Ingram emerges ahead in first races of new hybrids With three winners across three races, it was good to see the BTCC remaining on top form In a typically varied and competitive weekend of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) racing, Hyundai i30 N Fastback man Tom Ingram ended the Donington Park opener with a seven-point lead over the Honda Civic Type R of Gordon Shedden. Triple champion Ash Sutton lies third in his Ford Focus. Jake Hill and his Rokit MB Motorsport BMW 330e earned their place in the history books with the first ever pole position for the new hybrid-era BTCC cars, but it wasn’t to be in the race itself. Hill and West Surrey Racing stablemate Colin Turkington got away well from the lights and traded places throughout the opening couple of laps, but as they went into Coppice for the second time, Hill ran wide and Ingram seized his chance. From there, the Hyundai man managed to keep everyone at bay, including Team BMW’s Turkington, to secure his 20th BTCC career win. Hill ended up third at the flag but was later excluded from the result for failing post-race ride height checks. Shedden inherited the final podium spot as a result, having climbed from sixth on the grid. Flash back on top Shedden’s weekend got even better in race two, as he managed to climb from third to first over the course of the 16-lap race. It was Ingram, rookie George Gamble and Shedden over the first few laps, as Turkington failed to get away cleanly from his front row grid spot. The BMW 330e M Sport of Gamble continued his impressive debut in the championship, keeping three-time champion Shedden behind for four laps before the Honda man passed him on the run across the start/finish line. From there, Shedden chased down Ingram and passed him on lap 10. Ingram kept him honest for the remaining six laps, eventually finishing just 0.197sec behind, with Gamble a further 2.2sec down the road. The BTCC's new hybrid tactics also came into play, as both Shedden and Ingram saved their power boost for later in the race. Unlike in the first race, this time there were different levels of hybrid assist available to each of the drivers, acting as the equivalent of a success ballast, so teams were unsure as to what rivals’ had available. Hill’s weekend finally comes good Hill had a stand-out race after the disappointment of his disqualification in the opening round. He went from last to ninth in race two, then followed that up with a win in the last event of the day. The BMW man benefited from the reverse grid format, lining up first on the grid and never really being challenged, finishing 2.1sec up on the Focus of Sutton. t was the third podium spot that provided all the entertainment, as Rich Energy BTC Racing’s Josh Cook eventually passed Dan Lloyd on the penultimate lap. It wasn’t just a simple, one-apex pass though, as both cars ran side by side all the way from Redgate and down through the Craner Curves. It was only when they got to the Old Hairpin that Cook made the move stick. Third to fifth were covered by less than a second at the flag.
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Donington Park kicks off official on-track activity The 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship’s official pre-season programme got underway at Donington Park today (29 March), as the Leicestershire venue hosted the first of three Hybrid Installation Tests ahead of its season-opener on 23/24 April. The test marked the first official outing of the TOCA Hybrid system in 2022, which sees Britain’s premier motorsport series become the first major touring car championship in the world to integrate hybrid power, after it was distributed to all BTCC teams in recent weeks. As anticipated, all teams were in attendance, with the majority running the hybrid system during the day, while some are still in the process of completing the installation across all of their cars. Two further official test days are scheduled at Croft (6 April) and Thruxton (13 April), where it is expected that all cars will run the TOCA Hybrid system. Although adverse weather caused a delay to the morning’s session, 22 cars eventually completed nearly 250 laps of the 1.98-mile circuit in total, with West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington concluding the truncated session at the top of the times. The afternoon proved more fruitful for teams and drivers as they once again commenced their programmes, with 23 cars completing more than 2,000 miles of testing. At the day’s end, it was Colin Turkington sitting atop TSL’s timesheets after surpassing his earlier benchmark during the afternoon’s session, although lap times are unlikely to have been representative as every team continues to work through their respective pre-season programmes. With Croft next up before Thruxton’s Season Launch event, teams will be aiming to utilise and build on the data gathered from today before the first competitive outing sees all 29 drivers return to Donington Park on 23/24 April
