BTCC IS BACK!
The action gets underway after the summer break, but it’s a mix of highs and lows for the Motorbase Focuses…
The 2018 BTCC returned after the summer break, with the second half of the season getting underway at Snetterton. And to celebrate 60 years of the Championship, it was a special ‘Diamond Double’ meeting, with a 20-lap (60-mile) final race offering double points.
Torrential weather played its part in Sunday’s opening race, with treacherous racing conditions making progress almost impossible. Both Tom Chilton and James Cole managed to stay clear of a number of opening lap incidents to bring the Fords home in-tact and having moved forward to take P13 and P17 at the flag.
Meanwhile, fellow Motorbase racer, Sam Tordoff enjoyed much better results in his newly-liveried bright pink Focus RS. Despite the horrid conditions, Tordoff managed to gain places and cross the line in P5, bagging vital points for his championship push.
A dry race two opened up more opportunities for point scoring, with the entire grid heading out on the Dunlop option slicks. Free of his earlier weight, Chilton made a great start and hustled his way up into 10th by the first corner. Unfortunately contact with Lloyd’s Honda on lap 4 saw the Gallagher-backed racer drop back to 11th – just missing out on a top ten finish. Cole also made steady progress in the #20 Focus, making up 5 places to cross the line in 18th. Tordoff, in the bright pink sister car, enjoyed some close battles fighting for P5 and P6, eventually crossing the line in sixth place.
Then it was time for the big one; 20 laps of the huge 2.99mile circuit… With double points on offer and the threat of another downpour, the Diamond Double race was a frenetic affair. A less than perfect start on the greasy track saw Chilton drop three places off the line from his P3 starting slot, but a battling performance kept the crowds entertained as he duelled with Jordan’s BMW before eventually finishing 5th – adding 22 points to his championship haul.
Conversely, Cole’s weekend was brought to an abrupt end on lap 5, after contact with Austin’s Alfa Romeo forced the #20 Focus RS in to the pits with race-ending steering damage. Sadly, it was a similar story on Tordoff’s side of the garage too when, after a good start, heavy contact from behind forced the GardX car into the pits with raceending damage.
After Snetterton the BTCC headed to Rockingham, which is a track we’ve done well at in the past, so we were optimistic for good results – especially after Tordoff secured a P2 start for the first race.
However, as Sam’s bad luck continues, this was to be short lived. A reckless late lunge from Cammish tipped the still-bright pink #600 Focus RS into a double spin as they raced into the first turn, leaving him stranded in the middle of the circuit and facing the charging pack where he was hit by a number of unsighted drivers.
Remarkably, Tordoff escaped the incident uninjured, managing to get the stricken and heavily damaged Focus back to the pits for the crew to commence repairs to get him back out on track for race 2.
The Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher cars enjoyed some success though, with Chilton managing to avoid the Tordoff incident and slid past to take P2 before the safety car was deployed.
With the imminent threat of rain, Chilton held position on the restart from Sutton’s fast-charging Subaru. A defensive masterclass held off the reigning BTCC champion for an incredible 8 laps before he eventually succumbed, dropping back to take third at the flag and claim the team’s 4th podium of the season.
Race two was a classic BTCC elbows-out scrap. Wrestling with 57kg of success ballast on-board, Chilton got bogged down off the line and struggled to keep pace with the lighter horde.
After a big side-ways moment and contact on lap 5 that dropped the #3 Focus RS down the order, he battled his way back through to claim 10th.
Tordoff started the second race from the very back of the grid, and on the unfavoured hard-compound tyre too, but he made good progress to finish the race in P18.
With the reversed grid draw slotting Chilton into pole position for the final race of the day, the odds looked good for a 2nd podium visit of the day. Running on the less favourable Dunlop option hardcompound tyre – just as the intermittent rain returned - Chilton got a superb start off the line and had built up a decent gap to Simpson’s following Honda.
Disaster struck, however, as they headed into the first hairpin with the #3 Focus sliding wide on the greasy track before being collected as it re-joined the track; causing race-ending damage and halting the team’s hopes of a maiden race win of the season.
Weight-free and back onto the prime tyre for race 3, Tordoff finally got the chance to show his true pace charging off the line and up into 7th by the end of the first lap of the circuit, whilst avoiding a huge melee at the first hairpin which brought out the safety car.
Setting his sights on the lead pack after the restart, he challenged for 4th place, battling side by side with Turkington for a number of laps before a three-way sprint across the line with Simpson and Ingram – eventually crossing the line in 4th – just 0.031 seconds away from his first podium finish of the season.
There's no time to ponder on what ‘could have been’ though, as we need to dust ourselves off and get ready to take the fight to Knockhill next..