BMW NEWCOMER MAKES IT A ‘GUTEN MORGAN’
From early-weekend setbacks, reversedgrid BTCC wins are frequently made. Adam Morgan and Ciceley Motorsport had their BMW 330i M Sport nicely hooked up in free practice, where the Lancastrian outpaced all the similar WSR machines, but a track-limits offence converted what should have been 10th on the grid to a demoralising 21st. To make matters worse, a misunderstanding had led to a clash at Clearways that spun around the sister car of Tom Chilton. “We don’t want to talk about that!” he grimaced.
From there, Morgan picked his way through to 12th in race two, and Tom Ingram’s drawing of ‘12’ for the reversed grid set him up perfectly. The rear-wheel drive propelled Morgan away, and he kept things under control to add a BMW victory to the eight he achieved with Ciceley’s old Mercedes. “It’s been a tough weekend, and I was so grateful to have fresh air,” smiled Morgan. “We had pace for P10 in qualifying, and I didn’t realise I’d gone wide. Normally when you do, you have an inkling, and that made life very difficult.”
Morgan was joined by two more delighted podium finishers: secondplaced Jack Goff and third man Aiden Moffat. For Moffat, that was the culmination of his most competitive weekend in the Laser Tools Racing
Infiniti Q50; for Goff, it was a reversedgrid result that’s been brewing with the new-build Team Hard Cupra Leon. Apart from Ash Sutton, Goff is the only driver to have scored points in all nine races to date this season. That’s a superb record from a quality driver.
Moffat was nearly pipped at the line by Jason Plato, whose weekend in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra went south when the power steering played up in qualifying: “On the brakes into Graham Hill Bend I couldn’t turn, and I did a 48.5s without it working. I know we should have done a 48.3s, maybe a high 48.2s, and that’s a different weekend.”