SIGNING-OFF IN STYLE
The Motorbase crew sign-off on the 2018 BTCC season in style…
Wow! That season just flew by. It doesn’t seem five minutes ago we were pulling the covers off the new-look RS at the Autosport International show, but since then we’ve completed 30 races on ten different circuits, all over the country. Along the way, of course, we’ve had plenty of ups and downs, but as we headed to the season finale at Brands Hatch we could reflect on what has undoubtedly been a successful year for the Motorbase team. We’d already secured numerous podium finishes, and race wins for both Tom Chilton and Sam Tordoff in the RS’s first season back in the BTCC since the 90s. Not only that, but as we loaded the cars into the trucks we were still in with a mathematical chance of winning the Overall Driver's Championship. While mathematically possible, this was definitely BMW’s and Colin Turkington’s to lose. However, the fight for the Independents crowns was much closer; we were just 10 points behind Speedworks and Tom just 20 points adrift of leader and eventual Champion, Tom Ingram at the start of the weekend. Also, Sam Tordoff in the Gard-X sister car was still looming large in the Independent Driver’s table, looking to improve his final standing before the end of the year. We were all incredibly determined to keep the pressure on and keep fighting to the very last lap of the 2018 season.
Race one was everything you’d expect from the fast and flowing Brands Hatch GP circuit, and for us it saw Tom, James and Sam all gaining places from the qualifying positions. After a brilliant drive off the line that saw both James and Sam break into the top ten, the duo then selflessly gave up their strong positions to allow their Motorbase team-mate Tom through to keep his Championship hopes alive. As we entered Race Two, Tom was now just 16 points behind Ingram in the Independents Drivers table, and a stellar showing from teammate James meant the gap in the Independents Teams table was now just 6 points too!
Race two was frenetic; Tom made a great start on the soft tyre and scythed his way up to P6 by the end of the race, just two places behind Ingram which sadly ended Tom’s title hopes. It also meant we were 11 points behind Speedworks in the Independent Teams table, and overturning that was always going to be a difficult task. Of course, we gave it our best shot though. Tom battled hard for a podium finish but had to settle for 4th; reducing the gap to Speedworks to just 9 points as the final flag dropped.
As the dust settles on another season, we can look back on a convincing year for the team. Yes, we had a few issues in the first half of the season – and we definitely had more than our fair share of bad luck! – but the latter half of the year showed what the Focus RS BTCC car is really capable of. And with that fresh in our minds we’re all really positive about things to come in the 2019 season. The whole team is determined and committed, and next year we’ll be gunning for those Championship titles…