BTCC Brands Hatch Indy: A double win for Sutton with heart break for Collard

Race one

The starting order for the first race of the day at Brands Hatch was made up of Dan Cammish in the #27 Napa Racing UK Ford on the front row, with Colin Turkington alongside him in his #4 BMW, with Jake Hill sat behind the two of them in his Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW in third position.

Turkington got a lighting start as he drove straight past Dan Cammish’s Ford, as he was already in the lead by turn 1.

That wasn’t it Cammish as he would fall further with Ash Sutton making his way down the inside of Cammish at Surtees to move in up into second position after starting fourth.

Then entering lap 2 the red flags came out for a multi-car crash on the main pit straight, which included Stephen Jelley, Dan Rowbotton, Adam Morgan, and Andrew Watson.

This looked to have been triggered by Rowbottom trying to get down the inside of Jelley at Clarke Curve resulting in Jelley being turned into the pit wall sending the two spinning across the pit straight, resulting in everyone around them trying to make avoiding action with some getting collected.

After a lengthy stoppage due to the red flag, the grid was completely reset, and Dan Cammish was in the pole position waiting for the lights to switch off.

53 Minutes after the original race started, we were going again, with everyone getting the jump on Cammish again as he fell to fourth by turn one.

Sutton would take second place as he dived down the inside of Hill at Mclaren, and then Hill would lose out again as Cammish found his way down the inside at Paddock Hill bend dropping the driver from Kent to fourth.

Rory Butcher and Tom Ingram had a race-long battle for fifth position with two trading places throughout the race.

Ingram would make the move stick with a lunge down the inside of Butcher’s Toyota at the approach to Paddock Hill bend and was able to expertly hold off Butcher from re-finding his way past at Druids.

Turkington would drive a dominant race though as he took the win for Team BMW in his #4 car by +1.335s from Ash Sutton and Dan Cammish in their Napa Racing UK Fords.

Bobby Thompson took the win in the independent standings, as he finished sixth overall in the race in his #19 AutoBrite Direct with Millers Oil Cupra.

Race Two.

Stephen Jelley would not make it out for Race Two as the team was still fixing the damage, he gained in Race One.

Jack Butel in his #96 Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown Cupra would break down, due to a waist gate issue, on his way to the grid before the race.

Cammish would lose out again on the start falling to fifth from third as the cars entered turn 1.

His teammate Ash Sutton would have different fortunes, as he would take the lead in turn one, as he went wide coming into Paddock Hill bend so he could dive to the inside for the apex of the corner to pull off the Switchback on Colin Turkington, in a calculated move.

Ingram also had a great start as by the end of the first lap he had found his way to second position from fifth, with moves on Hill down the inside at Druids, and around the outside of Turkington at McLaren’s, showing some excellent pace as he hunted down Sutton.

On lap nine Taylor- Smith and Aiden Moffatt would trade paint at McLaren as Moffatt in his One Motorsport Honda on the inside would push Taylor- Smith in the Carstore Power Maxed Racing Astra sideways losing Talyor-Smith momentum and a position to Patterson.

Dan Cammish had Jake Hill sitting on his bumper most of the race, and Hill would make the move stick as he would get up the inside of the Napa Racing UK driver on the exit of Paddock Hill Bend.

Tom Ingram had been applying pressure on Sutton for most of the race as he stayed within less than a second, but Sutton was able to expertly soak up the pressure to take the win.

Ingram in his #1 Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8 Hyundai would finish second and +0.933s off Sutton, and a lot further down the road would finish Colin Turkington in a quiet race for him as he was +3.405s off the winning man.

Osborne tried to make a move on Collards Toyota at McLaren, in an attempt to replicate the move, he had made on Cook’s Honda a couple of laps before, but instead sent the Toyota sideways.

This enabled Cook to steal the two positions and take the independent win with him finishing an overall seventh position as he gets used to the ex-Team Dynamics Honda.

Race Three

The reverse grid draw for Race three went the way of Bobby Thompson who finished 11th in race two.

The other drivers that benefited were Toyota Gazoo Racing UKs with the #37 of Ricky Collard and the #42 George Gamble starting in second and third.

George Gamble would lose out to Osborne on the start but would regain the position at Graham Hill Bend in a first lap where the pack was right with one another.

On the front row, Ricky Collard and Bobby Thompson spent half the lap side by side, with Collard ultimately prevailing to take the lead at Graham Hill Bend.

Ash Sutton had made up eight positions within the first three laps, as he was absolutely flying his way through the field as he squeezed down the inside of Butcher at Surtees.

He would make it one better by making his way past Bobby Thompson, who was starting to drop through the field after starting in the first position.

Ash Sutton’s pace in the #116 Napa Racing UK Ford was unbelievable as he was able to find his way onto the Bumper of Collard without using his Hybrid.

Then on lap 13 Stephen Jelley’s bad day got worse with an off, which had seemed to have damaged the car with him crabbing up the hill.

Butcher’s #6 Toyota would have a smoky end with the car stopping at Surtees after smoke was pluming out of the car.

Then we would lose Jake Hill as something let go on the car in Paddock Hill Bend, which sent the car into a full 180, he would use the escape road at Surtees on Lap 17 to end his day of racing.

On lap 21 Ash Sutton and Ricky Collard in his #37 Toyota were still within inches of one another with Ash looking for the inside at turn 1 but then thinking better of it as they were within milometers of touching.

Ricky Collards defending ultimately lead to nothing as he received a ten-second penalty for track limit violations.

Sutton wanted the win on the track though as he would go past on inside at Clarke curve, but Ricky would get him on the switch back in turn 1 and then dove up the inside to take first on track at Druids.

Ash Sutton would win his second race of the day in an anti-climactic Race three at Brands Hatch, with Bobby Thompson inheriting P2 and Tom Ingram in P3 to round out the day.

Bobby Thompson would also go on to take the win in the Independent standings, which would be his second of the day.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *