Silverstone BTCC: Goff earns Team Hard's first win after tyre gamble
Jack Goff scored Team Hard's first ever British Touring Car Championship victory in race three at Silverstone after a wet tyre gamble, as Colin Turkington extended his points' lead
The Volkswagen CC driver, who only secured his place on the 2019 grid in a last-minute deal, romped to his fifth series triumph by 7.3 seconds over Aidan Moffat - the latter bagging the Infiniti Q50's best ever BTCC result.
A late dash of rain on the green flag lap prompted Goff to gamble and pit for wet tyres for the race start, as Ashley Sutton - who was drawn on reversed grid pole - narrowly led into Copse.
But second-starting Matt Simpson took advantage of his Honda Civic Type R's greater traction on corner exit to sweep by into Maggotts for the lead.
However, a very poor exit on to the Wellington Straight gifted the place back to Sutton and dropped Simpson into the sights of Andrew Jordan.
Simpson ran across the nose of Jordan on the approach to Luffield and continued on to the grass and into retirement.
That forced a safety car to recover the stricken machine, which prompted much of the field to dive for wet tyres as Goff - then in 19th - posted the fastest lap of the race.
From the restart, Goff and Moffat made metronomic progress up the order until Moffat ran wide at Copse and lost the rear of his car on the slippery kerbs.
He saved the spin, but gave Goff - now ahead of early leader Josh Cook - the breathing room to consolidate Team Hard's maiden spoils.
Moffat recovered to second ahead of Matt Neal, with Tom Oliphant leading Tom Chilton home for fourth.
Jason Plato was again in the wars, ending Adam Morgan's race with a firm tap into Luffield.
That allowed a wet-tyred Turkington to climb to seventh after a door-banging three-lap battle with WSR team-mate and championship rival Jordan.
Finishing ahead of his fellow BMW 330i M Sport driver, and with Cammish - second in the points prior to the race - dropping back late on, it means Turkington leads the way on 297 points to Cammish on 281, with Jordan a further 11 behind ahead of the Brands Hatch season finale.
Goff's team-mate Michael Crees was a career-best ninth from the sister car of Bobby Thompson and Knockhill winner Jake Hill.
Cammish dropped to 12th at the flag, ahead of a best BTCC finish of 13th for ex-Formula 1 driver Mark Blundell.
Behind MG driver Rob Smith was polesitter Ash Sutton, having fallen a lap down in the pitstop phase.
Race one and two winner Tom Ingram was hit by Ollie Jackson and suffered a puncture, dropping him to a pointless 22nd.
Result - 25 laps
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jack Goff | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 28m22.240s |
2 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti | 7.300s |
3 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 13.968s |
4 | Tom Oliphant | WSR | BMW | 25.596s |
5 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 26.295s |
6 | Jason Plato | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 29.883s |
7 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 30.020s |
8 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 33.061s |
9 | Michael Crees | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 35.424s |
10 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 37.015s |
11 | Jake Hill | Trade Price Cars Racing | Audi | 40.813s |
12 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 43.527s |
13 | Mark Blundell | Trade Price Cars Racing | Audi | 44.108s |
14 | Rob Smith | Excelr8 Motorsport | MG | 49.349s |
15 | Ash Sutton | BMR Racing | Subaru | 50.344s |
16 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | Honda | 1m02.332s |
17 | Mike Bushell | AmD Tuning | Honda | 1m02.687s |
18 | Michael Caine | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 1m03.456s |
19 | Ollie Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 1m12.292s |
20 | Sam Osborne | Excelr8 Motorsport | MG | 1 Lap |
21 | Rob Collard | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1 Lap |
22 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 2 Laps |
23 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 2 Laps |
- | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | Accident damage |
- | Senna Proctor | BMR Racing | Subaru | Not classified |
- | Josh Cook | BTC Racing | Honda | Not classified |
- | Chris Smiley | BTC Racing | Honda | Engine |
- | Daniel Rowbottom | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | Accident damage |
- | Carl Boardley | Team Hard | Volkswagen | Battery |
- | Matt Simpson | Simpson Racing | Honda | Spun off |
Drivers' championship
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Colin Turkington | 297 |
2 | Dan Cammish | 281 |
3 | Andrew Jordan | 280 |
4 | Josh Cook | 263 |
5 | Tom Ingram | 236 |
6 | Rory Butcher | 228 |
7 | Jason Plato | 205 |
8 | Matt Neal | 199 |
9 | Ash Sutton | 191 |
10 | Tom Chilton | 174 |
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