BTCC Croft: Mercedes on top again with Rowbottom

The CPRL Mercedes team kept up its recent rich vein of form with Dan Rowbottom going quickest in free practice for the British Touring Car Championship round at Croft.

The bearded Midlander and sidekick Adam Morgan – who has won five times including qualifying races across the past two race weekends – spent much of the session with hard tyres (mandated for one race this weekend) fitted to their Mercedes A35 Saloons.

But Rowbottom went on a run on soft rubber late on to become the only driver to get below the 1m21s barrier. He set two times quicker than the best managed by anyone else, finishing up on top of the pile by 0.156 seconds. The soft Goodyears are the compound that must be used in two of the three races.

A late run from Mikey Doble brought his Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon up into second place in the order, pipping the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium of Dan Cammish by just 0.001s.

Josh Cook was up at the sharp end for much of the session before finishing up fourth. While Rowbottom and Morgan have moved into the top seven in the championship, meaning they will be subject to TOCA Turbo Boost restrictions through the rest of Saturday plus Sunday’s opening race, Cook has slipped out of that bracket so his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport will be unhandicapped.

Tom Ingram, Team VERTU

Photo by: JEP

The Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback of reigning champion and current series runner-up Tom Ingram looked extremely good through the Clervaux and Hawthorns section and sat at the top of the order before the late flurry of times dumped Ingram back to fifth.

Another to fall down the order – to sixth – late on was runaway points leader Ash Sutton at the wheel of his Alliance Ford. The four-time champion owned up to being culpable for a red flag during the second half of the session to clear up gravel brought onto the circuit at Clervaux and the chicane, but he was far from the only culprit. Suffice to say, Sutton now knows what entry speed to Clervaux is marginally too fast.

Equalling Sutton’s time to the thousandth was Charles Rainford, who placed seventh in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport. Aiden Moffat (PMR Audi), Daryl De Leon (WSR BMW) and Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) completed the top 10.

Morgan, who ended up 19th, has been dealt a five-point penalty for going above the maximum permissible number of engine changes during the season, following the misfire that came close to scuppering his victory in the Donington Park finale.

BTCC Croft - Practice results

FiP

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	D. Rowbottom Cataclean Plato Racing	32		Mercedes A35 Saloon	19	1'20.996		93.342
2	M. Doble LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	88		Audi A3 Saloon	19	+0.156 1'21.152	0.156	93.163
3	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27		Ford Focus Titanium	19	+0.157 1'21.153	0.001	93.162
4	J. Cook Speedworks Corolla Racing	66		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	+0.169 1'21.165	0.012	93.148
5	T. Ingram Team Vertu	80		Hyundai i30N	21	+0.251 1'21.247	0.082	93.054
6	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	116		Ford Focus Titanium	21	+0.255 1'21.251	0.004	93.049
7	C. Rainford West Surrey Racing	99		BMW 330i M Sport	21	+0.255 1'21.251	0.000	93.049
8	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	16		Audi A3 Saloon	18	+0.260 1'21.256	0.005	93.044
9	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing	2		BMW 330i M Sport	21	+0.338 1'21.334	0.078	92.954
10	T. Chilton Team Vertu	3		Hyundai i30N	17	+0.533 1'21.529	0.195	92.732
11	G. Shedden Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	52		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	+0.583 1'21.579	0.050	92.675
12	D. Lloyd Restart Racing	123		Hyundai i30N	19	+0.597 1'21.593	0.014	92.659
13	D. Patterson Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	17		Audi A3 Saloon	18	+0.739 1'21.735	0.142	92.498
14	R. Collard Team Vertu	11		Hyundai i30N	20	+0.823 1'21.819	0.084	92.403
15	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77		Ford Focus Titanium	21	+0.851 1'21.847	0.028	92.372
16	L. Selby NAPA Racing UK	15		Ford Focus Titanium	19	+0.980 1'21.976	0.129	92.227
17	A. Taylor-Smith Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	50		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	19	+0.991 1'21.987	0.011	92.214
18	C. Smiley Restart Racing	22		Hyundai i30N	19	+1.114 1'22.110	0.123	92.076
19	A. Morgan Cataclean Plato Racing	33		Mercedes A35 Saloon	19	+1.135 1'22.131	0.021	92.052
20	N. Hamilton Team Vertu	28		Hyundai i30N	15	+1.470 1'22.466	0.335	91.679
21	L. Gilbert West Surrey Racing	29		BMW 330i M Sport	24	+1.692 1'22.688	0.222	91.432
22	R. Bensley Speedworks Corolla Racing	7		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	+2.352 1'23.348	0.660	90.708
23	N. Halstead Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	55		Audi A3 Saloon	19	+4.698 1'25.694	2.346	88.225
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