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Fastest time all seven stages of the Dukeries Motor Club’s Northside Truck & Van Donington Rally saw David Henderson and Sion Cunniff’s Ford Fiesta R5 take a second successive win in the penultimate round of the Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship. It was damp and greasy for the opening stage with Henderson taking an immediate four second lead over Championship leaders Neil Roskell / Andrew Roughead and Dukeries own John Griffiths / Nigel Wetton, both in Fiesta R5’s too. Barry Morris / Tom Hutchings’ Darrian was a further second back in fourth, with Mark Jasper / Don Whyatt’s Metro 6R4 and Ollie O’Donovan / Ashleigh Morris’ Hyundai R5 completing the initial top six. Henderson had opted for a super soft tyre on the opener, with most of his rivals having gone for wets. “Maybe it was a gamble but then I changed to softer again for stage two,” he explained. Quickest again the lead was up to 13 seconds as both Roskell and Griffiths had followed Henderson’s early choice and lost out. “It was the wrong choice,” said Roskell, “we ruined them,” Griffiths added. Morris was still in fourth, but had stiffened the Darrian’s set up and opted for a harder tyre, “it felt much more stable,” he confirmed. After admitting to being over cautious on the opening stage, Dukeries Andy Scott and Laura Connell had moved their Fiesta S2000T into fifth, with Jasper slipping to sixth. With another 11 seconds added to his lead on stage three, Henderson was looking comfortable, but behind it was getting desperately close. Roskell was still second, but only one second up on Griffiths and Morris, now tied in third! However, it was all change on the next stage. “I have to stop trying different things and stop being so ambitious,” Henderson explained, after his lead grew to 30 seconds. It was Morris now in second with Roskell having retired from second place. “I had decided to up my game and on the first lap I was flying. As we pushed onto the Craner Curves the red light came on, we had snapped the belt idle pulley and it had punctured the radiator,” he said. Griffiths was still third, from Scott and O’Donovan, but Jasper was now running two-wheel drive on his Metro 6R4 as his front diff had failed. The conditions were well suited to the Darrian and Morris was on a mission, but Henderson still had the edge by a second on stage five and continued to increase his lead. Over the final two stages Henderson continued to lead the way, taking fastest time on every stage to secure a 38 second victory. Griffiths had decided to push harder to try and close the gap on second placed Morris. “Then I pushed too hard, made a mistake and it increased the gap,” he admitted, just holding onto third place by just two seconds, from fellow Dukeries driver Scott. “It was that first stage that lost it for me, too cautious and twitchy under brakes,” Scott reckoned. “O’Donovan retained fifth but was another who felt that the caution on stage one cost him dearly, while in sixth Jasper was delighted to hold his place having run half of the event with just rear wheel drive on the 6R4. Josh Payton / Jamie Vaughan’s Mk2 Escort snatched seventh from Dukeries Martin Hodgson / Tony Jones’ Escort after stage four, while Paul Murro / Callum Cross’s Fiesta R5 and Darrell Taylor / Dylan Thomas’ Fiesta Rally2,” completed the top 10.
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Guy's Garage Episode 4 Guy Martin transforms iconic road vehicles into thoroughbred racing machines and pits them against the best of the best Guy Martin bids to transform an ancient East German Trabant into a race car, for a low-speed showdown at Brands Hatch. Can he make this famously awful Cold War slowcoach into a winner? You can catch up on the whole episode following the link below https://www.channel4.com/programmes/guys-garage/on-demand/64275-004
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Multiple title winners Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington both scored landmark British Touring Car Championship victories at Donington Park – but the biggest winner of the weekend was Ash Sutton, who took another huge step towards retaining his crown. Triple champion Shedden, who returned to the BTCC this season after a three-year break, qualified on pole and then took his first two victories of the year in his Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R - although the second win came in somewhat controversial circumstances. The wins were the 49th and 50th of Shedden’s career. Not to be outdone, Team BMW 330 i M Sport racer Turkington claimed his 60th career win in the reverse grid final race. But three solid finishes was enough for Laser Tool Racing Infiniti Q50 racer Sutton to build his title lead, and he is in prime position to clinch a third title in the Brands Hatch season finale.
