BTCC Brands Hatch: Turkington dominates opener
Colin Turkington dominated the first race of the British Touring Car Championship round at Brands Hatch to notch up his 68th win in the series.
Marcus Simmons
Edited:
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Colin Turkington dominated the first race of the British Touring Car Championship round at Brands Hatch to notch up his 68th win in the series.
The Northern Irishman opted to use the soft-compound Goodyear tyre for this race in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport and used it to perfection to win by a mammoth 6.826 seconds.
Turkington’s team-mate Adam Morgan, alongside him on the front row, started this race on the medium tyre as WSR split its strategy, and it proved to be the wrong option for the amiable Lancastrian.
But it wasn’t necessarily the wrong choice for Ash Sutton. From fourth on the grid, the reigning champion got past the sister Alliance Racing-run NAPA Racing Ford Focus ST of Dan Cammish – which was on softs – at Druids on the opening lap for third. Sutton then drove around the outside of Morgan at Graham Hill Bend on lap two to grab second place.
The gap to Turkington steadied at around a second for the first few laps, before the BMW began to pull away and Sutton came under pressure from Cammish, homing back in at the wheel of a Ford that had a new clutch fitted after qualifying.
Sutton didn’t make it easy for Cammish, but could not hold off the soft-tyred Ford for long and the Berkshire-domiciled Yorkshireman made it through at Druids on lap six.
No sooner had that happened than Cammish suddenly began slowing with a punctured left-front tyre, sending him to the pits before rejoining just under two laps adrift.
Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST
Photo by: JEP
Sutton was reinstated in second place, but now found the Speedworks Motorsport-run LKQ Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook closing in.
Cook was on soft tyres – the first time he’d ever run them on the Toyota – and on the 14th lap of 24 he got a run up the inside at the exit of Paddock Hill Bend, only for Sutton to move over and force Cook to put two wheels on the grass.
Cook then gave his pal Sutton a bit of a love tap at Graham Hill Bend on the following lap, but didn’t have to wait long to pass – the lanky West Countryman got a good run off Clearways and surged past.
With nine laps remaining, Turkington was 4.784 seconds clear, and he finally took the chequered flag 6.826s to the good.
“It’s never easy at the front, especially on the soft tyre,” said Turkington. “It was slightly uncharted territory, and you never know what the dropoff might be.
“I managed to break Dan, and then he disappeared and it was Ash. A few laps jockeying with the hybrid, and then I was away.”
Behind Sutton, the Toyota Gazoo Racing GB Speedworks Corolla of Andrew Watson fought through to fourth on soft tyres, while Jake Hill was another on softs, using them to battle from 12th on the grid to snatch fifth from Dan Rowbottom’s Alliance Ford with seven laps remaining.
Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 N Fastback
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Championship leader Tom Ingram was embroiled in a massive fight early on with Watson, Hill, Rowbottom and Morgan, and lost out in the battling.
Ingram fought back on the medium tyres to shadow the sister Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback of seventh-placed Tom Chilton across the finish line.
After the race, Watson was penalised down to eighth for the contact with Ingram, promoting Hill to fourth, Rowbotton to fifth and Chilton to sixth.
Ingram retains his championship lead, but is now just three points ahead of Turkington and Sutton.
Morgan, who had struggled to switch the rear-wheel-drive BMW’s medium tyres on, hit the barriers on the approach to Druids in conjunction with the Excelr8 Hyundai of Ronan Pearson. Morgan plugged on to finish 15th, while Pearson rejoined after a pitstop.
Aiden Moffat was ninth in his Speedworks Toyota, with Aron Taylor-Smith (Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra) grabbing 10th from Rob Huff’s Speedworks Toyota with a lap to go.
BTCC Brands Hatch Race One Result
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4
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1
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2
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| Cla | Driver | # | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Retirement | Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  C. Turkington Team BMW |
BMW 330e M Sport | 24 |
19'43.459 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 |
6.826 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 24 |
8.722 |
1.896 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 |
13.763 |
5.041 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport |
BMW 330e M Sport | 24 |
14.924 |
1.161 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 24 |
15.386 |
0.462 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors |
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 24 |
19.342 |
3.956 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors |
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 24 |
19.474 |
0.132 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 |
20.669 |
1.195 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |  A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing |
Vauxhall Astra | 24 |
27.024 |
6.355 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 |
27.632 |
0.608 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 24 |
27.999 |
0.367 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 |
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
|
Vauxhall Astra | 24 |
28.835 |
0.836 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | C. Smiley Restart Racing |
Cupra León | 24 |
30.546 |
1.711 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | A. Morgan Team BMW |
BMW 330e M Sport | 24 |
30.902 |
0.356 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 |
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
|
Cupra León | 24 |
34.770 |
3.868 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 |
N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors
|
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 24 |
39.532 |
4.762 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 22 |
2 laps |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 |
R. Pearson Team Bristol Street Motors
|
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 22 |
2 laps |
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| 20 |
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
|
Cupra León | 20 |
4 laps |
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| View full results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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