Aaron Irwin

Colin Turkington cruised to victory to reignite his title challenge, and also took Team WSR’s 100th BTCC win.

The BMW driver led from lights to flag with BTC Racing duo Senna Proctor and Josh Cook both on the podium.

Turkington led off the grid after a good start. By the end of lap three he was 2.5 seconds ahead of Proctor, who had to hold off a train of cars led by Chris Smiley.

On lap four Dan Lloyd went off at the exit of the chicane and hit the wall. This brought out the safety car while his stricken Vauxhall Astra was recovered and the wall fixed.

Lap 11 saw the race resume and Turkington again pulled away, opening up a three second lead easily. Proctor managed to pull away from Smiley too as he cruised to a second placed finish.

His team mate Cook was on the rear bumper of Smiley, looking for an opportunity to overtake. He finally managed it with a bold move down the inside of Clark corner. Reigning champion Ash Sutton then dove down the inside of Smiley at the hairpin to take fourth.

Coming out of the hairpin Tom Oliphant was spun off and retired from the race, with Ollie Jackson also having his own issues, going wide at the hairpin and coming into the pits, never returning to the race.

Turkington took the flag and got his title challenge back underway after a few poor weekends. Proctor and Cook took the other podium places for a strong BTC Racing showing.

Sutton, Smiley, Jake Hill, Aiden Moffat, Gordon Shedden, Rory Butcher and Tom Ingram rounded off the top ten.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	26:03:813
2	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+4.254
3	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+8.076
4	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+8.643
5	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+12.071
6	Jake Hill	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+13.061
7	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+13.111
8	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+16.273
9	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+25.848
10	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+27.688
11	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+27.899
12	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+28.167
13	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+28.487
14	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+29.759
15	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+30.167
16	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+30.727
17	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+32.558
18	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+33.619
19	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+34.705
20	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+35.693
21	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+38.341
22	Jack Mitchell	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+38.665
23	Paul Rivett	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+39.317
24	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+39.869
25	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+41.021
26	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+1 Lap
Retirements
DNF	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	Mechanical (22)
DNF	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	Damage (21)
DNF	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	Crash (4)

 

Rory Butcher secured the win in round 11 of the British Touring Car Championship in a frenetic second race at Oulton Park.

He took the lead on lap one and held on with Dan Rowbottom and Adam Morgan completing the podium.

Rowbottom made the best start and held on to the lead with Butcher and Gordon Shedden in tow. Butcher held off his brother in law and made a brave move on Rowbottom into the Knickerbrook chicane to take the lead.

On lap two Senna Proctor made a brilliant move down the inside of team mate Josh Cook and Jake Hill into the hairpin and passed both. Behind them Ollie Jackson and Jack Goff both collided. This ended Goff’s 100% points finishes record this season.

On lap three, same place, another collision as Colin Turkington tapped Cook, who slid into Jason Plato, with Cook coming off the worse and retiring from damage.

Butcher was pulling away but Rowbottom had to defend from Morgan, who was having another fantastic weekend around Oulton Park. Securing his second third place finish of the weekend.

Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram are both fighting for the title and have both recovered from setbacks to be in the top ten in race two.

Butcher strolled to the win with Rowbottom in 2nd and Morgan in 3rd. Hill, Moffat, Shedden Jelley, Sutton, Proctor and Ingram rounded off the top ten.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	17:35:137
2	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+1.695
3	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+2.500
4	Jake Hill	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+2.944
5	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+3.200
6	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+4.653
7	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+5.811
8	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+6.035
9	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+6.305
10	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+6.546
11	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+6.661
12	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+6.826
13	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+10.693
14	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+15.436
15	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+17.329
16	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+17.859
17	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+18.613
18	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+20.108
19	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+20.317
20	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+20.575
21	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+23.129*
22	Jack Mitchell	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+23.365
23	Rick Parfitt	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+24.281
24	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+26.062
25	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+4 Laps
Retirements
DMF	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	Damage
DNF	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	Crash
DNS	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	Damage

 

Dan Rowbottom took his first ever BTCC race win in round ten of the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park in a two-part race.

On lap eight Tom Oliphant was pitched into a spin by Jason Plato, before being collected by Excelr8 drivers Chris Smiley and Rick Parfitt. On the restart Rowbottom took the lead and held on for the win.

The two Team Dynamics Honda’s made the best start and swamped pole sitter Senna Proctor at the start. Shedden led with Rowbottom close behind, Proctor fell to fifth with Morgan and Butcher getting past too.

Into the long sweeping left hander at Cascades, a few cars were forced off track, with Colin Turkington being one of them, sending him to the back.

By lap three the Honda’s were two seconds clear, as there were five second penalties dished out to Josh Cook, Ollie Jackson and Sam Smelt for being out of position at the start.