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Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver Rory Butcher won the opening race at Silverstone, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Rory Butcher took his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the season after recovering from a slow start to win the opening race at Silverstone. Butcher started the opening race on pole position, but immediately lost the lead off the start-line to the Hyundai of Tom Ingram. Ingram's stint in the lead, however, proved to be short lived as Butcher powered back ahead of the Excler8 Motorsport driver on the third lap of the race at Brooklands corner. Former champion Andrew Jordan completed the BTCC Hybrid's first ever race laps with the development Toyota Corolla BTCC Hybrid car finishing 25th on the road. Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Rory Butcher secured his second British Touring Car Championship race victory of the day after holding off Josh Cook following a thrilling final-lap during race two at Silverstone. MB Motorsport's Jake Hill remained in touch in this season's BTCC title race after winning the final reverse grid race ahead of Dan Lloyd at Silverstone.
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Donington Park provided the backdrop for a spectacular two days of track action this past weekend (August 21/22) as the British Automobile Racing Club took centre stage at Convoy of the Park. Making a triumphant return after a pandemic-enforced hiatus last year, the festival of all things trucking was back and better than ever, with a bumper trackside crowd soaking up the variety of attractions situated around the Leicestershire venue. Whilst the likes of a stunt arena and a glittering array of Show Trucks garnered plenty of attention away from the track, on it saw non-stop edge-of-the-seat entertainment in mixed weather conditions. The British Truck Racing Championship served up five blockbuster contests and there was to be action aplenty across both Division’s 1 & 2. In Division 1, former champion David Jenkins ignited his title charge with a strong showing as he scored a brace of wins, as did Martin Gibson, whilst John Newell was the other winner. In Division 2, Michael Oliver enjoyed a weekend to remember as he marked his return to the series with a hat-trick of wins. Jock Borthwick and Craig Reid also tasted success as they topped the podium in the remaining two bouts.
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The best of British Kart racing's talent took to the PF International Circuit at the weekend, reports Paul Horton. Trent Valley Kart Club staged the UK Kartmaster’s British Grand Prix in Brandon, near Stragglethorpe, an event that saw spectators and enthusiasts flock to the circuit for the first time in more than 16 months due to the pandemic. The vast event all began on Thursday with free practice followed by Friday and Saturday’s qualifying heats, leading up to Sunday’s race day. There were 60 races including the class heats over the event, with around 36 racers in each race, lasting for 15 minutes and one lap. Highlight was Sunday afternoon’s Grand Prix races, with 288 entrants competing over eight races. The Honda Cadet and IAME cadet races were both won by 11-year-old Noah Wolfe, making history by winning both GP plates on the same day. Junior Rotax Grand Prix honours went to Daniel Guinchard, while the Junior X30 title went to Luke Watts in the Tony Kart machine. astest karts on track saw Senior Rotax GP winner Guy Cunnington while the Senior C30 Class Grand Prix winner was Harry Platten. Previous winners of the races include Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and George Russell who won in 2009 and 2010.
