Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing’s Jason Plato has taken 14 top ten finishes from the last 18 races – making him one of the form drivers in the BTCC – but the tin-top legend is still searching for his first win of the 2019 campaign.

As the series heads north of the border to Knockhill in just over two weeks’ time the official BTCC website caught up with the Vauxhall man, as he talked about one of the most ‘crucial’ qualifying sessions of the season and even had time to mention ‘deep-fried Mars bars’…

A hard-fought win for Dan Cammish topped off a strong weekend back at Thruxton for Halfords Yuasa Racing, with the team scoring podium finishes in all three races.

Qualifying brought contrasting fortunes for Honda's two drivers. After topping the time sheets in first practice, Cammish took a competitive third grid spot with a lap of more than 111mph, less than one-hundredth-of-a-second off of the pole position time. Neal struggled with the setup of his Civic Type R (FK8) and wound up a disappointing 17th on the grid, half-a-second behind his team-mate.

Cammish – scorer of eight podiums in the previous 14 races and one of the form men in the BTCC – was carrying more success ballast than either of his rivals ahead aboard his Type R, but he maintained third spot at the start of race one - quickly turning into second when Jason Plato was penalised for a jumped start. Thereafter, the Honda stayed in touch with leader Sam Tordoff, but the extra weight told as the race wore on. Cammish, though, withstood the challenge of Adam Morgan to score his eighth podium finish of the season.

Neal staged an impressive comeback performance to carve through the field, passing fellow former champions Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordan and Ashley Sutton on the way to an eighth-place finish.

Weighed down by even more success ballast, Cammish's car bogged down at the start of race two and he slipped back to sixth. Neal meanwhile made up a place and the two Hondas then ran together for several laps as part of a frantic battle involving a train of cars. Opportunistic passing with 11 laps on the board promoted Neal to fourth just ahead of his team-mate, before he spectacularly rounded rival Tom Oliphant at the final chicane to secure third and maintain his record of at least one podium finish at Thruxton in each of the last 10 seasons. Cammish came home a fighting fifth.

Fortune then smiled on the Halfords Yuasa Racing drivers, the draw for the final race putting Cammish on the outside of the front row with Neal just behind in fourth. The field lined up under threatening skies, and after initially being outdragged off the line by Oliphant, Cammish quickly regained second spot and closed in on leader Rob Collard.

Rain began to fall around the circuit as the Honda made several passing attempts on the run to the chicane, finally making the move stick with four laps left. Controlling his slick-shod car on the now rain-soaked track, Cammish stretched his lead to secure the Halfords Yuasa squad's first victory of the season. To complete the team's joy, Matt Neal took third spot.

Cammish and Neal now lie third and seventh in the Driver's title chase heading towards Knockhill in a couple of weeks' time, while Honda has closed the gap in the Manufacturers' championship, holding a strong second, and Halfords Yuasa Racing regained the lead of the Teams' points chase.

"Thruxton was my best weekend this year: first, second and fifth," said Cammish. "To finish race one in second with the weight on was a good effort. I almost stalled at the start of race two and if I had, my weekend would have been ruined – shows you need a bit of luck in Touring Cars at times given just how fine the margins are.

"I battled back to fifth and once the weight came out for race three I knew we had a good chance. I drove a sensible race, didn’t take too much out of the tyre in the opening laps. It was difficult with the rain at the end, but the team kept me cool and calm and we took the win.

"I was on pole at Knockhill last year. I’ll go there with the car much heavier than ever before but that won’t stop me giving it a good go."

"We had a great day, especially considering how we started the weekend – I was very relieved," added Matt Neal – Halfords Yuasa Racing driver and Team Dynamics Director. "I didn't get a win but the next best thing – four podiums for us as a team, our best weekend of the year so far.

"Knockhill is a circuit that favours some of our rivals but we’ll go there in confident mood and see what we can do."

Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher took three hard-fought points finishes during a tough return visit to Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit for Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship last weekend.

Mechanical issues, contact and qualifying woes put paid to the Motorbase-run squad’s podium hopes during the seventh BTCC meeting of the year. A gritty fight back, however, managed to salvage three points finishes from the squad’s misfortunes.

Struggling to unlock the full potential of the Focus RS during Saturday’s Free Practice and qualifying sessions, Tom Chilton and Ollie Jackson found themselves in 16th and 14th spots respectively for the first of Sunday’s three races.

