BTCC: Typical British Weather Causes Silverstone Chaos

A classic autumn day in Northamptonshire threw up some of the craziest racing the BTCC has seen in years at the penultimate round of the season at Silverstone.

Championship hopefuls Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordan and Dan Cammish were all in the thick of the action in a day that can’t truly be captured in just this round-up. The feel-good story of the day coming in race three as Jack Goff provided Tony Gilham and Team HARD with their first BTCC win.

The title battle has shrunk to 34 points between the top four, with Cammish moving up to second place, just 16 points behind the indefatigable Turkington, heading into the final round. Including Tom Ingram (as an outside hope) any one of five drivers could win the title.

Qualifying

Having topped both practice sessions, Jason Plato completed the perfect Saturday, taking pole position ahead of Honda’s Chris Smiley and Matt Neal. Championship leader Turkington was sixth, one place ahead of rival Cammish. The third big contender Jordan could only manage 14th in his BMW 330i.

Race One

Plato made a great start from the dry side of the grid and held the lead as second-placed Smiley dropped back behind Neal and the Tom’s (Ingram and Oliphant). The Dynamics Honda’s had real trouble at the start on their medium tyres as Neal dropped to eighth while Cammish was all the way out of the points in 16th. At the front, Plato had been reeled in by a charging Ingram and the Toyota was able to squeeze past into Copse despite some door banging in the process.

Drama on lap nine as Turkington, in the fight for the top ten, was touched by Rob Collard’s Vauxhall and spun, he re-joined back in 25th place before a spirited fightback to 14th at the finish. This gifted Cammish a way back into he points and he would go on to nick 11th on the line from Collard. Slightly further forward, Jordan passed Chilton with the aid of his front bumper and crossed the line eighth before a time penalty for the pass put him back to tenth for the start of race two. Ash Sutton had been running fifth before a puncture saw him retire to the pitlane.

But no one could quite get close enough to Ingram who took his third win of 2019 from Plato and Smiley, who opted not to let teammate Josh Cook through to aid his championship charge.

Podium: Ingram; Plato; Smiley

Race Two

For a BTCC race, it was a fairly mundane start as everyone initially held station through the first few corners. But it didn’t take long for Cammish to get stuck in, passing Jordan into Luffield for eighth as the BMW driver made an error under-braking. The Honda man then pulled off the same move on Adam Morgan a lap later followed through by Smiley soon after.

The BMWs were also back on the charge as Turkington continued his recovery from the race one spin, overtaking Jordan, Morgan and Smiley in one lap to latch onto the back of Cammish. The championship protagonists gained more places as Cook and Neal battled a little too aggressively at Becketts putting the Dynamics Honda out with a puncture.

At the front, Plato made a daring lunge into Brooklands and collided with leader Ingram, both were able to recover and continue in the same order but Oliphant had got past them both to lead. The safety car was then deployed as Morgan span his Mercedes into the gravel.

With rain beginning to fall heavier and heavier, the race was back underway on lap 18 where Oliphant began to fall backwards, first Ingram re-took the lead on the exit of Copse with Turkington and Plato following through (Turkington had moved past Cammish and Plato as the two battled when the safety car was deployed). Cammish, Cook and Smiley also found their way past the BMW and Dan-Cam even moved ahead of Plato and was challenging Turkington for second before the red flag came out in light of the intensifying rain.

The race was classified with Ingram the winner ahead of Turkington and Cammish. Jordan could only finish eighth in the title fight.

Podium: Ingram; Turkington; Cammish

Race Three

The reverse grid draw saw Sutton start from pole with Matt Simpson – who’d enjoyed a good yet quiet day – alongside. Weekend star Ingram started 11th. Towards the rear of the field, Goff opted to pit at the end of the formation lap for wet tyres as rain began to fall in reasonable quantity. The first lap was as chaotic as you’d expect from the BTCC on a wet track and slick tyres as Simpson, who briefly led was spun out of the race by Jordan who proceeded to lose a number of places as Sutton held the lead. Mike Bushell, replacing Sam Tordoff for the remainder of the season, jumped up to third as Cook found the grip to pass Sutton for the lead out of Copse.

The safety car came out on lap three which saw Aiden Moffat dive into the pits for wets. He was followed on lap four by Neal and Jordan, then Turkington, Plato, Sutton and Chilton on lap five. The Subaru lost a lap in the pits as the race got back underway on lap six.

From the restart on, it was all about Goff and Moffat who sliced their way from outside the points into first and second within six laps. Moffat’s charge for the win ended as he span from the tail of Goff at Copse but was able to continue for second.

It took a long time for BMWs Turkington and Jordan to start their surge forwards but eventually moved up the ladder, importantly passing Cammish before finishing in seventh and eighth. Cammish held on with his slick tyres for 12th while his teammate Neal took the final step on the podium.

But no one could deny Goff taking the chequered flag for the first ever BTCC win for Team HARD.

Podium: Goff; Moffat; Neal

Championship

Turkington will take a 16-point led to the final round at Brands Hatch ahead of Cammish who leaped ahead of Jordan by just one point. Cammish will still be confident of pulling back those points as he heads to the scene of his first two BTCC wins a year ago.

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