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The overall winners of HERO Challenge One 2021 : 1. Angus McQueen and Mike Cochrane – BMW 323i 2. Alistair Leckie and Matt Outhwaite – SAAB 900 Turbo 3. Nick Pullan and Andy Pullan – Hillman Imp Deluxe The highlight of the day, bookending the start and finish of the day’s competition, was rally driver and CASA Hotel (rally HQ) owner, Steve Perez’ Walton Lodge estate stage's. A mixture of fine gravel and tarmac roads around the magnificent lodge lead to a series of twisting, undulating private gravel tracks including some forest. The four tests at the estate were a big hit with teams as rally cars were unleashed accompanied by huge plumes of dust With temperatures peaking at 30 degrees plus in the beautiful rolling hills of the Derbyshire Peak District, crews and cars were battling heat and dust, whilst some suffered mechanical malfunctions. The 145 mile route included ten tests and eight regularities across the Derbyshire Dales and Peak District, at one point taking a short link section around the top of Chatsworth House which was famous for Sunday spectator stages on the RAC Rally in the nineties. Two crews at the top their respective games, reaching new highs of their competitive progress, were Angus McQueen and Mike Cochrane who blazed to victory in their BMW 323i with Alistair Leckie and Matt Outhwaite hot on their heels once more for second place in their SAAB 900 Turbo. But causing a sensation as their little 1967 car sizzled and popped its way to the podium, sometimes on three cylinders, were father and son Nick and Andy Pullan in their Hillman Imp.
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Toprak Razgatlioglu won race one at the World Superbike round at Donington to reduce runner-up Jonathan Rea's championship lead to 15 points. The Yamaha rider produced a superlative ride to come from 13th on the grid to take his second victory of the season by 2.4 seconds after 23 laps. Polesitter Rea led early on but his Turkish rival stormed through the field and overtook the six-time champion. Rea's Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes won a thrilling battle for third place. Englishman Lowes claimed the final podium place, 10 seconds behind Rea, by seeing off the challenge of compatriot Tom Sykes, with Michael van der Mark and Leon Haslam completing the top six. Northern Irishman Rea had raced to a fourth consecutive pole position of the 2021 series in a wet Superpole session but by the time the race started the track was damp but drying. The defending champion, a treble winner at the Leicestershire circuit in 2019, led off the line but behind him Razgatlioglu was blasting his way up to fifth by Turn One. Rea produced a couple of incredible saves to stay on his bike as he tried to make up ground and regain the lead in tricky conditions but his rival was able to control affairs from the front and maintain a steady advantage. Jonathan Rea crashed out of the lead of Sunday's race a to hand the championship advantage to rival Toprak Razgatlioglu. Northern Irishman Rea lost the front of his Kawasaki while battling Yamaha's Razgatlioglu for the lead on lap 10. The six-time champion remounted to finish in 20th position, his first time out of the points in 34 races. Razgatlioglu, leads the championship by two points over Rea. Yamaha's Garrett Gerloff was second and BMW's Tom Sykes completed the podium with his second rostrum of the day.
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Held at the NEC since January 1991, Autosport International celebrated its 30th anniversary between the 9th and 12th January 2020 at the NEC in Birmingham. As usual a ‘Three Shows In One’ event featuring ‘Racing Cars’, ‘Performance Cars and tuning equipment‘ and ‘Engineering’ The regualr January date for the annual pre-season event covers all areas of motorsport, both professional and grass roots, from karting right up to Formula One. Featuring the very latest in motorsport, automotive and performance engineering technology, alongside cars and exhibitors from every level of motor racing, this must-attend event uniquely caters for the industry and motorsport fans alike; encompassing two trade-only days* for members of the motorsport industry to meet, network and do business and two days for enthusiasts to see the fastest cars, biggest stars and most amazing live action.
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Lewis Hamilton dominated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to end the season in which he won a sixth world drivers' title on a high. The Mercedes driver led away from pole position and cruised off into the distance, untroubled by anyone behind.In a soporific race, Red Bull's Max Verstappen took a comfortable second after Ferrari slipped backwards.Charles Leclerc ran second in the early laps, ahead of Verstappen, but slipped back to third. Leclerc held off an attack from Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages, the Finn right on his gearbox on the final lap, after an excellent race from the back of the grid.Leclerc was at risk of losing third place because governing body the FIA discovered before the race that the amount of fuel Ferrari said was in his car was different from the amount that was when it was checked.But after a post-race investigation, Ferrari were fined €50,000 for what had been a 4.88kg discrepancy and the result stood. Hamilton's victory was his 11th of the 21 races that have been held this season, and equals his previous best performance - in 2014 and 2018. It also moves his career total to 84 wins, just seven behind the all-time record held by Michael Schumacher. That sets the 34-year-old Briton up to potentially exceed Schumacher's win tally and match his all-time record of seven world championships in 2020. He was in a race of his own from the start, quickly opening a sizeable gap over Leclerc and never looking under any threat thereafter. Hamilton, who tied up the title last month at the US Grand Prix, said: "I'm proud but just super-grateful for this incredible team and all at Mercedes who have continued to push this year. "Even though we had the championship won we wanted to keep our head down and see if we could extract more from this beautiful car."
