Sutton & Ingram Turn In Heroic Displays To Ensure Title Fight Goes Down To The Wire

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Championship leaders Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram have ensured that the title race will go down to a nail-biting finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks time, after one of the most thrilling rounds of tin-top action this weekend at Silverstone which saw both men pull off classic drives to land on the podium in each of the last two races.

​Here is your full round-up of Rounds 25, 26 & 27 of this year's competition.

Race One (Round 25)

In scenes reminiscent of Donington Park and Knockhill earlier in the season, the drivers lined up on the grid already debating whether they had made the right tyre choices as the rain threatened to liven up proceedings yet again. 

Rookie Mikey Doble (CARSTORE POWER MAXED RACING), who became the first driver this season to halt NAPA Racing UK's perfect qualifying performance, sadly squandered his first-ever pole position before the race began as miscommunication led him to embark on a second green-flag lap, whilst the rest of the pack settled on the grid for the start, meaning he had to start from the back.

Team BMW's Colin Turkington immediately powered into the lead before quickly being overtaken by team-mate and fellow title rival Jake Hill, with Doble's Power Maxed Racing peer Andrew Watson in third before the first lap was over. Turkington's race, however, was soon over as he was forced to retire after taking rear damage on the second lap.

The chaos soon took hold as many of the drivers who opted to start on slick tyres made the choice to dive into the pits to change to wets, including title race frontrunners Ash Sutton (NAPA RACING UK) and Tom Ingram (BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 MOTORSPORT). By the sixth lap, Sutton and Ingram found themselves a lap behind and in 25th and 24th respectively.

Under no pressure from his nearest rivals, Hill comfortably extended his lead whilst Watson busied himself with defending his position from Dan Rowbottom (NAPA RACING UK), who overtook him into second at Luffield with three laps remaining. 

With 11 seconds seperating them from the rest of the pack, the top three simply had to hold their positions for the remainder of the race, with Hill finishing 5.2 seconds ahead of runner-up Rowbottom, taking his fifth win of the campaign.

Mikey Doble recovered well from his error at the start to cross the line eleventh but it was a double-blow for him as team-mate Andrew Watson claimed his second podium finish of the season and some vital Jack Sears Trophy points.

Jake Hill said: “There were no safety car [in race one] so that was a surprise – so many people were still on slicks. We were sat on the grid, and I thought let’s just do it. The risk versus reward just didn’t add up for me and it came through. 

“I was in this amazing rhythm. That only happens once or twice in a year when you find that rhythm and it was just amazing. This win is for Dan Kirby, my former Team Principal at Trade Price Cars Racing. I loved Dan to bits and my thoughts are with his family and friends. This one is for you Dan.”

Final Result - Race One - Top Ten

1. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 22 Laps
2. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +5.355s
3. Andrew Watson, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +7.430s
4. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +19.464s
5. Bobby Thompson, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown +20.642s
6. Rory Butcher, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +21.197s
7. Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +22.257s
8. Sam Osborne, NAPA Racing UK +22.776s
9. Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +27.538s
10. Daniel Lloyd, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +29.078s

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Race Two (Round 26)

Another surging start by Jake Hill saw him maintain his lead off the line, taking Team BMW team-mate Adam Morgan with him as Dan Rowbottom dropped places early. Andrew Watson also made good of his start to power into third behind Morgan. Rowbottom continued to drop down the pack and found himself in thirteenth by the second lap.

Meanwhile, Watson's Power Maxed team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith was improving from his seventh-place start by making it up to fourth, behind Morgan who now found himself sandwiched behind the two Vauxhall Astra's as Watson moved into second.

The real story of the race, however, was unfold further back in the grid as Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram both battled to make their way up from the back. With Ingram busy avoiding traffic as a couple of low-key incidents played out, Sutton sliced through the crowd masterfully and found himself up ten places in thirteenth by lap six, whilst Ingram still languished six placed behind him.

A couple of laps later, Taylor-Smith wrestled second-place away from team-mate Watson, taking Adam Morgan's BMW with him, looking to add to PMR's weekend tally with a second podium.

By lap ten, Sutton had risen to eighth place and had set the fastest lap when team-mate Rowbottom let the championship leader past to take seventh. In something worthy of BTCC folklore, Sutton and Ingram kept the pace and continued to take places each lap, with Ingram then achieving the fastest lap to take him to tenth, whilst Sutton was comfortably ahead in sixth.

This story, however, had one final twist as a safety was confusingly brought out to allow the marshalls to clear a small amount of NAPA Ford Focus debris from the track, allowing the grid to bunch back up and snubbing out Jake Hill advantage over second-placed Taylor-Smith.

The Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport man's day was about to get worse, however, as a sensor issue caused him to tumble down the order upon the restart, initially sending him down to fifth but eventually finishing the race in twentieth, ending his final championship hopes for this season.

Irishman Aron Taylor-Smith was on hand to inherit the lead and looked set to take his first overall BTCC victory since Rockingham in 2016. However, title rivals Sutton and Ingram were far from finished and each turned in masterful displays in the final few laps, with Sutton snatching the lead on the final lap to take his elusive first-ever Silverstone BTCC win as Ingram crossed in third, with Taylor-Smith in between for Power Maxed Racing's second runners-up finish of the day.