Chilton’s hopes of recovery in race one were quickly dashed when the #3 Focus RS was forced to return to the pits on the green flag lap with a turbo issue, meaning the best result he could muster was 22nd having raced from the back of the pack. Contact picked up on the opening lap curtailed Jackson’s efforts, as he took the flag in 15th.

Aiming for the top-12 with the hopes of a favourable reversed-grid draw result in race three, Chilton recovered well to scrape his way up the field and into 12^th.  Jackson, meanwhile, dropped back to 18^th.

Just missing out on the reverse grid benefit, Chilton made a strong opening charge from 12th in the final contest. With the imminent threat of rain, the 34-year-old had caught up to the pack battling for sixth place with just three laps remaining.

As Jason Plato, Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram and Josh Cook all jostled for position and the heavens opened, Chilton he made a brave lunge round the outside as they charged into the complex.

Having almost completed the stunning move, the #3 Focus RS took a heavy hit from behind, resulting in a huge slide which forced Chilton into a dramatic save. In spite of his heroic efforts, the incident dropped him down the order, and he eventually crossed the line in 22nd.

Jackson’s consistent points-scoring efforts continued in race three, with the Alcon and Beavis Morgan-backed racer picking up his eighth points finish from the last nine rounds, taking 15^th at the final flag.

Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher remains third in the Independent Teams’ standings and eighth overall ahead of the next race meeting at Knockhill. Tom Chilton currently sits 12^thoverall and fourth in the Independents' standings, with Ollie Jackson in 18^th and ninth positions.  

“That was a tough weekend," said Team Manager Oly Collins. "We came to Thruxton with optimism and promise after recent weeks of testing and development with the Focus but we didn't get it right when it mattered.

"Our pace in FP2 suggested we had the car in a place where we could qualify well which is so important round here. But when you qualify that far down in the BTCC it’s always going to be a big ask.

“On race day, any glimmer of hope sadly failed to come to anything. We need to learn from our failings this weekend in every area and make sure it doesn't happen again. We have a great team and this weekend didn't reflect that.”

Tom Chilton added: “Thruxton is still one of my favourite circuits, just not in a Ford Focus. We’ve moved forwards from when we last came here. I was fourth in FP2 and we made up another three-tenths in qualifying but it just wasn’t enough. Everyone else made up more. Sadly, qualifying where we did just put us on the back foot.

“To be honest, I was having a great last couple of races. We had a quick car in race three, were making up places and then it all bunched up at the chicane. I pulled a great move on Sutton as it started raining and then I just got a huge hit from behind that lifted my back wheel off the ground. That put me into a humongous backwards slide in fifth gear and ruined my race. I think we could have made top six or seven from there.

“Knockhill is next though. I won there last year in the wet. We know that the Focus goes well there as well. I’m hoping for a little more luck.”

“It’s been a challenging weekend again and we’ve not really been on top of it all weekend," said Ollie Jackson. "We improved the car over the course of the day, but unfortunately so did the back half of the field. That’s what has hung us out to dry unfortunately. I think we’ve shown flashes of pace but we’ve not quite get a handle on it. Thruxton turned out to be a bogey track for us last time out and it’s been another one for us. At least we’ve come away with some more points.
 
“We’ve got three rounds coming up next that suit the focus and we’ve got to make hay while the sun shines. As long we can keep our noses clean, I think we can have three really strong meetings.”

Tom Ingram added another hat-trick of points-scoring finishes to his 2019 tally as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship sped into the UK’s fastest circuit, Thruxton, last weekend (17/18 August), although a rough-and-tumble final race prevented the Team Toyota GB with Ginsters star from exploiting his and the Toyota Corolla’s full potential.
 
After featuring well inside the top ten in both free practice sessions in Hampshire – going quickest of all through the middle sector of the lap in FP1 – Ingram went on to qualify eighth amongst the 30 high-calibre contenders in the UK’s premier motor racing series. The Bucks-born ace was, however, left to rue a ‘moment’ at Church – the fastest corner in the country – that likely deprived him of a top five grid slot for race one.
 
A mistake at the Complex on the first lap of the curtain-raiser cost Ingram ground but he immediately fought back, and he was zeroing in on the scrap ahead for seventh until he found himself shuffled down to 11^th in the closing stages.
 
Ingram spent the majority of the second race embroiled in a multi-car tussle for third, keeping company with the likes of Colin Turkington, Matt Neal, Andrew Jordan and Ashley Sutton – BTCC champions all. After dispatching Sutton and race one winner Sam Tordoff in swift succession, he went on to take the chequered flag eighth.
 
