Rowbottom wins Thruxton race three as title rivals collide

Daniel Rowbottom claimed the top honours in the final British Touring Car Championship race at Thruxton, as championship rivals Jake Hill and Ash Sutton collided.

Reverse-grid pole-sitter James Dorlin lost out to the fast-starting BMW of Hill at the start, before falling behind Rowbottom at Seagrave, as Hill sought to build an early lead.

However, Rowbottom was quickly onto the back of the Laser Tools Racing BMW, and going into the complex on the second lap the NAPA Racing UK driver made his move, diving inside at Seagrave to seize the lead.

Rowbottom had to withstand pressure from Hill until the mid-distance, when the safety car was called upon after Team Vertu’s Adam Morgan crashed into the barriers at the first corner, the Hyundai driver having dropped a wheel onto the grass and crashed out due to his own unforced error.

After two laps behind the safety car, racing resumed on the eleventh lap, with NAPA’s Dan Cammish quickly passing Hill for second on the outside line into the chicane.

Hill’s race then unravelled on the next lap, when he made contact with Sutton as the four-time champion attempted to go around the outside at Noble.

Hill made slight contact with Sutton’s Ford, sending the NAPA driver spinning across the circuit as Hill also went off, collecting a radiator-full of grass.

Sutton fell four places to eighth, whilst Hill had to immediately pit to have his car cleared of grass at the front to prevent overheating.

The incident happened under the nose of Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram, who was able to move up two places into the final podium place.

However, Ingram then went on to gain one more place when he took second from Cammish on the penultimate lap, passing with ease up Woodham Hill with his boost, with Cammish helpless to prevent the attack having run out of his own boost.

Victory for Rowbottom was his second win of the season and the fourth of his BTCC career, prevailing by two seconds from Ingram, with Cammish completing the podium.

Team Vertu’s Senna Proctor took fourth, the series returnee having dropped five places from his front-row grid position on the opening lap.

Sutton recovered to take fifth, passing Restart Racing’s Daniel Lloyd four laps from the finish and the other Restart Hyundai of Chris Smiley on the penultimate lap.

Smiley would have been sixth and the top Independent, but the Northern Irishman was excluded from the result for an underweight car, promoting Toyota’s Árón Taylor-Smith to sixth – the best result for a Toyota driver so far this year.

One Motorsport’s Josh Cook thus finished the race as the top Independent in seventh, climbing 16 places in the race from the back of the grid due to his race two exclusion.

Team Vertu’s Tom Chilton was eighth, Restart’s Lloyd was ninth after a five-second penalty for a false start was applied, and Toyota’s Gordon Shedden completed the top ten.

The Toyotas of Dorlin and Ronan Pearson failed to finish the race – Dorlin slowed on the third lap and retired, ultimately pulling off the circuit, whilst Pearson made contact with WSR’s Charles Rainford at the restart and had to stop when his bonnet flipped up and obscured his view.

Sutton continues to lead the drivers’ standings with 181 points, ahead of Ingram (172), Rowbottom (132), Cammish (128) and Hill (114).

Race results

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	24:29.588	1:15.784	5
2	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	2.260	1:16.079	6
3	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	3.278	1:16.006	4
4	18	M		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	3.771	1:16.452	2
5	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	6.991	1:15.708	7
6	40	M		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	10.341	1:16.848	17
7	66	I		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	18	12.083	1:16.767	23
8	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	13.483	1:16.813	22
9	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	13.996	1:16.885	10
10	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	14.802	1:16.836	19
11	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	18.894	1:16.174	20
12	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	19.374	1:17.253	13
13	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	19.783	1:16.945	21
14	2	M		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	19.948	1:16.771	9
15	12	I		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	18	20.182	1:16.781	16
16	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	22.915	1:17.520	15
17	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	18	33.026	1:17.954	18
18	1	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	18	49.292	1:16.073	3
19	99	M		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	17	+ 1 LAP	1:16.964	11
EX	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	8.045	1:16.691	8
R	14	M		Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	11	DNF	1:16.899	14
R	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	7	DNF	1:16.557	12
R	132	M		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	3	DNF	1:17.743	1
NS	93	I		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	–	DNS	N/A	–
WD	50	I		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	–	DNS	N/A	–