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Double British Rally champion Russell Brookes, famous for driving his ‘Andrews Heat for Hire’-liveried cars, has passed away at the age of 74. Born on August 16, 1945, Brookes began competing in the early 1960s. But it was 1974 when Brookes signed the pioneering deal with heating/cooling hire company Andrews-Sykes when his profile skyrocketed. The Worcestershire-born driver got a big break in 1976 when he received a works Ford Escort for the British Rally Championship – which he lost to Ari Vatanen – but in the firm’s RS1800 he took his first British title one year later against stiff competition. He had to wait until 1985 for his second British title, coming at the end of a fierce two-year battle with Opel Manta 400 works' teammate Jimmy McRae, father of 1995 champion Colin. Despite that almost eight-year wait for a title, Brookes took wins – in most cases multiple victories – on most of the major prestigious events of the period, including the Circuit of Ireland, Manx, Ulster, Welsh and Scottish rallies, all at a time when the majority of the drivers in the World Rally Championship would come to the UK to compete in parallel programmes, raising competition. Brookes rarely ventured into the WRC, but scored three podiums on his home event, the RAC Rally (now Wales Rally GB), plus a sixth place on Rally Finland in a Vauxhall Chevette in 1982 and retired from the Tour of Corsica in 1977 while driving for Ford. In his career Brookes drove everything from Minis, Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, Lancia Delta Integrales, Porsche 911s and Opel Kadetts – as well as his trusty Escorts and Mantas – in a career which spanned three decades as he retired from regular competition at the end of 1991. He still competed in sporadic events and even won the historic-based RAC Rally in 1997, and was still giving demos in his eclectic cars last year, a regular at events like Rallyday and Race Retro.
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The 2018 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Tom Gamble drove a Formula 1 car for the first time at Silverstone as part of his prize. Gamble, 17, has spent the 2019 season competing in the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe series for the WRT squad in an Audi R8 LMS. Although Aston Martin has since taken over as an Award partner, McLaren returned to the grand prix venue to run Gamble in the ex-Jenson Button MP4-28 from 2013. The Ginetta Junior champion and BRDC British Formula 3 race winner completed an installation lap, followed by four runs of flying laps in the 2.4-litre V8 car. He told Autosport: "It's such a good car. I knew it'd be fast, but I didn't think it would be that fast! "Everything, the speed is phenomenal, the braking, the aerodynamics. It's awesome. "I just want to keep going. It's so good, such a good car. "A massive thanks to McLaren for giving me the opportunity. "When I saw the [pit]-in board, I said, 'I might just keep going' - see what they say!" In preparation for the test run, Gamble had already undertaken a session in the McLaren simulator in a tuned 2019-specification car. For his run at Silverstone, Gamble ran on Driver Academy Pirelli slick tyres, which meant the runs were split between flying and cooldown laps. Mark Temple, who was a race engineer for Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton, handled Gamble's data for the test. He said: "I was impressed with his approach. "He showed firstly that he was able to adapt his own driving very well and think about what he was doing. "He was able to respond to our advice - we'd show him some data and where changing an area of his driving would help him. "He has that quick adaptation." The session was watched by the 2019 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award finalists. Enaam Ahmed, Jamie Chadwick, Johnathan Hoggard and Ayrton Simmons will be put through their paces this week with a two-day evaluation test at Silverstone in MotorSport Vision F2 and Ligier LMP3 machinery plus a Garage 59-run Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