Race three got underway beneath menacing skies, and in front of the live ITV4 television cameras and an appreciative trackside audience, the Team Toyota GB with Ginsters man was the architect of a superbly assertive opening lap to pass both Turkington and Jordan and climb to seventh.
 
A dramatic duel with Sutton followed – encompassing countless side-by-side skirmishes and no shortage of contact – but the 25-year-old boldly held his nerve. His determination eventually paid off as – headlights ablaze – he grittily found a way past his race-long nemesis on the very last lap, notwithstanding intensifying rain that injected an extra challenge into what was already an extremely physical and demanding contest. A better fastest lap than any of the top four finishers went to show what might have been.
 
The trio of results nonetheless kept Ingram firmly inside the top ten in the Drivers’ standings in eighth place heading next to Knockhill in Scotland on 14/15 September. Team Toyota GB with Ginsters will travel north of the border occupying ninth spot in the Teams’ table.
 
“The results may not necessarily reflect it, but the Corolla definitely felt better than it did at Thruxton earlier in the year," said Ingram. "It was just what I would call a very ‘vanilla’ weekend and we slipped under the radar a bit – not scene-stealing like Snetterton, but there-or-thereabouts throughout. There’s clearly still room for improvement, but equally, you can never read too much into people’s form at Thruxton because it’s such a niche circuit.
 
“We underperformed in qualifying, and that one was completely on me. I just dropped a wheel slightly off at Church – not the kind of place you want to be making a mistake – and filled the radiator up with grass. That left us slightly out-of-position on the grid, although we didn’t really have the pace in race one to do anything special anyway – we seemed to lose something from Saturday to Sunday that we still need to evaluate and get to the bottom of.
 
“The car was sliding around quite a lot and I was really having to hang on through Church, but we got our heads down, worked hard and consistently improved it over the course of the day. We struggled for grip again early on in race two which resulted in a couple of big ‘moments’, but the Corolla came on stronger over the second half and that allowed me to pull off a few enjoyable moves – although it wasn’t until race three that we got it properly where we wanted it to be.
 
“That’s racing sometimes – we’ll come back fighting at Knockhill.”

Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Ashley Sutton produced another battling performance in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship last weekend as the series made its second visit of the season to Thruxton.

Looking to bounce back after a narrowly missing out on victory at Snetterton last time out, the 2017 champion endured a frustrating return to the Hampshire venue for the seventh event of the 2019 campaign, clinching a trio of points finishes. 

At the wheel of his Subaru Levorg, the 25-year-old had a challenging qualifying session as he battled for grid position around the ultra-fast 2.35-mile layout. 

Extracting the maximum out of his rear-wheel-drive machine, Sutton secured a 12th place start for the opening encounter of the weekend. 

Finding himself in the thick of the action on race day, Sutton kicked off his Sunday with a hard-fought drive into the top ten. Starting on the sixth row of the grid, the Go Homes-sponsored ace starred in a race-long scrap with the likes of Matt Neal, Andrew Jordan and Tom Ingram to cross the line in ninth. 

Sutton once again showed his fighting spirit in race two as he battled valiantly to tally more championship points. 

Pushing himself and the car to the limit, the manufacturer-backed racer ran as high as ninth before a big moment at Village on lap 11 left him to call upon his supreme car control to keep his Subaru on the circuit and ultimately hold on to 11th place.

Digging deep in the third and final race of the weekend, which was affected by heavy rain mid-way through, Sutton rounded off his race day at Thruxton with another gritty performance as he made progress to claim a second ninth place finish.

Sutton sits sixth in the BTCC Drivers’ Championship whilst Adrian Flux Subaru Racing are fourth and seventh in the BTCC Manufacturer/Constructors Championship and BTCC Teams’ Championship respectively.

Ashley Sutton: “That was another tough day at the office. From the start of the weekend I was on the absolute limit and I think the only way I could have gone any quicker was if the track was a bit wider!

“Coming into the weekend we knew it was going to be difficult but there really was nothing more to extract from it; our qualifying trim is our race trim. I had to really get my elbows out to stay in the fight, and that huge moment in race two was quite something as well.

“One lap pace is what kept us in the mix, and through the corners we were able to remain in the hunt as the chassis is mega - it’s getting swallowed up on the straights that just makes the racing that much harder.

“Everyone at Adrian Flux Subaru Racing is doing an amazing job and we will keep going. I’m not sure how Knockhill will go for us but we will give it everything we have; the saving grace there is that the soft tyre will be available to use and we’re normally strong on that.” 

