BTCC Brands Hatch: DeLeon leads the way in practice

West Surrey Racing BMW young gun Daryl DeLeon led the way in free practice for the final round of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

The smooth-driving Anglo-Filipino whisked his 330i M Sport around the swooping Grand Prix circuit quicker than anyone else in the second session, which took place in largely dry but extremely windy conditions.

DeLeon had also set the second fastest time in the earlier session, which took place on a track that was decidedly damp in the wooded sections of the GP loop, although he was quickest on theoretical bests from sector times.

FP2 appeared to be boiling down to a battle between the WSR BMW squad’s Jack Sears Trophy combatants DeLeon and Charles Rainford.

The duo both pitted in the closing laps, and were split by a last-lap flier from the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook, who ended up just 0.053 seconds adrift of DeLeon’s best.

“It’s really good I think,” said DeLeon. “It was nice to have the dry track out on the GP circuit, although there was still a bit of muddy water on the exit of Stirling’s, so it’s not nice to have that kick of oversteer when you run through it.

“It’s practice, so let’s hope we can do the same in qualifying.”

Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR BMW 330i M Sport

Photo by: JEP

Of the wind, he added: “Our braking points, they don’t vary, but sometimes you go into Paddock Hill on the brakes nice and hard, and you miss the corner.”

Behind third-placed Rainford, Adam Morgan made it four drivers within 0.1s at the wheel of his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback.

Next up was Morgan’s team-mate Senna Proctor, with Dan Rowbottom sixth in the quickest of the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus STs.

Championship leader Tom Ingram largely kept his powder dry, but got out on soft tyres right at the end of FP2 and propelled his Excelr8 Hyundai up to seventh on the final lap.

Ingram’s title rival Ash Sutton did not appear to do a proper run on soft tyres in his Alliance Ford. With the four-time champion ending FP2 18th, that means he will run in a different group in the opening phase of qualifying to Ingram’s.

Rounding out the top 10 were Chris Smiley’s Restart Racing Hyundai, Aiden Moffat’s WSR BMW and Tom Chilton’s Excelr8 Hyundai.

Alliance Ford ace Dan Cammish topped FP1 with a run on soft tyres, but did not do a proper soft-shod run in FP2. He led the way in the early-morning session from medium-shod DeLeon by 0.223s, with Rainford third on softs and Sutton fourth on mediums.

That session featured the only red flag a few minutes in, when a fallen branch hit some spectators who needed medical attention.

BTCC Brands Hatch - Practice results

FP2

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing	2		BMW 330i M Sport	16	1'29.271		98.123
2	J. Cook Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	66		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+0.053 1'29.324	0.053	98.065
3	C. Rainford LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	99		BMW 330i M Sport	16	+0.079 1'29.350	0.026	98.036
4	A. Morgan Team Vertu	33		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+0.092 1'29.363	0.013	98.022
5	S. Proctor Team Vertu	18		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+0.153 1'29.424	0.061	97.955
6	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32		Ford Focus ST	18	+0.154 1'29.425	0.001	97.954
7	T. Ingram Team Vertu	80		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+0.166 1'29.437	0.012	97.941
8	C. Smiley Restart Racing	22		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	16	+0.242 1'29.513	0.076	97.858
9	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	16		BMW 330i M Sport	17	+0.302 1'29.573	0.060	97.792
10	T. Chilton Team Vertu	3		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+0.318 1'29.589	0.016	97.775
11	D. Lloyd Restart Racing	123		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+0.367 1'29.638	0.049	97.721
12	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	1		BMW 330i M Sport	14	+0.464 1'29.735	0.097	97.615
13	A. Taylor-Smith Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	40		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+0.512 1'29.783	0.048	97.563
14	G. Shedden Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	52		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	+0.535 1'29.806	0.023	97.538
15	M. Doble Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	88		Vauxhall Astra	17	+0.640 1'29.911	0.105	97.424
16	D. Patterson ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	17		Cupra León	16	+0.889 1'30.160	0.249	97.155
17	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27		Ford Focus ST	17	+1.060 1'30.331	0.171	96.971
18	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	116		Ford Focus ST	12	+1.158 1'30.429	0.098	96.866
19	N. Hamilton Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	28		Cupra León	17	+1.779 1'31.050	0.621	96.206
20	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77		Ford Focus ST	18	+1.981 1'31.252	0.202	95.993
21	N. Halstead Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	50		Vauxhall Astra	12	+3.738 1'33.009	1.757	94.179
22	M. Buxton Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	19		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	11	+4.815 1'34.086	1.077	93.101
View full results

FP1

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27		Ford Focus ST	14	1'30.510		96.780
2	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing	2		BMW 330i M Sport	16	+0.223 1'30.733	0.223	96.542
3	C. Rainford LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	99		BMW 330i M Sport	17	+0.246 1'30.756	0.023	96.517
4	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	116		Ford Focus ST	16	+0.356 1'30.866	0.110	96.400
5	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32		Ford Focus ST	18	+0.512 1'31.022	0.156	96.235
6	G. Shedden Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	52		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	+0.538 1'31.048	0.026	96.208
7	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	1		BMW 330i M Sport	16	+0.707 1'31.217	0.169	96.029
8	A. Morgan Team Vertu	33		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	14	+0.808 1'31.318	0.101	95.923
9	T. Chilton Team Vertu	3		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	12	+0.811 1'31.321	0.003	95.920
10	S. Proctor Team Vertu	18		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	13	+0.819 1'31.329	0.008	95.912
11	C. Smiley Restart Racing	22		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+1.037 1'31.547	0.218	95.683
12	A. Taylor-Smith Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	40		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	19	+1.116 1'31.626	0.079	95.601
13	T. Ingram Team Vertu	80		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	13	+1.122 1'31.632	0.006	95.595
14	D. Lloyd Restart Racing	123		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	14	+1.319 1'31.829	0.197	95.389
15	D. Patterson ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	17		Cupra León	15	+1.446 1'31.956	0.127	95.258
16	M. Doble Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	88		Vauxhall Astra	15	+1.609 1'32.119	0.163	95.089
17	J. Cook Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	66		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	11	+2.079 1'32.589	0.470	94.606
18	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	16		BMW 330i M Sport	9	+2.677 1'33.187	0.598	93.999
19	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77		Ford Focus ST	16	+4.229 1'34.739	1.552	92.459
20	N. Hamilton Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	28		Cupra León	16	+4.579 1'35.089	0.350	92.119
21	M. Buxton Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA	19		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	+5.730 1'36.240	1.151	91.017
22	N. Halstead Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	50		Vauxhall Astra	2
View full results