BTCC Brands Hatch: Hill wins as Ingram and Sutton collide

The seas parted for Jake Hill to take victory in the first race of the British Touring Car Championship finale at Brands Hatch and put him in the box seat for the title.

Hill started his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport from sixth on the grid, but found himself second by the exit of the second turn – the Druids hairpin – after a bizarre incident ahead of him delayed or eliminated his main title rivals.

Tom Ingram, who entered the day level of points with Hill, started his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback from the front row, but could not fend off the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST of Ash Sutton into Paddock Hill Bend.

A fired-up Josh Cook then drew his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport abreast of Ingram on the run up his to Druids.

Then, under braking for the hairpin, the Toyota appeared to be out of control – perhaps a legacy of damage or a puncture – and Cook squirrelled down the inside of Sutton.

Sutton jinked left into Ingram, the collision sending the Ford into the gravel trap with damaged left-front suspension and firing the Hyundai down to 10th place.

The spun Toyota of Cook, in turn, was harpooned by the unsighted Adam Morgan, while Rob Huff continued the chain reaction by running into the back of the Toyota.

Josh Cook, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ Toyota Corolla GR Sport (Photo by: JEP)

All of these drivers were now out of the race, ending Sutton’s chances of the title, along with Cook’s slim hopes.

Hill was gifted second place behind poleman Colin Turkington and, one and a half laps into the restart following the inevitable safety car, the four-time champion predictably let the sister Laser Tools-liveried BMW into the lead on Pilgrim’s Drop.

In doing so, Turkington conceded his own slim title hopes, and set to a race playing rear-gunner to his team-mate.

Ingram, meanwhile, was on a charge. He had already repassed Dan Rowbottom before the safety car was called, then dispatched Sam Osborne and Aiden Moffat on the first lap of the restart, and Daryl DeLeon and Dan Cammish on the following tour.

In doing so, Ingram was now up to fifth and had secured the bonus point for fastest lap.

Shortly after this, Ingram nabbed fourth from the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Aron Taylor-Smith at the exit of Clearways, and a couple of laps later he dived down the inside of the other PMR Vauxhall of Mikey Doble into Surtees.

Now Ingram was third, and homed in on the BMWs in front. With four laps remaining, Turkington was defending everywhere and crucially, stayed in front while Ingram used his only lap of hybrid allocation.

Colin Turkington, Team BMW WSR BMW 330e M Sport (Photo by: JEP)

Hill was safe, leading home a BMW 1-2 by 1.105 seconds from Turkington, with Ingram third, and now trailing Hill in the championship by five points with only these two now in contention.

“From my point of view, it looked like Ash and Tom braking earlier to catch each other out caught out Josh,” said Hill, “and he had nowhere to go.

“After that, Colin was the best team-mate I could ever ask to have. It was just a case of managing the rear tyres a little bit. The softs were wearing out a bit but everything’s cool – we might not have the outright pace, but we’ve got the pace to get the job done.”

“We know Josh is not a numpty,” said Ingram. “I was in a vulnerable position because I had no option other than to be in a vulnerable position.”

Behind Doble, fifth went to the Alliance Ford of Dan Cammish, who passed Taylor-Smith two laps from home and was the leading medium-tyred runner home. But Cammish was another to lose his last hopes of the title.

DeLeon took an excellent seventh in his Unlimited Motorsport Cupra Leon, with Rowbottom (Alliance Ford) eighth and Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) winning an entertaining battle for ninth with Andrew Watson’s Speedworks Toyota.

BTCC Brands Hatch Race 1 Results

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	17	29'43.663		85.26		20
2	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	17	+1.863 29'45.526	1.863	85.17		17
3	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	17	+6.416 29'50.079	4.553	84.96		15
4	J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	+7.693 29'51.356	1.277	84.90		13
5	T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+10.188 29'53.851	2.495	84.78		11
6	A. Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	17	+10.817 29'54.480	0.629	84.75		10
7	R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	+13.884 29'57.547	3.067	84.60		9
8	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	17	+14.655 29'58.318	0.771	84.57		8
9	A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	17	+15.259 29'58.922	0.604	84.54		7
10	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	17	+16.212 29'59.875	0.953	84.49		6
11	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	+18.402 30'02.065	2.190	84.39		5
12	D. Zelos Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+19.718 30'03.381	1.316	84.33		4
13	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Cupra León	17	+20.140 30'03.803	0.422	84.31		3
14	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	17	+20.935 30'04.598	0.795	84.27		2
15	M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	17	+21.323 30'04.986	0.388	84.26		1
16	T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+22.539 30'06.202	1.216	84.20
17	D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard			Cupra León	17	+23.098 30'06.761	0.559	84.17
18	S. Sumpton Restart Racing			Cupra León	17	+34.502 30'18.165	11.404	83.64
19	N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	17	+42.108 30'25.771	7.606	83.30
dnf	A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	2	+15 Laps 3'21.972	15 Laps	87.99	Retirement
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