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Once again a huge crowd turned out for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone - and once again they were treated to a thriller. Pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas looked to have done everything right as he led from the front and fought off team mate Lewis Hamilton, but a Safety Car intervention gifted his Mercedes team mate a free pit stop, allowing him to leapfrog the Finn and ultimately a record sixth home win. But the lead battle was just part of the story... Behind the Silver Arrows there was wheel-to-wheel action galore, as the Ferraris and Red Bulls engaged in a tense battle for third. It was eventually won by Charles Leclerc, but only after Max Verstappen had been dramatically punted out of the position by the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel... Bottas led away from pole position and held off a spirited attack from Hamilton in the early laps, before the Briton wriggled through at Luffield – to the delight of a packed house at Silverstone. But Bottas wasn’t having any of it, tucking into the slipstream before catapulting his Mercedes up the inside at Copse to retake the lead in sensational fashion. From there, he controlled the race from the front and was the first to pit, as he was the lead car and therefore was on the optimum strategy, re-joining third, behind Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. But then Antonio Giovinazzi beached his Alfa Romeo in the gravel, bringing out the Safety Car. Championship leader Hamilton dived into the pits, as did Vettel, and rejoined in the lead before taking the chequered flag for his seventh victory in 10 races in 2019, with Bottas finishing second. Hamilton hammered home his pace with the fastest lap on the final lap of the Grand Prix, on 30-lap old tyres, usurping Bottas, who pitted late on for fresh rubber. Red Bull had to settle for fourth and fifth with Pierre Gasly and a recovering Verstappen, while Carlos Sainz, who like Hamilton had a free stop when he pitted under the Safety Car, took sixth, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was ninth with Nico Hulkenberg snatching the final point from Alexander Albon on the final lap. Vettel meanwhile trailed home in 16th...
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Jonathan Rea completed a Donington Park hat-trick by winning Sunday's second race to extend his World Superbike Championship lead by nine points. The Kawasaki-mounted Northern Irishman held off Turkey's Toprak Razgatlioglu to go 24 points ahead of Alvaro Bautista of Spain, who finished third. Four-time world champion Rea was 16 points behind Bautista going into the weekend's Donington Park meeting. Rea had started on pole after winning the earlier red-flagged sprint race. He and Razgatlioglu exchanged the lead in the early stages but Rea stayed in front when he capitalised on a mistake from the Turkish rider on lap 12. Alex Lowes was fourth whilst Leon Haslam completed the top five, only just ahead of Loris Baz. Rea had moved ahead of the Spaniard at the top of the standings by winning race one at Donington on Saturday. Sunday's earlier sprint race was stopped with three laps to go when an oil spillage from Peter Hickman's bike caused a number of riders to come off. Tom Sykes was removed from the results after coming off on the warm-down lap. He had been second behind Rea when the red flag was raised but then went across the oil himself, came down and did not bring his bike back within the five-minute time limit. It meant Razgatlioglu was awarded second place and Leon Haslam was third, with former championship leader Bautista in fourth.
