The BTCC returned to Silverstone for the penultimate round of the championship with Ash Sutton in command of the championship. In driver news, Bobby Thompson returned to Team HARD to drive the sixth Cupra Leon, having missed out on three rounds.
Qualifying saw the top ten separated by just 0.109 seconds with Sutton narrowly making the top ten shootout in tenth thanks to Dan Rowbottom abandoning his lap. Rookie Mikey Doble in a Vauxhall Astra qualified on pole for the Carstore Power Maxed Racing team for the first time in the BTCC, ending the run of NAPA Racing UK who had secured every pole of the year up to this point. With Tom Ingram third, Jake Hill fourth and Sutton fifth, the championship leaders went into Sunday with it all to gain, and all to lose.
Race 1
Race one got off to the worst possible start for Mikey Doble, as he led the field away for a nonexistent second formation lap. He did another lap of the Silverstone National Circuit while everyone else was lining up on the grid, meaning that he started from the back rather than the front. Changing weather meant there was a mix of compounds on the grid, as some started on wets and others on slicks. Jake Hill’s fortunes went in the opposite direction to Doble as he leapfrogged Ingram and Turkington to take the lead immediately.
Hill had started on wets, whereas his championship rivals Ingram and Sutton started on slick tyres which immediately proved to be the wrong decision. The two went backwards, and things got a lot worse for Ingram as he was hit from behind at Maggotts and fell to 17th on lap 3. Sutton wasn’t doing too much better in tenth, and the too pitted on lap 4 to fit the wet tyres, falling a lap behind.
Behind Hill, Andrew Watson, Rowbottom, Adam Morgan and Bobby Thompson had carved through the pack on wet tyres to make up places. Rowbottom would pass Watson for second, but Watson would still take third place; his second podium of the year and victory in the independents championship. Thompson would secure 5th on his return with an impressive drive in changing conditions.
Hill would win comfortably in the end by over five seconds. With Ingram and Sutton in 22nd and 23rd, the points swing put Hill 41 points behind Sutton and 1 ahead of Ingram. The result also means that while Hill starts on pole for race 2, Ingram and Sutton are all the way back in their finishing positions, giving him a massive advantage for the next two races.
Race 2
With Ingram and Sutton starting 22nd and 23rd, it all looked under control for Hill as he led away from the line. Rowbottom got away poorly and was passed by Watson, and would fall down the order after a moment on lap 2. Aron Taylor-Smith also made his way up from 7th to pass Watson for 2nd in the early stages.
Meanwhile, Ingram and Sutton looked every bit the championship contenders. Ingram lost out to Sutton after contact with Jack Butel, but Sutton would make some beautiful overtakes to be in 6th on lap 15, when the safety car came out for debris.
The safety car was bad news for Hill, whose lead over Taylor-Smith was reduced to nothing. It would get worse for Hill though, as he fell down the pack after the safety car ended, getting passed left and right, including by his championship rivals Sutton and Ingram. He'd lose more places after contact with Rowbottom at Copse, and would eventually finish in a disastrous 20th after more contact was made with Aiden Moffat.
While Hill was falling, Sutton and Ingram were storming to the front. If one of them was not going for a move, the other one was. Sutton quickly made his way to the back of Taylor-Smith's Vauxhall Astra, setting up a tense last lap battle. By this point, Ingram had overtaken the BMW of Adam Morgan with an aggressive move up the inside of Luffield to take third, so Sutton launched his car up the inside at Copse to take the lead and further extend his championship advantage. From 22nd and 23rd on the grid, the pair had taken 3rd and 1st on the final two laps to show everyone why they are the two in the championship fight, albeit at the expense of Hill whose BMW seemed to have a problem after the safety. This was Sutton's first win at Silverstone in the BTCC; what a way to do it.
After the race, the reverse grid draw for race 3 put Sutton in 12th and Ingram in 10th. It would be slightly harder for them to make their way through the field though, as their use of hybrid will be limited. Michael Crees and Ronan Pearson were drawn as the front row - time for a new winner perhaps?
Race 3
The start of the race saw Pearson jump Crees off the line to take the lead, with Rowbottom following him through to take second from third on the grid. BMW's Morgan would have a less fortunate first lap though, as a three wide moment led to him and Butcher being fired off to the wall on the Wellington Straight; he was lucky to be able to continue, but Butcher's race ended there. Meanwhile, Rowbottom forced his way past Pearson at Luffield to take the lead before the safety car came out.
After the safety car, Turkington picked off Crees, Pearson and Rowbottom to take the lead on lap 8. An attacking drive saw Ingram take second by lap 14 with a move on Rowbottom into Copse. After Sutton got past Pearson for fourth, he dived by Rowbottom at Brooklands to snatch third and take yet another podium.
Turkington would eventually score BMW's 150th win in the BTCC, with Ingram second and Sutton third. Josh Cook celebrated his Independents Trophy title with an independents class win and sixth overall.
The result sees Ash Sutton's lead of the championship at 45 points over Tom Ingram, and with 67 points available at the championship finale at Brands Hatch, the race for the title is not over yet. Jake Hill's dramatic yet disappointing day sees him fall to 68 points behind Sutton and mathematically out of contention, but BMW will still be hoping for a good performance from him to help seal the Manufacturer's Championship; they lead Ford by just 19 points going into Brands Hatch.
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