BTCC Round 2 - Brands Hatch
The TOCA circus packed its bags and headed south to the Kent circuit of Brands Hatch for Races 4,5 and 6 of the 2024 season, Under glorious spring sunshine the action on the circuit was hotter than the ambient temprature. With a BMW lock out in Qualifying on Saturday saw Colin Turkington and Adam Morgan head up the front row with Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton head up the second row,
As race 1 got underway in the afternoon sunshine the position was to be short lived for Morgan dropping back through the pack only to have a coming together after a couple of lap with Ronan Pearson on the way up to Druids leaving a dominant Colin Turkington to run away with the Race 1 victory followed by Josh Cook and Ash Sutton who were having agreat battle for the runner up positions, Throughout the first race the high tempratures were playing havoc with the soft tyres with a number of the front runners getting front left punctures the first of the day was Dan Cammish.
Colin Turkginton said after race 1 “ The BMW likes the heat, The car is in a better place really suits my driving style and i feel really well connected with the race car”
Race 2 got underway in the early afternoon once again Colin Turkington was on pole in the West Surry Racing BMW based on Race 1 finshing positions. This was to be a very dramatic race with Turkington once again getting the whole shot into Paddock Hill followed by Josh Cook and Jake Hill who had a spectacular start and got the elbows out straight away and had a coming together with Josh cook on the run upto druids, The action throughout the race was frantic with close battles all the way down the field until the unfortunate incident involving the MB Motorsport BMW of Jake Hill who caused a Safety car on lap 16 at Druids hitting the tyre barrier but thankfully no real damage, The cause of the Accident appeared to be broken steering causing a safety car period. After the safety car the battle for second grew in intensity between Ash Suttons Napa Racing Ford Focus and Tom Ingarms Xcelr8 with Bristol Street Motors Hyndai I30N with some close hard and typical BTCC racing. Once again a dominant display say the WSR BMW of Colin Turkington win the race with Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton rounding up the podium positions.
Race 3 in the reverse grid positions saw Race 1 and 2 winner Colin Turkington make the draw for pole position in which he promoted Scotlands Ronan Pearson to the head of the field in his Hyundai.
This was to be a momentus race for Ronan who started on pole with both Power Maxed Racing Astras of Aron Taylor-Smith and Mikey Doble hunting him down, Ronan loast the lead for the first half of lap 1 until the last corner in which he threw a superb move on the Astra to regain his leading position and from that point on it was a stunning drive for the full 24 laps managing his soft tyres all the way to his first BTCC Victory. The action through the rest of the pack once again in typical Race 3 style which was hard fought with some retirements including Scotlands Aiden Moffat who had a boost pipe come loose for the second time in the space of the race. Championship contender Tom Ingram suffered a Left front puncture on lap 11 of the race forcing him to make a pit stop and over all ruining his chances of any points from race 3. After a tough and hard fought race Tom Chilton finished up second and Ash Sutton pushing for a third.
A brilliant and well managed race 3 victory for Ronan Pearson who brought home the race win for Xcelr8 Motorsport and even more it was great to see a scotsman stand back on the top step of the BTCC podium and we can’t wait for the next round at Snetterton but more so we will be counting down to the Knockhill round in August where we will have images and video from our Scottish based Media represetative of CMC-Images who will provide up some amazing media from that event.