW while Tom Ingram and Jake Hill rounded off the podium after a terrific tussle between the pair.

Turkington’s team mate Tom Oliphant was in the wars at the start. A collision between him, Ash Sutton, and Ollie Jackson saw Oliphant and Jackson take to the grass. Olihpant recovered for 14th with Jackson finishing 21st.

The only threat to Turkington’s lead came when Ingram tried to dive down the inside at the hairpin before the backstraight. It didn’t work and Turkington managed to pull away.

Ingram had to contend with the Honda of Hill, who was hot on the heels of the Toyota driver.

The main title protagonists were all at the front of the grid, with Rory Butcher and Dan Cammish eager to keep their title hopes alive. They fought for fourth and fifth.

While Turkington pulled away Ingram and Hill collided on lap six. Hill dove down the inside of Ingram and tipped him into a half spin. Ingram recovered and Hill gave Ingram the place back, fearing a reprimand from the stewards.

Turkington won the race, with Ingram two and a half seconds behind in second. HIll took third with Butcher, Sutton and Cammish all close behind.

Adam Morgan finished an impressive seventh in his Mercedes A Class, with Josh Cook, Senna Proctor and Michael Crees rounding off the top ten.

There were two new drivers this weekend, with four time Clio Cup champion Paul Rivett finishing 19th. He’s deputising for the injured Bobby Thompson in the Audi. Power Maxed Racing’s latest driver was W Series racer and stunt driver Jessica Hawkins. She finished 22nd with 45kg of new driver ballast on her Astra.

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Tom Ingram boosted his title credentials with a win in round 21 of the British Touring Car Championship at Croft. He held off Honda’s Dan Cammish as title contender Colin Turkington had another nightmare race.

Dubbed the ‘King of Croft’, Turkington’s retirement in race two was compounded with a driveshaft issue on lap one. He pitted and rejoined five laps down on the leaders. Scoring no points and falling to third in the title race.

Ingram rocketed from third on the grid past Cammish at turn one, and past Tom Chilton by the end of lap one. Stephen Jelley had a spin in his BMW 125i at turn two.

On lap three the safety car was out as Bobby Thompson’s impressive weekend ended in a horror smash as he got put onto the grass and his car dug in and rolled over multiple times. Thankfully he was unhurt.

On the restart Cammish was fighting Chilton, with both Honda Civic FK8’s struggling with brake temperature issues. The discs were glowing as they were pushing hard. Cammish finally got past him on lap 13 and set about hounding down Ingram.

Ash Sutton, who started 20th after suffering a puncture in race two, was up to sixth, with Tom Oliphant in his way. He got past him and was fighting Matt Neal for fourth.

Cammish was on the tail of Ingram coming into the final lap. Ingram did all he could to keep the Honda behind and held on to take the win. Cammish finished three tenths behind. Chilton rounded off the podium with Neal and Sutton having a drag race over the line. Neal took fourth by 17 thousandths of a second.

Ash Sutton has the championship lead by seven points from Cammish with Turkington in third as the title race hots up going into the final six races of the season at Snetterton and Brands Hatch.

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Josh Cook took his second win of the weekend as Matt Neal was given a 0.7 second penalty for hitting Cook on the final lap.

Cook had led all race but Neal had more pace, and his move three corners from the end was judged to have been gaining an advantage by the stewards, and so the places were reversed.

Meanwhile the two title contenders had a race to forget. Colin Turkington locked up at the start going into turn one and put it in the wall. Ash Sutton had a golden chance to capitalize but made a rash move on Jake Hill on lap seven and suffered a puncture, finishing 20th and out the points.

Hill was holding Sutton off, and the Infiniti driver dove down the inside at the final hairpin. Sutton made contact and punctured his tyre, but he’d gone past the pits before realising his tyre had punctured.

With the two title protagonists stricken, Tom Ingram and Dan Cammish both picked up good points to close the gap.

Towards the end of the race Neal had bags of pace. He passed Hill into second and was soon on the back of Cook. He closed the three second gap in a matter of laps and by the end of lap 14 he was on the back of his fellow Honda Civic driver.

On lap 16, Cook was holding Neal off, with an extra 60kg of ballast on his car, but Neal dove down the inside into the final section of the lap. He tapped Cook on the inside and nearly tipped him into a spin. He passed Cook and finished first on the road but the stewards swapped the positions.

*Matt Neal received a 0.7 second penalty for causing a collision.

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Josh Cook took his second win of the season at Croft in the British Touring Car Championship with Jake Hill second and title contender Colin Turkington third.