Ash Sutton said: “I’m speechless if I’m honest. I knew it was going to be tough and it fell in our favour with Jake [Hill] having engine trouble by the looks of it. I’ve missed hybrid, it hurt here in qualifying but to get the full allocation – we haven’t had that since Round One so we made the most of it.

“Our plan was to utilise it for passing cars that we thought might be harder to overtake, and Árón [Taylor-Smith] was one of those and it just happened to be on the last lap for the win. I’m over the moon, we maximised everything, the car, the changes we made overnight were mega, so I can’t thank NAPA Racing UK enough for their effort."

Final Result - Race Two - Top Ten

1. Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK 24 Laps
2. Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.411s
3. Tom Ingram, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +1.405s
4. Rory Butcher, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +2.257s
5. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +2.578s
6. Andrew Watson, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +3.093s
7. Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +3.774s
8. Colin Turkington, Team BMW +3.942s
9. Daniel Lloyd, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +4.659s
10. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +4.984s

Photo courtesy of Glenn Carr

Race Three (Round 27)

Team HARD. Racing's fan-favourite Michael Crees was gifted his first-ever pole position thanks to a maximum-impact reverse grid draw, with championship leader Ash Sutton starting directly behind Tom Ingram on row eight.

Crees' position at the head of the pack was short-lived, however, as he conceded the lead to BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 MOTORSPORT's Ronan Pearson off the line, with Dan Rowbottom following him through into second.

The first lap saw the first major incident of the day after Crees found himself sandwiched between Adam Morgan's BMW and Rory Butcher's Toyota GAZOO Racing machine, resulting in Morgan and Butcher leaving the track and colliding with the cement wall. Morgan came off lightest and was able to rejoin the race whilst Butcher - a triple podium finisher at Silverstone last year - made an early return to the paddock.

Moments before the safety car was deployed to recover Butcher's car, NAPA Racing UK's Dan Rowbottom took the lead with Dan Lloyd (Team HARD. Racing) in second and Colin Turkington up in third.

It was set to be another classic display by the BTCC legend Turkington as he powered his West Surrey Racing BMW 330d M Sport into the lead on lap nine, once again turning around his disastrous start to the day by chasing another well-earned victory.

Sutton and Ingram were once again firmly battling to ascend through the pack and, with assistance from his team-mate Pearson, Ingram made his way to fourth and then gained another position on the following lap to accommodate another podium spot. Despite Pearson's best efforts to defend, Sutton surged into fourth on lap seventeen behind team-mate Rowbottom, who could not fend off Ingram in the battle for his second-place.

It would take another five laps but Rowbottom once again showed why he is such a vital team player by allowing Ash Sutton past him to take third, minimising any damage caused by Ingram's better position ahead.

Colin Turkington crossed the line to claim 67th BTCC career win and BMW's milestone 150th victory in the competition.

Colin Turkington said: “It seemed slicks were the way to go in race one, but we made the wrong call. I then struggled in race two for balance even though I was making progress. The car just wasn’t in the window then, but it was in race three. I could see Tom [Ingram] in P2 and the lights getting closer, but I had a few more hybrid laps than him. It was nice to still feel in control at the end.

“Since I joined BTCC and West Surrey Racing in 2009 we had a great run of success – the BMW has always been a potent weapon in BTCC. We go to Brands Hatch with some work to do, but the cars are looking fast, and I hope we can end the season on the high.”

For championship leader Ash Sutton, as tempting as it is to start making preparations for the title celebrations, he is still cautious of looking past anything that could happen at the season finale in two weeks time.

Ash Sutton said:  “The aim is to get some points in race one at Brands Hatch and then plan the rest of the day, but we have a 45-point margin for the lead so I can’t ask for much more than that.”

Final Result - Race Three - Top Ten

1. Colin Turkington, Team BMW 25 Laps
2. Tom Ingram, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +2.559s
3. Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +5.541s
4. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +4.984s
5. Ronan Pearson, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +8.583s
6. Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +9.389s
7. Ricky Collard, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +10.693s
8. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +14.564s
9. Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +017.090s
10. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +17.287s

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Championship Standings - Summary

Driver's Championship leader Ash Sutton heads into the finale at Brands Hatch with a 45-point lead over nearest rival Tom Ingram. Despite his victory in race one, the ground lost after a mechanical failure in race two means that third-place Jake Hill is now out of contention for this year's championship.

​Team BMW extended their lead in the Manufacturer's Championship to 19 points over Motorbase Performance/Ford. NAPA Racing UK now command a 191-point lead over Team BMW in the overall Team's standings.

Josh Cook has been provisionally named as this year's Independent Driver's Champion as he heads into Brands Hatch with an unassailable 88-point lead over CarStore Power Maxed Racing's Aron Taylor-Smith. One Motorsport with Starline Racing are also still leading the Independent Team's Championship by 27 points over Power Maxed Racing.

Power Maxed Racing's Andrew Watson has extended his lead at the top of the Jack Sears Trophy standings, now 18 points clear of team-mate Mikey Doble.

Chris Tetreault-Blay
​BTCC Journalist @ F1 Journal