Hill Claims Double & Sutton Bags 40th Win at Thruxton

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

The battle at the top of the British Touring Car Championship Driver's standings took another twist and turn this past weekend as the competition made it's annual visit to Thruxton.

Jake Hill dominated the headlines by following up his double last time out at Snetterton with much of the same, inheriting a victory in race two after on-track winner Tom Ingram was penalised after an incident with Dan Cammish, and putting the Laser Tools Racing man firmly in the thick of the championship battle with reigning champion Ash Sutton, who himself bagged his 40th career victory in the finale race.

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

Qualifying (Quick Six)

Earlier in the day, it was Jake Hill (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) and Tom Ingram (Team Bristol Street Motors) who set the fastest times in FP1 and FP2 respectively, with both drivers comfortable qualifying out of their group in Q1 to the Top 12 showdown in Q2.

Throughout the two Q1 sessions, Rob Huff (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK), Restart Racing's Chris Smiley & Scott Sumpton, Sam Osborne (NAPA Racing UK), Daryl DeLeon (Duckhams Racing with Bartercard) and Nick Halstead (Team Bristol Street Motors) missed out on qualification and would have to settle for positions at the back of the grid for this first race on Sunday.

Also notable by his absence was Team Bristol Street Motors' Ronan Pearson who was unable to participate in Saturday's qualifying and thus would start from the very back of the grid in Race One.

NAPA Racing's Dan Rowbottom provided one of the performances of the qualifying sessions, topping the times in not only his group in Q1 but also the Top 12 showdown in Q2, in a tightly-contested 10-minute run-out which saw a few surprises as Team BMW team-mates Colin Turkington & Adam Morgan both failed to make the crucial top six, along with Speedworks stablemates Josh Cook (LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ) and Andrew Watson (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) and both Power Maxed Racing charges Aron Taylor-Smith & Mikey Doble.

Jake Hill, in the only one of the three BMW 330e M Sports to make it to the final session, continued to show great pace but was unable to oust the lap-times set by Tom Ingram and Dan Cammish ahead, settling for third, only two-hundredths of a second behind Cammish.

By the end of the final 10-minute run-out, it was Ingram - sporting the number 100 for the weekend, to commemorate Bristol Street Motors' centenary -  who earned the all-important pole position for Race One, two-tenths of a second faster than the NAPA Racing UK Ford of Cammish.

Q3 - Quick Six Result

1 100 Tom INGRAM Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS 1:15.379
2 27 Dan CAMMISH NAPA Racing UK +0.265
3 24Jake HILL Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +0.289
4 32 Daniel ROWBOTTOM NAPA Racing UK +0.299
5 1 Ashley SUTTON NAPA Racing UK +0.443
6 3 Tom CHILTON Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +0.764

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

Race One (Round 10)

In scenes reminiscent of many of the starts so far this season, Jake Hill displayed the ferocity of his Laser Tools Racing BMW's off-the-line speed by surging forward from lights-out to leapfrog Dan Cammish and pole man Tom Ingram to nab the lead early. 

By the first visit to the Complex, Ingram had fallen behind a few more places as he struggled to fend off a m the NAPA Racing UK trio behind him to find himself in fifth, whilst Hill continued to build an impressive lead by midway through the first lap. Ingram would recover to take a place back from Dan Rowbottom by the time he crossed the line to start his second lap.

Early-on, a close drive between Team BMW's Adam Morgan and Toyota's Andrew Watson going into the Club Chicane saw the latter to clip a tyre wall, nudging it onto the track and summoning a safety car, trimming down Hill's already-impressive lead ahead of Cammish.

However, Hill responded well at the restart and romped to a comfortable win - his third of the season - to leapfrog Sutton at the top of the Driver's championship standings.

Round 10 Result - Top Ten

1 24 Jake HILL Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 25:25.141 
2 27 Dan CAMMISH NAPA Racing UK +1.216
3 1 Ashley SUTTON NAPA Racing UK +1.955
4 100 Tom INGRAM Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +2.518
5 66 Josh COOK LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +3.147
6 3Tom CHILTON Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +6.739
7 32 Daniel ROWBOTTOM NAPA Racing UK 
8 33 Adam MORGAN Team BMW +8.765
9 20 Colin TURKINGTON Team BMW +9.151
10 40 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +9.752

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

Race Two (Round 11)

Not one to ever take a challenge lying down, Ash Sutton made an early play on team-mate Dan Cammish for second place, taking the position by the time the drivers made it to the Complex on the first lap.