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship heads north of the border to Scotland next for Rounds 22, 23 & 24 at Knockhill on September 14/15.

COMPETITION!! 👇👇👇👇

Get the chance to win the ‘The Grand Finale’ prize: x2 weekend paddock entry tickets to Brands Hatch Final, wave the chequered flag at the end of one race, grid walk ahead of all three showdown races, garage tour with one the leading BTCC teams and commemorative photo with you and your favourite driver! A real money can’t buy experience!

All you need to do is register with the official BTCC App. Search for the BTCC App in the App Store and Google Play.

Terms & Conditions

1 registration of the official BTCC App = one entry. Winners picked at random. The competition will close 4pm on Wednesday 2nd of October. The winner will be announced via the App the following morning, and will receive a separate email that will require a response within 24 hours.  If this does not happen, another winner will be selected. The winner must be available over the Brands Hatch race weekend (12th/13th October), transport to and from the circuit is not included. The prize is non-transferrable. Children under 16 will not be able to take part in the grid walk.

Fans to get unique insight during penultimate event of season

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship fans are set to enjoy a unique and ground-breaking experience when the series visits Silverstone in September, after a decision was made to reverse the pit garages for the event.

The move will see the front of the pit garages now face into the paddock, rather than the pit-lane, meaning teams and drivers will carry out most of their preparation work in clear view of the spectators.
 
The space and layout of the Silverstone paddock and pit-lane area has made this change both viable and safe. Teams’ transporters will be situated slightly further away from the pit garages, ensuring plenty of space is available for fans to view the cars and stars of the BTCC in their garage environment.

The BTCC has always prided itself on accessibility and an open paddock policy, as well as trying to be as engaged with its public as possible. This development is yet another innovation from the UK’s premier motorsport series.

Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive, said: “I think it’s a great idea – obviously, because it’s mine! But we’re doing this solely for the fans. It’ll give the teams and drivers more time to interact with the public and will really add to the whole BTCC experience for our spectators.
 
“Normally the garages are ‘dressed’ and set-up to face the pit-lane so are really only seen by ourselves – the fans usually just get to see the back walls of the garage and all the messy bits. By effectively reversing the pit garages so that the front faces into the paddock, they will get to see everything going on inside. 

“If it works – which I’m sure it will – in addition to Silverstone, the same layout could also be used at Donington Park and Snetterton – anywhere we can make plenty of room behind the garages. This will create a more immersive atmosphere as the fans can watch the teams and drivers preparing for their races. Then, when the cars need to be on track, the team will just push the car back and out the pit-lane door. 

“I’m quite proud of this concept. I don’t know of any other series that has done it, although I’m a little annoyed that I hadn’t thought of it many years ago...”

Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing returned to the super-fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire for rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, where local man Rob Collard would end the weekend on the podium.

Qualifying saw Collard and Jason Plato slot into P10 and P2, respectively, with Plato securing his first front row start since Brands Hatch in April.

Race one saw Plato receive a drive through penalty for lining up outside of his grid box. From P10, Collard made a great start to move immediately into P8, before sliding into P7.

Plato re-joined stone last (30^th) and, by lap seven, had sliced through the backmarkers into P24, keeping the pressure to move forward to finish P17.

Team-mate Collard meanwhile was closing in on the BMW of Tom Oliphant in fifth for the second time, before running out of laps and finishing sixth.

From the third row, Collard made a great move inside Oliphant through the Complex to move into P4 and right on the tail of the leaders and challenging for the podium.

By lap seven Plato was also flying, closing in on the battle for P7 and looking well on course to move into the top ten. The intense competition however saw Plato drop to P13 at the flag.

Collard was also in the thick of things in a great battle for the last podium place. The #9 Astra flew down the inside on the run down to Church, only to be squeezed at the apex; Collard dropped back to P6 but exemplified his speed with the third fastest race lap.

At the lights for the final race of the day, Collard kept his focus and made a great start to lead into the right, left, right Complex and away onto the high-speed curves around the back of the circuit.

Also showing great speed, Plato had moved into P9, only for Collard to lose the lead after a big slide at Church left him defenceless going into the chicane on lap ten.

By this point the rain was starting to fall more heavily, challenging the grip of the slick Dunlop tyres as well as the drivers’ skill. Into the closing stages, Collard had pulled clear of his pursuers to hold station in a comfortable second place and Plato had expertly fought his way past to grab a final fifth place finish at the flag.

