The BTCC on the weekend of August 17th & 18th makes its second trip to the high speed sweeps of Thruxton. Saturday saw a close qualifying which saw Sam Tordoff taking a surprise pole position in the FK2 generation Honda Civic Type R with Jason Plato lining up alongside, the Plato fire seemingly stoked after Snetterton.
Race 1 on Sunday saw Tordoff make a strong start in his Civic, Jason Plato meanwhile came to grief before the race had even started, overshooting his grid spot alongside Tordoff earning himself a drive-through penalty. Plato immediately took his penalty which plunged him to the back of the grid. Back at the front of the field, Tordoff set a blistering pace, seemingly at one with his FK2 Civic with Dan Cammish in the factory FK8 Honda Civic in hot pursuit followed by Adam Morgan in his Mercedes A Class, Morgan enjoying a good turn of speed after a challenging 2019 season so far.
In the mid-pack, Championship leader Colin Turkington duked it out with Andrew Jordan who currently lies second in the championship, despite the best attempts of Turkington to fend off the charging Jordan, it wasn’t enough and eventually Jordan would overhaul Turkington. Plato meanwhile was driving the wheels off his Vauxhall Astra, regaining significant ground on the cars ahead of him after his drive-through penalty.
The battle at the head of field never truly heated up as Tordoff’s pace was too much for the chasing Dan Cammish and Adam Morgan, it was the first win of the year for Tordoff who it has to be said has endured rotten luck through the 2019 season. Dan Cammish would finish close behind with Adam Morgan rounding out the podium in a strong showing for the himself and the venerable Mercedes A class.
Race 1 results.
- Sam Tordoff
- Dan Cammish
- Adam Morgan
- Josh Cook
- Tom Oliphant
Race 2 would see Tordoff start from the point once again as a result of victory in Race 1 with Cammish alongside in second place. Tordoff made another good start, meanwhile Cammish bogged down off the line, losing positions to the cars immediately behind which made a better start. Tordoff’s lead wouldn’t last long as he was swallowed up by the chasing pack coming into the final chicane. Josh Cook in the newer FK8 Civic Type R swept passed Tordoff along with Adam Morgan and Tom Oliphant in his BMW 330.
Josh Cook, who has had a breakout year in the BTCC in 2019 set sail at the head of the field, Thruxton playing to the strengths of both the old FK2 and the newer FK8 Honda Civic Type-R’s. In the shemozzle behind, Matt Neal had climbed his way up the order and was fighting it out with Tom Oliphant in his BMW 330, delighting the Thruxton crowds. Adam Morgan meanwhile was keeping relatively close to Josh Cook but wasn’t making any in-roads, yet he had gapped the battling Neal & Oliphant.
Josh Cook took his third win of the 2019 season after putting in a dominant display in his Honda Civic Type-R. As Cook took the win and Adam Morgan followed shortly after, Matt Neal meanwhile put in a stunning move on Tom Oliphant at the final chicane, sending the crowds down at the final corner into frenzy and elevating Neal into third place.
After the race finish the reverse grid draw took place, which saw Rob Collard selected to start from pole position for Race 3.
Race 2 results
- Josh Cook
- Adam Morgan
- Matt Neal
- Tom Oliphant
- Dan Cammish
Race 3 saw Rob Collard make an impressive start in his Vauxhall Astra from the pole position, Tom Oliphant made a sublime start in his BMW 330, using the BMW’s rear wheel drive action to good effect to leapfrog Dan Cammish’s Honda. Collard set off with a strong and consistent pace in the Astra which had shown good pace around Thruxton all weekend with Oliphant and Cammish tailing Collard’s Astra.
The eyes of the crowd meanwhile were being drawn further down the grid to the battle royale, taking place between Tom Ingram, Ash Sutton, Josh Cook & Andrew Jordan, each of their cars performing very differently around Thruxton but turning similar lap times, resulting in a titanic battle between the four drivers. Back at the front of the grid, Dan Cammish muscled his way ahead of Oliphant’s BMW 330. Colin Turkington meanwhile was desperately fending off Race 1 winner Sam Tordoff and the recovering Jason Plato, but Turkington would have no choice but to yield to the quicker Tordoff and Plato, Turkington not quite having the ultimate pace of the cars ahead of him through the weekend.
Dan Cammish at the head of the field had been nibbling away at Rob Collard’s lead and had now found himself in a positon where he could start turning the screw on Collard. On lap 10, Collard finally buckled under the pressure which allowed Cammish to jump into the lead. Shortly after Cammish had jumped into the lead, the weather turned ugly, a sudden downpour for the final few laps turned the race into a combination of a torrid battle for position and survival. For Cammish, it was no bother, as he romped home to take the factory Honda squads first win of 2019 and Cammish’s first win in the BTCC.
Race 3 results
- Dan Cammish
- Rob Collard
- Matt Neal
- Adam Morgan
- Jason Plato
Championship Standings
- Colin Turkington – 249 points
- Andrew Jordan – 219 points
- Dan Cammish – 215 points
- Josh Cook – 211 points
- Rory Butcher – 188 points
At the close of the weekend, there are just 3 rounds of the championship remaining, Turkington holds a commanding lead & Andrew Jordan needs to pick up a good haul of points in the next 3 rounds to prevent Turkington from running away with the championship at the season finale on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
The next round of the championship takes place on the weekend of September 14th & 15th at the rollercoaster of Knockhill.