Power Maxed Racing’s entry Jac Constable was set to make his first ever BTCC appearance but had to pull out before the race as he felt unwell.

Cook led from lights to flag despite pressure from Hill. Ash Sutton recovered from a first lap spin to finish fifth. He was promoted to fourth as Butcher received a penalty for the spin.

Coming into the final complex, Sutton was tapped by Rory Butcher and spun, falling to 11th. Hill got close to Cook on the end of lap one, but didn’t get another chance to take the lead.

Bobby Thompson, who qualified an impressive fifth, had some slight damage concerns as his wheel was rubbing on some bodywork, but it fixed itself and he powered on.

Tom Ingram and Senna Proctor were both disqualified from qualifying yesterday for ride height issues, and both started to fly through the field. Ingram fought back to 13th with Proctor finishing 18th.

Sutton’s favoured move throughout the race was to dummy into the final hairpin and dive down the inside. He did it to three drivers before finding veteran Tom Chilton a little harder to pass. He finally did it on lap 13 and finished fifth.

Jack Butel retired from the race for his first DNF of his BTCC career. Nic Hamilton and Sam Osborne also failed to finish.

Cook took the win but as is a common theme this season Sutton takes the plaudits for his surge through the field. Sutton and Turkington are now tied at the top of the standings.

*Rory Butcher received 2 second penalty for causing a collision.

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Ollie Jackson took his maiden BTCC win in a shortened race three at Silverstone following a horror smash from Jackson’s team mate Rory Butcher.

The Ford Focus crashed on lap six of the original race and brought out the red flag. Jackson held his nerve despite pressure from Tom Oliphant and a resurgent Ash Sutton to take the win.

Jackson took the lead into Copse. Butcher had the best start and flew up to ninth by the end of lap one.

Andy Neate and Jade Edwards continued their on track scrap as Neate didn’t give Edwards enough room. Neate was put into the wall as Edwards drove away.

Tom Ingram also went off as he was squeezed at Luffield and span off.

On lap six the red flag was brought out as Butcher was spun and hit the wall in a massive shunt. His car was destroyed and thankfully Rory was okay and walked away.

On the restart Jackson led again, with Oliphant fighting hard, with the pair colliding into Brooklands, but thankfully no damage was done.

Sutton was flying, starting 14th on the restarted grid, he was up into sixth by lap six, fighting the top five in what was a frenetic race.

Oliphant made a move into Copse and briefly held the lead but Jackson maintained his composure and took it back again.

Senna Proctor had another solid race, and made an impressive triple pass into Becketts. He passed former team mates Tom Chilton and Josh Cook, as well as Aiden Moffat.

On the penultimate lap Sutton was on the tail of Jackson and Oliphant. He managed to pass the BMW but Jackson was just beyond his reach.

But Sutton now leads the championship again as the teams leave Silverstone. Another three brilliant races, and the championship battle is wide open.

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Colin Turkington profited from the misfortune of others to take the win in the second race at Silverstone to retake the British Touring Car Championship lead.

Punctures to title rivals Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton late in the race saw Turkington take the win and open up a six point lead at the top.

Race one winner Dan Cammish was fastest off the line but lost the lead to Ingram at Luffield. Sutton passed Turkington at Copse but fell down the order after a small collision with Rory Butcher, who spun to the back of the grid.

Sutton was tenth and seemed to be struggling, but his Infiniti team mate Aiden Moffat was storming through the field in his 200th BTCC race. He was stuck behind Sutton but finally made a move.

The top three of Ingram, Turkington and Cammish were all close, fighting hard for the win. Turkington’s team mate Tom Oliphant retired from race one with a suspension issue, but he made up for it by flying through the field to finish ninth.

On lap 17 Sutton suffered a puncture, ruining his race and putting him at the back for race three. Ingram then suffered a puncture a lap later, with Turkington the big winner, inheriting the lead and seeing his two title rivals fall to the back of the grid.

He guided his BMW home to take the win and his 150th BTCC podium, with Cammish and Adam Morgan rounding off the podium.

Matt Neal was fourth, with Moffat’s storming drive being rewarded with fifth. Josh Cook, Jake Hill and Ollie Jackson all had strong finishes, with Tom Oliphant going from 25th to ninth at the chequered flag, with Hyundai’s Senna Proctor rounding out the top ten.

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Dan Cammish took the seventh win of his British Touring Car Championship career after holding off the Toyota of Tom Ingram in a thrilling race at Silverstone.

Cammish made a good start with Ingram close behind. The pair traded the lead a few times, with Ingram passing on the exit of Becketts and Cammish taking it back into Brooklands.