“Really happy for the team, with two P6 and a podium,” said Collard. “Obviously gutted that we didn’t get a win. I’m pretty sure that had it not rained we had that in the bag, as I’d pulled out a measured gap and had it all under control. It would’ve been brilliant to take our first win in the car at my home circuit, but I’m leaving happy with that. The car felt great this weekend; I’m finally getting the hang of this front wheel drive malarkey again.”

“Race one was really frustrating, for obvious reasons, and has left a bit of a sour note on the day for me,” said Plato. “But all credit to the team, the car was great today and showed some amazing pace. I’ve had some great racing today and really enjoyed it. Race three was a positive end to the day for sure, and I think we’ve proved between Rob and I that we’re right on the pace, and will be aiming for the sharp end come Knockhill.”

“Coming back to Thruxton gave us a great benchmark to show our progress, though I don't think we're leaving with the results we quite deserve,” said Team Principal Adam Weaver. “I'm really pleased with the pace and race craft both drivers showed throughout the day, though obviously race one was really unfortunate for Jason. Both drove really well through the day, which the results show, and it was great to see Rob up on the podium again. That double podium has to be close now, surely?”

The BMW 3 Series continued to show its speed with another impressive display from all three drivers in Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.

Reigning champion Colin Turkington demonstrated his consistency with a trio of points hauls in his 330i M Sport while West Surrey Racing team-mate Andrew Jordan closed the gap to the Northern Irishman at the top of the standings with three solid scores of his own.

Meanwhile, Tom Oliphant was on form all weekend and came within inches of a podium finish for Team BMW in race two before his charge to the rostrum was scuppered by a late rain shower in a dramatic final race of the day. He still managed his best BTCC meeting to-date.

The squad’s impressive haul maintains BMW’s position at the top of the Manufacturers’ table with just nine races remaining this season.

Qualifying on Saturday was tough for the success ballast-laden duo of Turkington and Jordan, with the pair managing just 13th and 12th on the grid respectively.

Oliphant had more joy and slotted his 3 Series into seventh, with the 28-year-old able to move forward and record an excellent fifth-place finish in race one.

Jordan showed nerves of steel to thread his BMW through the traffic on lap one and enjoyed a thrilling battle with team-mate Turkington, nipping past when Ash Sutton pushed the reigning champion out wide.

Jordan eventually lost ground, however, leaving the BMW Pirtek Racing ace just one spot ahead of Turkington in 12th at the chequered flag.

The pair of title rivals continued to make steady progress through the field in race two, pulling a number of impressive moves as they fought their way into the top ten.

The BMW 330i M Sport proved the perfect tool as Jordan and Turkington went on the attack, with the former rising five places up to seventh and chipping away at his team-mate’s championship lead while the latter jumped four positions up to ninth.

Meanwhile, Oliphant got his head down after a lightning start and pulled an excellent move on Rob Collard before passing Sam Tordoff for third and looked set to seal a well-deserved podium, only to lose out to Matt Neal on the final lap.

The reverse-grid draw left Oliphant third and in the hunt for silverware again, with the Cheshire-born driver rocketing his 3 Series off the line and into contention for the race lead by the complex.

The BMW ace found his way past Cammish to sit in a provisional second but unfortunately couldn’t hold back the eventual race winner and an untimely rain shower in the closing stages saw Oliphant wind up seventh.

Jordan and Turkington were embroiled in the midfield action for the majority of race three, with the former going wheel-to-wheel alongside Tom Ingram on more than one occasion, and they again came home in close company with Jordan tenth and Turkington 13th as they navigated the wet conditions.

The results mean Turkington holds a 30-points advantage over Jordan at the top of the Drivers’ Standings while Oliphant sits 11th.

BMW has maintained its spot at the summit of the Manufacturers’ Standings while Team BMW sits second in the Teams’ order.

“It’s been a tough day and a tough weekend,” said Colin Turkington. “The qualifying result has determined our raceday because it’s incredibly difficult to get yourself out of the pack when the field is so evenly-matched.

“We knew [on Saturday] night that the key here would be to minimise the points loss, and finishing all three races at least did that. The car was better in race three but when you start P9 or so, it's very hard to get through. I thought we were in a better place but when the rain came down it was very tricky.

“Hopefully this is our one difficult weekend. It was hard graft for not very much reward – we're not used to being outside the top ten. If this is the worst day we have points-wise all year, I’ll take it. I’m still 30 points ahead in the championship, which is more than a race win, and next we go to Knockhill, which is a track where the BMWs have always gone well.”

