The return of the British Touring Car Championship in Donington Park came off the back of a disappointing off-season, with the confirmation that Team Dynamics, a stalwart of the series over the last few decades, had withdrawn as a result of a major sponsor pulling out. Losing a team with such history is particularly disappointing, as well as a multiple-champion Gordon Shedden, but they will surely attempt to return to the grid in the future.
Over the off-season, Ciceley Motorsport and Laser Tools Racing also departed, with Morgan moving across to Team BMW and Moffat joining BTC Racing, now rebranded One Motorsport. The Motorbase lineup strengthened with the signing of Dan Rowbottom from Team Dynamics, while Speedworks added George Gamble in a third Toyota and Power Maxed signed experienced Aron Taylor-Smith and two rookies, Andrew Watson and Mikey Doble. Ronan Pearson joined Excelr8, replacing Dan Lloyd who moved to Team HARD to race as part of a six-car team, the largest I can remember. Meanwhile, Jason Plato stayed true to his word and retired from the series.
Another change to the format is the new hybrid rules, which only allow the drivers to run hybrid on approximately half the laps, with further reduction for those in positions which would previously have been affected by success ballast. I think this is a huge improvement on the 2022 system, as it makes hybrid far more tactical and effective, whereas it was used by everybody in the same place last year. The option tyre has also returned, although it was not used in Donington due to the wet conditions. I think this is a positive change, because although some see it as gimmicky, it is far less so than success ballast or particularly reversed grids as it affects everyone equally and it is good to see racecraft be more important as drivers have to defend their position when on the wrong tyre and make a lot of overtakes when on the right tyre. It also generally makes races more exciting as faster drivers are more likely to be behind slower drivers on the grid.
The support series has also changed, with Ginetta’s withdrawal leaving a gap that has been filled well with a range of series such as Caterhams, Legends, Hagerty Radicals and Mini 7s. This is a great move because it will be exciting to have all these interesting cars racing, although none were present at Donington Park. However, the Ginetta Juniors had been particularly exciting before and the increase in Porsches on the support bill cannot be a positive in terms of exciting racing. But it also made the BTCC races slightly longer which is good.
Despite the grid looking a little less competitive, the races at Donington Park in wet conditions turned out to be thrillers, particularly race one. My pre-season pick for the champion was Jake Hill for BMW, as he looked like having the fastest car last year but seemed to make a few mistakes, which I didn’t think he would make this year. The Ford seemed a little uncompetitive last year and required some heroic performances from Ash Sutton to keep it in title contention, but this year Motorbase seem to have taken a step forward and have a car that is perhaps the class of the field, at least at Donington.
Ash Sutton looked fastest in qualifying but a mistake caused him to exceed track limits and lose his best lap time, being more cautious on his second lap and only managing second on the grid. Fastest, surprisingly, was his teammate Dan Rowbottom who looks to have rediscovered his 2021 form after an underwhelming season last year. The BMWs were next up, then Cammish and Ingram, while a standout performance came from rookie Andrew Watson to make the top ten shootout for Power Maxed, and Ronan Pearson for Excelr8 wasn’t far behind either. Ricky Collard was the fastest Toyota, with Rory Butcher seemingly off the pace.
In greasy conditions, Rowbottom made a poor start from pole and Sutton was immediately past him, pulling across the front of his teammate and the BMW of Hill who had pulled alongside. Hill and Sutton made minor contact on the straight, firing Sutton onto the grass and ruining his race as he pitted to retire. Hill was given a three-place grid penalty for this, but I would have called it a racing incident.
Hill now led the race but it was a chaotic first lap as he fought with Sutton, Cammish and Rowbottom in the Fords and Turkington in the BMW. Along with Sutton, it was Turkington who came off worst after being forced onto the grass at the old hairpin, and the safety car had to be called very quickly with Hill, Cammish, Ingram and Rowbottom the top four. Josh Cook also locked up at Redgate and skated off the track, dropping to the back of the field.
The rest of the race was the very definition of a great battle for the lead. Jake Hill held off Dan Cammish, with the Ford able to close right up on the BMW but not able to pass easily because Hill was defending in all the right places. After many laps of the cars running bumper to bumper, with Ingram also right behind in the Hyundai, Dan Cammish often pulling alongside Hill, he was eventually able to make the move stick, pulling alongside at Hollywood and driving all the way around the outside at the Craner Curves. Because when overtaking is difficult, you have to pull off a great one to make it stick. After a disappointing 2022 season, Cammish started the year with a fantastic victory ahead of Hill and Ingram.
