BTCC produces sensational day of racing at Silverstone

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship produced a sensational day of racing at Silverstone this past weekend (September 26/27) which saw the title pendulum swing back and forth, ultimately ending with Laser Tools Racing’s Ashley Sutton maintaining his standings lead.

Dan Cammish, Colin Turkington and Ollie Jackson shared the spoils across three wild contests around the Home of British Motor Racing, all of which would have had fans undoubtedly on the edge of their seats watching on ITV2.

Qualifying around the 1.64-mile National layout proved to be a carbon copy of the week previous as Cammish stormed to pole position, setting a new lap record along the way.

The Halfords Yuasa Racing driver was this time able to convert his front row start into a victory as he narrowly edged out Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters’ Tom Ingram to close the gap in the standings.

Cammish and Ingram swapped places twice on the opening tour before the Honda Civic Type R driver established his position at the helm of the field and powered his way to a third win of the season ahead of Ingram and Rory Butcher, who had produced an impressive defensive drive to finish third.

Race two would see Team BMW’s Turkington come to the fore as he scored victory and with it, retook the championship lead as both Sutton and Ingram hit trouble.

Ingram took the lead on the first lap whilst behind, contact between Sutton and Butcher sent the pair tumbling down the order. With those two not in contention, Turkington set about moving forward and made an overtake around the outside of Woodcote on Cammish stick on lap nine.

Setting off in pursuit of Ingram, second soon became the race lead as Ingram’s Toyota Corolla suffered a front left puncture under braking into Becketts. The reigning champion then had further fortune as Sutton suffered the same fate as Ingram, pitting to rectify a puncture.

As the drama settled down, Cammish powered his way to second place whilst Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools’ Adam Morgan reaped the benefits of a late set-up change on his Mercedes A-Class to claim third.

Likely to go down in the history books as one of the all-time classic BTCC races, the reverse grid encounter had just about everything as Motorbase Performance’s Ollie Jackson scored a famous maiden victory.

With the sun setting on the Northamptonshire venue, 2017 champion Sutton produced one of the drive’s of his career as he scythed his way through the field from 26th to second by the chequered flag – although this became third following a post-race time penalty.

The action began in dramatic fashion as Butcher suffered a scary high speed crash at Becketts, barrel-rolling after impacting the barriers. Thankfully, the Scotsman emerged from the car unscathed.

Following a lengthy delay to repair the barriers, a 12-lap sprint took place and it was all-out action. Jackson jumped the BMW of Tom Oliphant off the line and soaked up an intense amount of pressure all the way to the chequered flag to hang on.

Behind, all eyes were on Sutton as he charged up the order in his Infiniti Q50 – completing one eye-catching move after another. Sutton would find a way past Oliphant in the end however the positions would be reversed after he was adjudged to have gained an unfair advantage during his duel with Oliphant.

Leaving Silverstone after a rollercoaster race day, Sutton’s race three heroics means he now holds a four-point lead over Turkington, with Cammish a further 13 markers back.

Team BMW remain firmly in control of the BTCC Teams’ Championship and BTCC Manufacturers/Constructors Championship, holding a comfortable lead in both.

Sutton and Laser Tools Racing continue to lead the Independent Drivers’ Championship and Independent Teams’ Championship respectively, whilst Bobby Thompson has moved to the summit of the Jack Sears Trophy.

To view the full classifications of results from all BTCC sessions, click here.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship next heads to North Yorkshire where Rounds 19, 20 & 21 of the season will play out around Croft Circuit on October 10/11.