BTCC Brands Hatch: Turkington dominates opener

Colin Turkington dominated the first race of the British Touring Car Championship round at Brands Hatch to notch up his 68th win in the series.

The Northern Irishman opted to use the soft-compound Goodyear tyre for this race in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport and used it to perfection to win by a mammoth 6.826 seconds.

Turkington’s team-mate Adam Morgan, alongside him on the front row, started this race on the medium tyre as WSR split its strategy, and it proved to be the wrong option for the amiable Lancastrian.

But it wasn’t necessarily the wrong choice for Ash Sutton. From fourth on the grid, the reigning champion got past the sister Alliance Racing-run NAPA Racing Ford Focus ST of Dan Cammish – which was on softs – at Druids on the opening lap for third. Sutton then drove around the outside of Morgan at Graham Hill Bend on lap two to grab second place.

The gap to Turkington steadied at around a second for the first few laps, before the BMW began to pull away and Sutton came under pressure from Cammish, homing back in at the wheel of a Ford that had a new clutch fitted after qualifying.

Sutton didn’t make it easy for Cammish, but could not hold off the soft-tyred Ford for long and the Berkshire-domiciled Yorkshireman made it through at Druids on lap six.

No sooner had that happened than Cammish suddenly began slowing with a punctured left-front tyre, sending him to the pits before rejoining just under two laps adrift.

Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST (Photo by: JEP)

Sutton was reinstated in second place, but now found the Speedworks Motorsport-run LKQ Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook closing in.

Cook was on soft tyres – the first time he’d ever run them on the Toyota – and on the 14th lap of 24 he got a run up the inside at the exit of Paddock Hill Bend, only for Sutton to move over and force Cook to put two wheels on the grass.

Cook then gave his pal Sutton a bit of a love tap at Graham Hill Bend on the following lap, but didn’t have to wait long to pass – the lanky West Countryman got a good run off Clearways and surged past.

With nine laps remaining, Turkington was 4.784 seconds clear, and he finally took the chequered flag 6.826s to the good.

“It’s never easy at the front, especially on the soft tyre,” said Turkington. “It was slightly uncharted territory, and you never know what the dropoff might be.

“I managed to break Dan, and then he disappeared and it was Ash. A few laps jockeying with the hybrid, and then I was away.”

Behind Sutton, the Toyota Gazoo Racing GB Speedworks Corolla of Andrew Watson fought through to fourth on soft tyres, while Jake Hill was another on softs, using them to battle from 12th on the grid to snatch fifth from Dan Rowbottom’s Alliance Ford with seven laps remaining.

Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 N Fastback (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Championship leader Tom Ingram was embroiled in a massive fight early on with Watson, Hill, Rowbottom and Morgan, and lost out in the battling.

Ingram fought back on the medium tyres to shadow the sister Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback of seventh-placed Tom Chilton across the finish line.

After the race, Watson was penalised down to eighth for the contact with Ingram, promoting Hill to fourth, Rowbotton to fifth and Chilton to sixth.

Ingram retains his championship lead, but is now just three points ahead of Turkington and Sutton.

Morgan, who had struggled to switch the rear-wheel-drive BMW’s medium tyres on, hit the barriers on the approach to Druids in conjunction with the Excelr8 Hyundai of Ronan Pearson. Morgan plugged on to finish 15th, while Pearson rejoined after a pitstop.

Aiden Moffat was ninth in his Speedworks Toyota, with Aron Taylor-Smith (Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra) grabbing 10th from Rob Huff’s Speedworks Toyota with a lap to go.

BTCC Brands Hatch Race One Result

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	C. Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	24	19'43.459
2	J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	6.826
3	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	24	8.722	1.896
4	A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	13.763	5.041
5	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	24	14.924	1.161
6	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	24	15.386	0.462
7	T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	24	19.342	3.956
8	T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	24	19.474	0.132
9	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	20.669	1.195
10	A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	24	27.024	6.355
11	R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	27.632	0.608
12	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	24	27.999	0.367
13	M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	24	28.835	0.836
14	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Cupra León	24	30.546	1.711
15	A. Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	24	30.902	0.356
16	S. Sumpton Restart Racing			Cupra León	24	34.770	3.868
17	N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	24	39.532	4.762
18	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	2 laps
19	R. Pearson Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	2 laps
20	D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard			Cupra León	20	4 laps
View full results