The big surprise of the race was rookie Andrew Watson in the Vauxhall Astra, who quickly fought his way to the front past big names like Adam Morgan, Ricky Collard, and later Dan Rowbottom, before moving right onto the back of the leading trio to finish fourth. It was the best result for Power Maxed since Brands Hatch 2021 and marked him out as a potential champion of the future. Collard also impressed, best of the Toyotas again, while Cook charged back after his mistake to take ninth. Colin Turkington failed to make the same progress, being mired in the traffic and ending up 12th.
Race two started off with the cars running slick tyres, but the track was damp and at the end of the formation lap, many drivers pitted for wet tyres. So many did so that Sutton moved up to ninth by the time the cars had formed up behind the safety car, with Cammish leading, but it was clear that wet tyres were the way to go and those who had pitted immediately made their way to the front. Adam Morgan had headed the queue behind the safety car but Tom Chilton was more aggressive on the restart and charged to the front to lead the race from Morgan.
The Hyundai seemed to work better in the wet conditions than the BMW and Chilton stormed away from Morgan, while Ronan Pearson in another Excelr8 car moved into third on his debut. George Gamble was next up in the Toyota, while Nic Hamilton was running higher than he ever had in British Touring Cars. Gamble threw away a possible podium as he went off trying to pass Pearson, while Osborne and Jelley made their way past Hamilton. Mikey Doble and Nick Halstead were in the points as well, while a relatively early stop left Colin Turkington as the lead car who hadn’t pitted behind the safety car and Ingram and Rowbottom also stayed on the lead lap with a late battle with Thompson.
It seems every BTCC season should have one of these weird races where the leaders all choose the wrong tyre, but there hasn’t been one in a couple of years. Although they seem like a lottery, in actual fact the winners are the ones who predicted the weather correctly, and on this occasion it was Tom Chilton who took his first win in four years. Hopefully this will spark an improvement of form after two dire years in the championship, and he also has a new chassis. Adam Morgan was second, with Ronan Pearson an excellent third in his first BTCC meeting. Unfortunately, he was later disqualified for failing the ride-height check, probably due to damage, but his podium will surely come later in the season.
Instead, Sam Osborne was promoted to the podium after a strong drive to third, the first of his career having successfully fended off Stephen Jelley. Mikey Doble took fifth, also a great result in his first weekend after passing Nic Hamilton at the end. Hamilton still finished sixth, his best ever result by far, and his brother Lewis Hamilton was in the crowd to watch it. Nick Halstead also took a shock seventh having pitted at the right time.
Tom Chilton picked ball number 12 for pole, initially Dan Rowbottom until Pearson’s penalty promoted his teammate Cammish. In the third race, Cammish held the lead at the start, while Rowbottom again made a poor start and lost second, with Ingram and Turkington charging through. Rowbottom was then fired off track by Bobby Thompson, the two drivers appearing to be pushing each other out of annoyance and eventually Thompson fired Rowbottom off. I think he was lucky to get away without a penalty. Behind, Ash Sutton and Jake Hill showed great pace to move up to fourth and fifth and close on the leaders.
Cammish then started to get away while Ingram held off a train of cars including Turkington, Sutton and Hill; the four title contenders of last year all battling for position. Again, overtaking being difficult but following being easy made for a brilliant fight for position with the move not being made until Sutton made an outstanding dive into McClean’s on Turkington for third place, Hill nipping through behind him. Sutton then tried a move on Ingram at the final chicane but couldn’t make it stick, so Cammish won his second race of the day and moved into the early lead of the championship, while Ingram and Sutton completed the podium and Thompson finished a noteworthy sixth.
Driver Ratings:
Dan Cammish – 9. Overshadowed by his teammates in qualifying, but made his way to the front in race one with a great move on Hill for victory. After being drawn on reversed-grid pole, his win was never threatened in the final race.
Tom Ingram – 8.5. After problems in practice, he still qualified near the front and stayed out of trouble to take two podiums, the latter after a strong defensive drive against Turkington, and also made good overtakes in the second race.
Jake Hill – 8.5. The BMW may not be the best car in wet conditions, but Hill did extremely well to take the lead in race one and hold off Cammish for so long, and shouldn’t have had a penalty for the Sutton incident. He also made a good fightback in race three. Potentially the title favourite.
Tom Chilton – 7.5. After a disappointing qualifying session and first race, Chilton’s fast and aggressive driving on the restart in race two allowed him to easily pass Morgan and win comfortably for the first time since 2019, while he was also quick in race three.
Adam Morgan – 7. Scored a lot of points, Morgan was not quite on the pace of Hill and Turkington and allowed Chilton to pass him for victory in race two, although the BMW was perhaps not fast enough to live with the Hyundai anyway. He was hit by Osborne on the restart in race three.