With title challenger Tom Ingram starting at the back of the grid, Ash Sutton was thinking about capitalizing on his rival being at the back. However Sutton was in the pits on lap four and fell to the back.

Proctor was recovering from his poor start and by lap seven he managed to pass Butcher at the tight hairpin and went into fourth place.

On lap eight Jason Plato dived down the inside of Tom Oliphant at the final corner, and made contact, spinning the BMW round and leaving him stationary at the top of the hill.

He was an innocent bystander as Chris Smiley hit him, and then shortly after RIck Parfitt careened into him to bring out the red flag. After a short period once debris was cleared, there was a six lap restart.

On the restart Rowbottom held onto the lead and held on, despite a strong fight from his team mate Gordon Shedden. The Scot has previous at Oulton when fighting with team mates, having collided with team mate Matt Neal a few years back to deny the team a 1-2.

Rowbottom held on for his first BTCC win with Shedden, Morgan, Butcher, Jelley, Moffat, Plato, Hill, Proctor and Goff rounding off the top ten.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	8:45:702
2	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+0.384
3	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+2.104
4	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+5.885
5	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+6.170
6	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+7.053
7	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+7.469
8	Jake Hill	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+7.829
9	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+8.082
10	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+8.444
11	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+9.405
12	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+10.629
13	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Vauxhall Astra	+10.897
14	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+10.955
15	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+11.690
16	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+14.195
17	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+14.373
18	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+14.593
19	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+15.331
20	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+15.580
21	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+16.384
22	Jack Mitchell	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+17.203
23	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+17.530
24	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+4 Laps
Retirements
DNF	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	Crash
DNF	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	Crash
DNF	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	Crash
DNS	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	Mechanical

 

Adam Morgan took the final win of the day at Brands Hatch, the ninth win of his career and the first for Ciceley’s new car.

He led from start to finish in his new BMW 330i M Sport with Team HARD’s Jack Goff finishing second and Aiden Moffat rounded off the podium for Laser Tools.

Morgan was placed on pole thanks to the reverse grid draw, and used his rear wheel drive to his advantage as he led from lights to flag. Behind him was where all the action was.

There was an exciting race-long fight between Jason Plato and the BTC duo of Josh Cook and Senna Proctor. Proctor passed Plato on lap two before the veteran took his place back in to Druids.

Goff himself was in a new car, the Cupra Leon is new for 2021 and he took second on lap 11 and kept it there for an impressive result for the Team HARD outfit. The only retirement of the race came on lap 11 as Ollie Jackson’s bonnet came up and he pulled into the pits and retired the car to cap off a frustrating weekend for him.

Another person who had a frustrating weekend was Colin Turkington, who avoided going point-less at a BTCC race weekend for the first time since 2003 with a 14th place finish.

Plato managed to pull away from the BTC Honda’s and hunted down Moffat. The pair enjoyed a ding-dong battle to the flag with Moffat prevailing and holding on to third place.

His team mate Ash Sutton took back the lead of the championship with Tom Ingram close behind.

Morgan took the win, win number nine of his career with Goff and Moffat on the podium alongside him. Plato, Cook and Proctor were next, with Rory Butcher, Sutton, Dan Lloyd and Chris Smiley rounding off the top ten.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	19:57:584
2	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+1.541
3	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+3.807
4	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+3.819
5	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+4.448
6	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+4.874
7	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+5.343
8	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+6.011
9	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+6.375
10	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+6.890
11	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+7.204
12	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+7.446
13	Jake Hill	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+8.688
14	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+9.299
15	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+9.937
16	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+10.141
17	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+12.633
18	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+14.169
19	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+14.431
20	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+14.829
21	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+16.248
22	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+16.631
23	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+21.528
24	Glyn Geddie	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+24.674
25	Andy Neate	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+27.802
26	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+28.456
27	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+28.683
28	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+2 Laps
Retirements
DNF	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	Bonnet

 

Tom Ingram took his second win of the season and took the lead of the championship after a last lap pass on Tom Oliphant. Ash Sutton stole second from Oliphant in a battle to the finish line.

A six lap safety car period broke up the race after Stephen Jelley and Gordon Shedden collided at Paddock.

Oliphant had another good start off the line, with Dan Rowbottom atoning for his poor start in race one by rocketing up to second. Shedden is tapped at Paddock Hill bend but recovers. However on lap two he wasn’t as lucky.

Stephen Jelley saw a chance to dive down the inside and Shedden shut the door too late, with the pair going off into the gravel at Paddock. Shedden resumed but Jelley retired and this brought out the Safety Car.

After a six lap Safety Car period racing resumed. On lap ten Jake Hill passed Ingram into Paddock Hill in a brilliant move.