Early in the race, Tom Ingram and Dan Cammish arrived at the Club Chicane side-by-side, with Ingram having to straight-line the chicane and moving up two positions in the process. Debate continued trackside throughout the remainder of the race as to whether Ingram would need to give the positions back but no official call came before the end, allowing Ingram to continue to make progress towards the front of the field.

Ash Sutton was mounting a challenge on Hill for the lead when he picked up damage to his the front splitter of his NAPA Ford Focus ST after contact running into Church Corner, allowing Ingram the chance to make his move past the defending champion into second.

A few laps later, Ingram pulled off a classic manoeuvre of his own at Church to nudge into the lead past Hill, with his sights set on his third win of the season.

The 2021 champion would hold on and take the chequered flag for the victory, only to be given a two-place penalty after the race when his incident with Dan Cammish was investigated further, the decision being made that he had gained an unfair advantage.

The verdict meant that Jake Hill inherited the win, securing his second successive double of the season and strengthening his lead at the top of the championship, with Dan Cammish being awarded second place ahead of Ingram.

Independent's Drivers championship leader Aron Taylor-Smith continued his success by registering his second Top Tenth finish and Independent's victory for the day so far.

Round 11 Result - Top Ten

1 24 Jake HILL Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 20:47.290
2 27 Dan CAMMISH NAPA Racing UK +1.262
3 100 Tom INGRAM Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS 
4 32 Daniel ROWBOTTOM NAPA Racing UK +2.745
5 1 Ashley SUTTON NAPA Racing UK  +5.582
6 66 Josh COOK LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +7.002
7 20 Colin TURKINGTON Team BMW +7.402
8 33 Adam MORGAN Team BMW +9.809
9 40 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +12.512
10 12 Rob HUFF TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +15.073

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

Race Three (Round 12)

The traditional reverse grid draw after Race Two saw Adam Morgan elevated to pole position for the final race of the day, spearheading an all-BMW front row alongside team-mate Colin Turkington.

The rest of the pack again struggled to match the BMW start-line speed, with Morgan maintaining his lead for the first half of the frantically-paced finale. In a showing reminiscent of BTCC races of old, the entire grid appeared to be racing with elbows out, making every turn count.

Soon after the start, it was Josh Cook who was looking to be in with a chance of living up to his moniker as the 'King of Thruxton' and extending his record-holding victory tally at his home circuit, as he quickly rose from third to second soon after the start, putting pressure on Morgan up front.

However, it would be the tenacious reigning and defending champion that would once again show his pedigree as Ash Sutton powered through on the ninth lap to taker over at the front, taking team-mate Dan Cammish with him in a move that saw Morgan tumble down a few paces to fourth.

Drama late-on saw Tom Chilton having to abandon his Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 N at the side of the track, leading to a safety car to bring the pack back together.

No-one managed to unseat the four-time champion at the head of the line, however, as Ash Sutton brought his NAPA Racing Ford Focus home to register his first victory of the season, ahead of team-mate Cammish who - despite battling illness over the weekend - took his third in a hat-trick of podium finishes.

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

The result saw Sutton leave Thruxton once again at the top of the championship standings, five points ahead of Jake Hill.

Ash Sutton said: “I massively fancied my chances. I knew we had a quick race car, we saw glimpses of that in race two. To go out there and utilise that was mega and to reward the guys was awesome. It’s been a bit harder this season, everyone else around us has upped their game. We just chose to go about it a bit differently this year with the new hybrid rules and option tyres, but when the opportunity comes and the car is beneath me, I will go out there and deliver!”

Although his place at the top of the table nay have been brief, Jake Hill's second successive double-win has firmly put him in the mix as Sutton's closest challenger at present heading into Oulton Park in a fortnight, a turn of fortunes considering he was only on the fringe of the title battle after last month's visit to Brands Hatch. 

Jake Hill said: “What a day! I didn’t think we could possibly do any better than Snetterton, but amazingly we have. Thruxton; you’ve been a diamond; two wins and a fifth place. I’m over the moon. The Laser Beemer has been unbelievable and I’m over the moon. We’re only a couple of points off the lead, which has been a mega comeback since Brands. We’ll go to Oulton ready to get some more.”

Round 12 Result - Top Ten

1 1 Ashley SUTTON NAPA Racing UK 27:20.097
2 27 Dan CAMMISH NAPA Racing UK +4.449
3 100 Tom INGRAM Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +7.962
4 33 Adam MORGAN Team BMW +8.039
5 24 Jake HILL Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +8.198
6 66 Josh COOK LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +8.376
7 20 Colin TURKINGTON Team BMW +9.646
8 40 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +10.002
9 12 Rob HUFF TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +10.275
10 14 Ronan PEARSON Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +10.990

Chris Tetreault-Blay
​BTCC Journalist @ F1 Journal