The Safety Car was brought out on lap five as Michael Crees was tipped into a spin and collided with James Gornall, with Crees beaching his Honda Civic in the gravel. Cammish and Ingram were fighting hard to be ahead for the SC period, with the pair separated by just nine thousandths of a second.

On the restart Cammish and Ingram continued to fight, with the battle for third being the more intriguing. Rory Butcher was holding off Colin Turkington and Ash Sutton while Tom Oliphant retired as his BMW went over a kerb and broke his suspension.

With Sutton breathing down his neck, Turkington had to be careful when plotting a move on Butcher ahead. The Scotsman in his Motorbase Ford Focus held off the hard charging duo to take third, with Turkington and Sutton fourth and fifth.

Cammish pulled away to take his seventh BTCC win with Ingram behind, who makes further inroads into the championship lead.

Adam Morgan, Jake HIll, Matt Neal, Stephen Jelley and Josh Cook rounded off the top ten. Jade Edwards, the first female driver to race in the BTCC since Fiona Leggate in 2007, finished 23rd after being pushed off track by Andy Neate.

Sutton still leads the championship but his lead has been cut down by Turkington and Ingram.

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Josh Cook led from lights to flag his first official win of the season. He had won previously but lost the win due to technical infringements. Team mate Tom Chilton came second with Rory Butcher in third.

Carl Boardley spun at the final chicane on lap one and broke his suspension, ending an unfortunate weekend for the Team HARD driver. Team mate Nicolas Hamilton had similar issues and retired.

Tom Ingram had won the first two races of the day and was fighting new championship leader Ash Sutton for fourth. The pair were involved in a race-long battle.

With Cook and Chilton pulling away, Butcher had to fend off Sutton and Ingram, who were both charging.

Cook cruised to a win with Chilton and Butcher in second and third respectively. Butcher did well to hold off Sutton and Ingram, who were both incredibly quick throughout the weekend.

Tom Oliphant, Matt Neal, Colin Turkington, Jake Hill and Dan Cammish rounded off the top ten. Guest driver Rob Austin ended his impressive weekend with 11th.

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Tom Ingram secured another win in race two at Thruxton after another close battle with Dan Cammish. The Yorkshireman finished second with team mate Matt Neal third.

Ingram led from lights to flag, to make a good day for Toyota even better. Toyota have won both the Le Mans 24 Hours and Rally Turkey, and can add a BTCC double race win to that.

New championship leader Ash Sutton leapt up to fourth in his Infiniti and was hounding down Neal for third. By lap eight he was on his tail but Sutton went wide at Church corner and lost some ground.

Colin Turkington, reeling from his race one misfire, fought from the back of the grid into the points, and managed to finish 13th.

There were a couple of late retirements as Adam Morgan retired from fifth with an engine failure, and Bobby Thompson crashed out.

Ingram secured his second win of the day and has jumped up to third in the championship standings, 30 points behind Sutton.

Cammish and Neal rounded off the podium, Sutton was fourth, Rory Butcher and Tom Oliphant were fifth and sixth. Then came the BTC Racing trio of Tom Chilton, Josh Cook and Michael Crees, with Senna Proctor finishing tenth.

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Tom Ingram picked up his first win of the season at Thruxton in a race which saw championship protagonist Colin Turkington suffer a misfire.

Ingram leapt into the lead off the start and held off Cammish by just over half a second at the chequered flag. Cammish’s Team Dynamics team mate Matt Neal rounded off the podium.

Jake Hill had started well but spun on lap four at the final chicane, compromising his weekend.

On lap six Ash Sutton passed championship rival Colin Turkington in a nice pass, but Turkington started falling down the grid. He had a loss of power and a misfire. Effectively retiring from the race which could have huge ramifications for the championship battle.

Sutton then passed Butcher coming out of the Complex chicane on lap eight, It was an expertly taken move by the 2017 champion.

On lap 11 Andy Neate and Carl Boardley had a coming together at the Complex. It was a clumsy move by Neate who tried to pass Boardley on the outside when he already had the inside line.

Cammish was pressuring Ingram in the final stages back at the front, with just half a second between the pair. However Ingram held on for his and Toyota’s first win of the season.

Cammish and Neal celebrated sponsor Yuasa’s tenth anniversary of being in the BTCC with a double podium. Adam Morgan, Sutton, Butcher, Tom Chilton, Tom Oliphant, Josh Cook and Michael Crees rounded off the top ten.

Fan favourite Rob Austin finished 12th in the Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra and Tom Onslow-Cole returned to the BTCC with a 21st place finish.

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