Colin Turkington – 5.5. A good qualifying session, albeit behind Hill, but Turkington was disappointing in the races after being forced off in race one but not making any progress, and later losing out to Sutton and Hill in race three.
Dan Rowbottom – 6.5. Qualifying was outstanding for Rowbottom, beating triple champion Sutton to pole, but his races were ruined by poor starts and a general lack of pace, losing out to Watson in race one and Ingram in race two, and being hit by Thompson in race three.
Andrew Watson – 9. The most impressive rookie debut for years, as in a car that had failed to finish higher than fifth last season he was able to make numerous passes and catch the leaders in the first race, finishing fourth. He was unlucky in race two and finished behind Taylor-Smith in race three, but already looks like a potential champion of the future.
Ash Sutton – 6.5. He was the fastest driver in qualifying but missed pole because of a mistake, and then chopped Hill too aggressively in the first race, leading to his retirement. His third race drive was very strong, with a great pass on Turkington for third, and he perhaps looks like the title favourite, along with Hill.
Bobby Thompson – 5.5. A lack of testing perhaps contributed to his underwhelming performances in qualifying and the first race, but Thompson did well to take tenth in race two and start at the front for the finale. In the race he held on well to finish sixth but was lucky to keep the position after cynically firing off Rowbottom.
Josh Cook – 6.5. A fantastically quick but error-prone performance for Cook, who was by far the fastest Honda but went off in race one, before making a glut of overtakes to pass the likes of Turkington and Butcher and finish ninth in race one. After bad luck in race two, he did similarly in the finale to take seventh.
Sam Osborne – 6. A long way off the pace of his NAPA Ford teammates in qualifying and the races, but when the opportunity presented itself in race two, Osborne claimed his first podium in the BTCC, holding off Stephen Jelley. He tagged Morgan in race three.
Stephen Jelley – 4.5. The slowest of the BMWs in qualifying and was taken out in both race one and three, although he seems very prone to being taken out. In race two he had an opportunity for a podium but couldn’t pass Osborne.
Aron Taylor-Smith – 6.5. Very much overshadowed by new teammate Watson, but Taylor-Smith still scored good points in races one and three and was faster than his rookie teammate in the latter. The Vauxhall seems a faster car than last year.
Ricky Collard – 6.5. An excellent qualifying and race one, where he finished sixth, saw him as the best of the Toyotas, but he collided with another car in race two and went off in race three, still salvaging some points.
Rory Butcher – 5. A strangely underwhelming race for the form driver of the end of last season, outpaced by both his less experienced teammates all weekend and unable to make much progress in the races.
Mikey Doble – 5.5. Put in the shadow of fellow rookie Watson in qualifying and the first race, but a solid drive in the second race on the right tyres saw him hunt down Nic Hamilton for fifth, and he stayed on the back of his teammates in the finale.
George Gamble – 5.5. Faster than Butcher and had a great first race to move forward to eighth despite zero hybrid, and was also the top Toyota in race three. But he threw away a podium by going off trying to pass Pearson in race two.
Nic Hamilton – 4.5. After struggling in qualifying and race one, although he was in contention with the other backmarkers, Hamilton was given a golden opportunity in race two with an inspired tyre choice and raced better than ever before to finish a career-best sixth despite losing out to Doble.
Nick Halstead – 3.5. At the start of his first full season, Halstead was a long way off the pace of his teammates and dropped it into the gravel on multiple occasions, meaning it would have been a very poor weekend if not for the fact that he was among those to make the early stop in race two and kept it on the island in difficult conditions to finish seventh.
Aiden Moffat – 4.5. A surprisingly quiet and underwhelming weekend in his first races back in front-wheel-drive for Moffat who was off the pace of Cook and made a few mistakes, but scored some points.
Dan Lloyd – 5.5. By far the fastest of the Cupras in qualifying but went off in race one and sunk like a stone in race three, probably with some kind of damage.
Dexter Patterson – 5. Outqualified Thompson and scored good points in race one, but was unlucky to miss out in the other two having showed decent pace.
Jack Butel – 3.5. Faster than Hamilton and Edwards in qualifying, in the other Cupras, but couldn’t score any points in the races.
Will Powell – 3. In a more competitive car than last year, but still struggled for pace and made mistakes, finishing just one race outside the points.
Ronan Pearson – 7.5. A very impressive debut as he beat Chilton in qualifying and then finished an excellent third in race two, only to lose it as he failed the ride-height check. Couldn’t score points in the other two races after incidents.
Jade Edwards – 3. Was the slowest car in qualifying and couldn’t finish any of the races due to car problems. Her car was finished so late, and it is still the one that Powell, Mitchell and Geddie had problems with in the past, so maybe shouldn’t have a representative rating at all.
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