However Hill got a puncture heading into Clearways and lost two laps trying to fix it. Falling from third to the back of the pack.

Rowbottom challenged Oliphant for the lead and went around the outside of Druids. This left the door open for Ingram who took second by the end of lap 18.

There were interesting battles throughout the pack, with Jack Goff and Senna Proctor fighting for tenth place. It was the Yorkshireman who prevailed, finishing tenth ahead of Goff.

On lap 23 of 27 Ingram was on Oliphant’s tail, who was for the second race in a row, defending incredibly well in a much heavier BMW.

Ingram finally made his move on the last lap as he dove down the inside at Paddock and slightly tapped Olihpant’s rear. He managed to get through at Druids and steal away for his second win of the season.

Ash Sutton is a driver who can never be ruled out, as he took third from Rowbottom on the penultimate lap before sneaking past Oliphant in a drag race to the finish line.

Ingram took the win from Sutton and Oliphant on the podium, with Rowbottom, Josh Cook, Dan Lloyd, Chris Smiley, Jason Plato, Aiden Moffat and Senna Proctor rounded off the top ten, with Adam Morgan taking the reverse grid pole position.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	24:56:451
2	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+0.489
3	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+0.527
4	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+0.972
5	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+1.213
6	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+1.630
7	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+1.957
8	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+2.194
9	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+8.394
10	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+8.794
11	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+9.232
12	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+10.066
13	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+10.468
14	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+11.212
15	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+11.599
16	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+13.169
17	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+13.590
18	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+14.034
19	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+14.909
20	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+15.251
21	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+15.518
22	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+19.035
23	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+20.337
24	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+22.885
25	Andy Neate	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+23.690
26	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+23.986
27	Jake Hill	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+2 Laps
Retirements
DNF	Glyn Geddie	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	Mechanical
DNF	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	Crash

 

Tom Oliphant took his second career win in round seven at Brands Hatch in the British Touring Car Championship.

He fended off a ruthless Gordon Shedden chase in his Honda Civic with pole sitter Dan Rowbottom recovering from a poor start to finish third.

The Team Dynamics driver took his first pole position yesterday, but had a poor start off the line and was engulfed by cars passing him. Oliphant took the lead and it was a lead he never surrendered.

Aiden Moffat had a good start and flew up to second, with Tom Ingram third but his lap wasn’t without drama as he got sideways coming out of Clearways but recovered without losing too much time.

Oliphant started pulling away from the chasing pack, with Shedden moving up to second and his hunt of Oliphant began. Behind them Ash Sutton had a great exit out of Paddock Hill bend to almost overtake Shedden and Moffat who were fighting for second.

By lap eight Oliphant had a 3.5 second lead over Shedden but the Scotsman set the fastest lap as he was attacking to chase down the leader.

Rowbottom made his way back up to third with Moffat and Jake Hill fightinf for fourth place.

While Oliphant was leading, his team mates were less fortunate, Stephen Jelley was given a five second penalty for a false start, dropping him to 15th at the checkered flag. Colin Turkington started 14th and had a spin on lap 15, dropping him down to 21st by the end of the race.

Shedden was really pushing to catch Oliphant, shaving plenty of time off his lead and was only 1.3 seconds behind by lap 19.

RIck Parfitt and Nicholas Hamilton had a collision at Druids on lap 22 and this put Parfitt into the crosshairs of the leading duo. On the final lap Oliphant was almost held up by Parfitt but it didn’t factor in as Shedden’s valiant chase came up just short, finishing two tenths behind him.

An impressive win for Oliphant with Shedden and Rowbottom taking a double podium for Team Dynamics.

Hill, Sutton and Ingram were next with Chris Smiley, Moffat, Josh Cook and Jack Goff rounded off the top ten once Jelley’s penalty was applied.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	Gap
1	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team  WSR	19:50:305
2	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+0.188
3	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+4.603
4	Jake Hill	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+9.811
5	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+10.007
6	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+11.289
7	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+11.633
8	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+11.938
9	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+15.398
10	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+15.720
11	Dan Lloyd	Vuaxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+15.982
12	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+16.339
13	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+17.510
14	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+18.771*
15	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+19.025
16	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+19.257
17	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+22.713
18	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+23.051
19	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+23.443
20	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+24.816
21	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+24.883**
22	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+25.081
23	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus	MB Motorsport	+27.159
24	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+28.500
25	Jack Buutel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+28.720
26	Andy Neate	Ford Focus	Motorbase	+33.172
27	Glyn Geddie	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+36.402
28	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+37.808
29	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+1 Lap

* – Stephen Jelley received a five second penalty for a false start.

**-Sam Osborne received a 6.2 second penalty for gaining an advantage