Brands Hatch preview: Mr Consistent vs the Comeback King
A dramatic 2018 British Touring Car Championship season reaches its conclusion at the iconic Brands Hatch GP circuit this weekend, with a tale of two drivers going for top honours after two very different seasons.
Leading the way is West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington, the ultimate professional who has bounced back from the heartbreak of missing out at the final round in 2017 and carries a 34-point lead into the meeting in his BMW 125i M-Sport, thanks to a season which has married speed, consistency and an unerring ability to bring the car home towards the sharp end.
And standing in the way of the Northern Irishman taking a third BTCC crown is Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, outstanding all year and armed with a Toyota Avensis which has proved to be a rocket ship around both Brands layouts ever since the 25-year-old first raced it in 2014.
Turkington can take comfort from the fact that no driver has overturned a deficit as large as 34 points over the final weekend of the season, with a maximum of 67 sitting on the table. But he will be far from complacent, especially given the BMW’s middling form around the GP loop in the past, not to mention the past speed of the Avensis run so effectively by the single-car Speedworks team.
Turkington has been the absolute epitome of consistency this season. The 36-year-old has only one win to his name, secured at Oulton Park in June, but has taken no fewer than nine other podium finishes and 17 top six finishes across the year. The importance of races such as Snetterton’s Diamond Double – where Turkington dragged his battle-scarred 125i to the flag in sixth – are exactly the sort of races that commentators reflect on at the year’s end, working out where championships are won and lost.
For his part, Ingram has taken three victories but has added ‘only’ six further podiums to that tally, among 13 top six finishes in total. And while his rival has finished all but two races, Ingram has three costly retirements and a disqualification from 2nd at Knockhill on his report card – a race which arguable swung the title battle decisively in Turkington’s favour, as he capitalised with two further podiums.
Epic drives through the field, such as those at Snetterton, Rockingham and Silverstone, have become the hallmark of Ingram’s season in a car which has been very fast on base weight, with a turning ability more akin to a kart than a race-going version of a large family saloon. After a brilliant 2017, Ingram has cemented his place at the BTCC’s top table this year – but it is the metronomic efficiency of his main rival, married to his speed and racecraft, which could be the decisive factor.
Best of the rest
Behind the top two, an honourable mention has to go to Motorbase Performance’s Tom Chilton, the only other driver with a mathematical chance of taking the title in Kent. While the likes of Ash Sutton, Jack Goff, Josh Cook and Matt Neal have all looked like staging a genuine title tilt before tailing off, the 33-year-old has used his experience to rack up an impressively consistent set of results to remain in contention.
Successfully dodging the chronic luck which has affected his team-mate Sam Tordoff, Chilton took a win at Knockhill and has racked up five further podiums in his Ford Focus RS to sit 64 points behind Turkington with 67 to play for. And while a title is extremely unlikely, Chilton is in pole position to secure the ‘best of the rest’ crown in an extremely tightly-packed top 10. Just 21 points separates the former independents champion in third from Jack Goff in eighth.
More titles to be decided
Team Dynamics’ Dan Cammish took an unassailable lead in the Jack Sears Trophy in his Honda Civic Type-R at Silverstone, but there are still four other titles up for grabs in Kent.
BMW are in pole position to secure another manufacturers’ crown, defending an 88-point lead over Honda, while Turkington’s Team BMW squad leads Power Maxed TAG Racing by 64 points in the teams’ championship.
Ingram is bidding for a second successive Independents Trophy crown and leads fellow contender Chilton by just 20 points, with Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan 42 points back in third. Ingram and Chilton’s teams do battle in the independents teams championship, with just 10 points separating Speedworks Motorsport from Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher.
It has been a record-breaking Diamond Jubilee season, with 16 race winners and arguably the closest-matched field in the championship’s recent history. Ingram will need to break more records if he is going to take a maiden crown, but as anyone who has watched a BTCC Finals meeting will tell you, nothing is ever out of the question.
Let battle commence…
Timetable
Saturday 29th September
09:30 – Free Practice 1
12:05 – Free Practice 2
15:20 – Qualifying
Sunday 30th September
11:35 – Race 1 (15 laps)
14:25 – Race 2 (15 laps)
17:15 – Race 3 (15 laps)
