Turkington Bags Lights-To-Flag Double in Epic Weekend at Brands

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Veteran multi-time former BTCC champion Colin Turkington silenced his critics from last season by topping off a dream weekend with a classic brace of lights-to-flag victories this past weekend at Brands Hatch.

After cruising to pole position in Saturday's 'Quick Six' qualifying session, Turkington's route to victory in Sunday's opening two races barely seemed under threat as he commanded a generous lead over his rivals, on a day that also saw defending and fellow four-time champion Ash Sutton maintain his 100% record of podium finishes with another trio to match his from Donington a fortnight ago.

Race One (Round 4)

It was a classic display of razor-sharp starts from the BMWs as Turkington and team-mate Adam Morgan pulled away well from the line, as Sutton quickly took 3rd from his own NAPA Racing UK stablemate Dan Cammish at the first turn. 

The third WSR-run BMW of Laser Tools Racing's Jake Hill was the one with the mountain to climb, however, after a disappointing display in qualifying on Saturday saw him start from 12th on the grid. By the second lap, Hill had quickly showed why he has been considered a top contender for the championship in the last few seasons by rising three places to 9th. A few laps later, he was tussling with title rival Tom Ingram - who had also found himself further back than accustomed to due to an uncharacteristic shaky display in qualifying - and by lap 5 Hill had succeeded Ingram's spot in 8th.

A couple of laps later, Hill made a play on team-mate Morgan, who had slipped down from behind leader Turkington, to rise to 7th. Things then quickly took a further turn for Morgan as a cross across the track ended in contact with the Hyundai i30N of Team Bristol Street Motors' Ronan Pearson, sending Morgan down to 19th and Pearson into the pits.

With Morgan's descent down the grid, Josh Cook found himself in an exhilarating battle with Ash Sutton for second later in the race, with both nose-to-tail at the tighter parts of the famous Indy circuit, until Cook managed to travel over the grass on the inside and find a way past the NAPA Racing UK man.

With Turkington commanding a cool five-second lead, defending was the name of the game for Cook as he fought to hold on to the runner-up spot, securing his first podium finish of the season ahead of Sutton. Turkington opened the gap even further in the final few laps to take his 68th career victory in BTCC, 6.8s ahead of his rivals.

Jake Hill continued his rise up the pack to rescue a decent result with a 4th-place finish.

​2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Brands Hatch Indy
1. Colin Turkington, Team BMW 24 Laps
2. Josh Cook, LKQ Euro Parts with SYNETIQ +6.826s
3. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +8.722s
4. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +14.924s
5. Dan Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +15.386s
6. Tom Chilton, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +19.342s
7. Tom Ingram, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +19.474s
8. Andrew Watson, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +19.763s
9. Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Parts with SYNETIQ +20.669s
10. Árón Taylor-Smith, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +27.024s

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

Race Two (Round 5)

It was clear that Jake Hill started the next race with a very clear point to prove after turning his fortunes around in race one, as he strode off the line taking places from Sutton and Cook in quick succession to find himself in second, behind team-mate Turkington.

An action-packed first few laps saw Sutton tangle with Cook again over third, with Tom Ingram silently slicing through the pack up to fifth. After finally finding a way past Cook, Sutton soon set his sights on Jake Hill up ahead, but the Laser Tools Racing man was able to defend masterfully until lap seven when the reigning champion found the rails and moved into second.

This is where Hill's fortunes appear to have run out as he continued haemorrhaging places over the next few laps, tumbling down to tenth by lap ten. A steering failure at Druids sent Hill off into the gravel five laps later, putting an end to his race and bringing out the safety car, extinguishing Turkington's vast lead out in front.

Shortly before this, Josh Cook lost third place to plucky Tom Ingram and shortly after the restart, Cook's own race would be all but over after being called into the pits to correct rear bodywork damage whilst in fourth, and having to settle for a sixteenth-place finish.