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Great drives by Seb Perez and George Gamble for Amigos Redline Racing Perez from 12th to eighth, making the most forward progress of any driver. 3rd place podium goes to George Gamble
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Optimum Motorsport‘s Flick Haigh and Jonny Adam have both made history winning the 2018 British GT Championship. Haigh became the first woman ever to win the British GT Championship outright, while her co-driver Adam took his third title, becoming the first driver ever to achieve this accolade in British GT history. Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen both knew that they had a chance of winning the title themselves today, and so when the lights went green, the Barwell Lamborghini proceeded to disappear into the distance, as fellow Huracan driver and Barwell cohort Sam De Haan began to hold up the rest of the pack. Haigh played the game and skillfully managed to keep De Haan honest, anticipating many of his blocking manoeuvres and keeping her Aston Martin out of trouble but entirely in contention. With the pack backed up by De Haan, cars began to trip over each other with Graham Davidson‘s Jetstream Aston Martin and Derek Johnston‘s TF Vantage falling out of contention while fighting for position behind. Minshaw’s 15-second advantage was neutralised when the safety car came onto the circuit to allow marshalls clean up an oil spill caused by Will Moore‘s GT4 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Mark Farmer soon took advantage of the re-start, passing De Haan and slipping into second place, with Rick Parfitt Jr also making the most of the chaos to take fourth place from Haigh, who had a 20-second pitlane penalty to serve courtesy of victory in the last round at Brands Hatch. Nicki Thiim, meanwhile, was closing on Keen for the lead and showed sufficient pace to claim the Sunoco Fastest Lap Award in the process with a new British GT3 benchmark of 1m28.196s. The Dane made his move heading out of Redgate and through the Craner Curves, which put him and Farmer on course for a third victory of the season. That was until a 30-second penalty for track limits infringements was handed down in the final minutes, which, when added to #11’s final race time, gave Minshaw and Keen victory, as well as second in the standings for a third season running.
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As usual the annual Donington Historic Festival saw three days of spectacular historic motorsport at Donington Park May 3, 4 and 5 2019. Featuring world-class grids of race cars from nine decades: Le Mans cars, single-seaters, GT cars, sports cars and Touring Cars. Plus all-access paddock, passenger rides, parade laps and classic car displays made this one of the best events in the UK
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Two wins for reigning champ Colin Turkington before emotional victory for Tom Ingram Team BMW’s Colin Turkington doubled his 2018 race-winning tally in just one afternoon as the reigning champion secured two lights-to-flag Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victories at Donington Park. The opening race was action packed at the East Midlands circuit, and the second bout provided its fair share of incident too, but it was Turkington out front in both contests. Turkington converted his first BTCC pole position in over two years into a relatively comfortable race one victory as the drama commenced behind him. A multi-car accident on lap one led to several retirements and heavy damage to a number of cars as Andrew Jordan’s BMW slid sideways following contact on the exit of the Old Hairpin. The Mercedes of Adam Morgan had nowhere to go – making contact with Jordan’s BMW – while Ollie Jackson’s Ford, Matt Simpson’s Honda and Jake Hill’s Audi also crashed out of the action. Jordan was taken to hospital as a precaution but the incident caused so much damage to his BMW 3 Series that the 2013 champion was unable to take part for the remainder of the day. When the dust eventually settled it was Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Ash Sutton who followed Turkington home, whilst Team BMW’s Tom Oliphant grabbed a first ever BTCC podium. Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s Tom Chilton was fourth and the top Independent finisher. Turkington had to contend with a further two safety car periods in the next race as the action packed weekend continued. The triple BTCC champion took to the challenge with consummate ease as he scampered off into the distance on each occasion. Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal – quietly going about his business on an otherwise dramatic day – made a great move by Sutton on lap 17 of 19 to take second place away from the Subaru star. Ingram then scored an emotional first win in the all-new Team Toyota GB with Ginsters Corolla in the final race, as more than 4,500 Toyota members and their families watched on. Ingram’s manufacturer-backed Speedworks Motorsport squad began the reversed grid encounter from pole position and last year’s runner-up went untroubled throughout the 19 laps of running. Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing’s Rob Collard claimed second after a mid-race pass by the Trade Price Cars Audi of Hill. Josh Cook took third in the BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R with his own smart move by Hill. Rory Butcher’s Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Honda and the manufacturer Subaru of Sutton eventually finished fourth and fifth respectively, whilst Hill had to settle for a solid top six finish on the harder Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre compound. Sutton’s two podiums moved him to the head of the overall Drivers’ standings, although just six points cover the top five drivers with Cook, Turkington, Chilton and Butcher following closely behind. Honda top the Manufacturers’ order whilst Team BMW lead the Teams’ table. Tom Chilton is the man to beat in the Independent Drivers’ field whilst BTC Racing currently lead the Independent Teams’. Rory Butcher extended his advantage in the Jack Sears Trophy.
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