For Ash Sutton, the race was far from over as he was put under pressure from Tom Ingram, who was quickly pressing for his runner-up spot. A masterful play on the inside saw Ingram take the place, with both exchanging paint in a door-to-door run through Graham Hill Bend.

It would be a repeat of race one for Turkington with another commanding effort where his lead was not really under threat, leaving his rivals tussling for the higher spots behind him, picking up his second win of the day and 69th of his career, ahead of Ingram and Sutton.

Adam Morgan made great progress through the race to finish fourth after his fifteenth-place start, finishing only 25-thousandths-of-a-second behind Sutton.

Colin Turkington: "It's a long time since I've won two in a day – everything has just fallen into place for me.
“Those races feel really good when you're not under too much pressure. Obviously, leading any race is a pressurised situation and not knowing when the tyres may drop off, but not getting too much pressure from behind certainly makes it easier to manage things. I am really pleased that we had a great car in qualifying yesterday and that we were able to convert that into the race today.
“WSR put in a huge effort with the BMWs pre-season and we're getting the fruits of that labour. It's nice when you feel super connected to the car, and it is definitely suiting me much better."


2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 2 – Brands Hatch Indy
1. Colin Turkington, Team BMW 27 Laps
2. Tom Ingram, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +3.397s
3. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +3.656s
4. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +3.681s
5. Dan Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +7.348
6. Tom Chilton, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +7.911s
7. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +8.088s 
8. Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Parts with SYNETIQ +8.585s
9. Mikey Doble, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +10.183s
10. Árón Taylor-Smith, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +10.388s

Photo courtesy of Carr Photography

Race Three (Round 6)

The traditional reverse grid draw for the final race of the day placed Team Bristol Street Motors' Ronan Pearson on pole position, ahead of Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing's Aron Taylor-Smith.

Not being able to turn in the greatest start when the lights went out resulted in Pearson quickly relinquishing the lead to Taylor-Smith's Vauxhall Astra, but the talented Scot pressed hard and reclaimed the the position by the end of the first lap going into Clearways.

Another Hyundai would soon pass Taylor-Smith by as Tom Chilton passed into second to create a Bristol street Motors one-two at the head of the pack.

In his debut season in the competition last year, Pearson faced heartbreak more than once when a podium finish or victory was in his grasp but no such demons would rear their heads on this occasion as he held on to take the flag and claim his historic maiden BTCC win, with team-mate Chilton maintaining second to join him on the rostrum.

Ronan Pearson, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS: “No words! It shouldn't feel surreal, we've had the pace to be there on merit. Obviously, our day started off horrendously and it just shows we never give up as your day can turn around so quickly in the BTCC.
“I can't wait to watch that back as every noise and vibration was starting to make my heart rate go up and I thought 'no, there is nothing wrong and we are going to be OK'. The start wasn't good. It seemed equal compared to everyone else but Árón [Taylor-Smith] was off like a stabbed rat as David [Addison] would say. There was half a car width and that was mine.
“It really is lovely, for years I have watched this and dreamt of this. How hard it has been to get here, few people know. I'll have to stop there before I get too emotional!”

Ash Sutton would also eventually take a position from Aron Taylor-Smith to finish in third, topping off his second consecutive trio of podium finishes to ensure that he left Brands Hatch at the top of the Driver's Championship standings, with Taylor-Smith bagging his second Independent Driver's victory of the day in fourth.


2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Brands Hatch Indy
1. Ronan Pearson, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS 24 Laps
2. Tom Chilton, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +3.655s
3. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +4.479s 
4. Árón Taylor-Smith, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +4.679s
5. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +5.748s
6. Dan Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +8.077s
7. Andrew Watson, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +13.216s 
8. Colin Turkington, Team BMW +13.552s
9. Rob Huff, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +14.500s
10. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +15.344s


Chris Tetreault-Blay
BTCC Journalist @ F1 Journal