“I’ve been the top BMW points-scorer in all three races and in qualifying, and that’s the first time it’s happened, so I’m very pleased about that,” said Oliphant. “We’ve had the 3 Series in the sweet spot from practice onwards and that’s given me a lot of confidence to drive really hard all day. It’s a bit disappointing to miss the podium in race two by less than a tenth of a second, and for the rain to come in race three when I was on course for second or third, but I’ve won the Jack Sears Trophy for the round, brought myself right back into contention for that title, and had three clean races and a big points haul. If we can take this form into Knockhill, where the BMW’s rear-wheel-drive should be a big help, we can have another good weekend there.”

“It’s been a tough day, but the big positive is that I’ve taken some points out of Colin’s lead at the head of the championship,” said Jordan. “Both of us carried a lot of ballast into the weekend and our pace has been pretty much identical all day.

“Qualifying 13th determined the way our raceday was going to turn out, because with everybody so close on times, it’s just impossible to come through the field, even when the weight drops off. The BMW was definitely fast in clear air though and I think if I’d got to the front, I could have had a real go. I was confident in race three when I got up to fourth off the line, but then I was hit, dropped a load of positions, and then the rain came and on slick tyres, we can’t compete against the front-wheel-drive cars in those conditions.”

Thruxton Circuit was the stage for another full-throttle weekend of motorsport action as the Hampshire speedbowl played host to the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for the second time this season.

Sam Tordoff, Josh Cook and Dan Cammish all stood on the top step of the podium after a thrilling day of racing that saw reigning champion Colin Turkington have his lead in the Drivers’ standings cut to just 30 points.

A full programme of support series also put on a feast of wheel-to-wheel entertainment for the spectators, who packed onto the famous banking around the WWII airfield, while a host of off-track activities kept families occupied throughout the weekend.

In total, fans enjoyed 16 outstanding races with the BTCC backed up by British F4, Porsche Carrera Supercup GB, Renault UK Clio Cup, Michelin Ginetta Juniors and the Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 Supercup as Thruxton made the most of a second visit from the TOCA package following a hugely successful event in May.

Tordoff enjoyed an excellent getaway from pole in the first BTCC race of the day, having produced a blistering lap to put his Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Honda Civic Type R (FK2) top of the timesheets on Saturday.

The same can’t be said for fan-favourite Jason Plato who overshot his front-row grid slot, triggering a drive-through penalty for the Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing ace which dropped him to the back.

The veteran proceeded to carve his way through the field, much to the delight of his celebrity guest James Martin, but Plato’s charge was eventually halted just outside the points in 17th.

Back at the front, Tordoff kept his cool to lead home Cammish and Adam Morgan, notching his first win of the 2019 season after a campaign plagued by bad luck.

Meanwhile, the crowd on the banking were treated to a thrilling race-long duel between championship leader Colin Turkington and his closest title rival, BMW stablemate Andrew Jordan – with the Pirtek Racing ace eventually gaining the upper hand to finish 12th and nibble away at the Northern Irishman's points advantage.

Tordoff picked up where he left off in race two, flying off the line and blasting through turn one below fans eagerly watching on from the balcony of the Thruxton Centre. Cammish, meanwhile, bogged down in his Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic, allowing Morgan and Josh Cook past on the run to the complex.

However, the Yorkshireman’s lead was short-lived as he was passed by both Cook and Morgan on the way into the chicane before tumbling further down the order when he lost out to Tom Oliphant.

Cook showed the field a clean pair of heels at the front to pick up his third win of the campaign while Morgan secured another comfortable second place ahead of Matt Neal, who sent the crowd wild with a superb last-lap move on Oliphant.

Hampshire hero Rob Collard was drawn on pole for the reverse grid race and shot away when the lights went out as Oliphant jumped Cammish while battles raged behind.

The Halfords Yuasa Racing ace soon muscled his way back past Oliphant on lap three but all eyes were fixed on an enthralling battle between Jordan, Tom Ingram, Ash Sutton and Cook.

Points-leader Turkington then lost out to Plato and Tordoff further down the field as the BTCC served up its usual dose of close-quarter squabbling while back at the front, Cammish capitalised on a mistake by Collard at Church to take the lead on lap 10.

The Honda star kept his cool despite a late downpour to take his ninth podium of the campaign and the team’s first victory of the season while Neal capped an excellent day for Team Dynamics with third behind Collard.

Ingram and Sutton clashed further back, allowing Cook and Plato to capitalise while the rear-wheel drive cars struggled for grip in the closing stages, creating even more excitement for the packed crowd.

The Carrera Cup field had been the first to take to the track in changeable conditions on Sunday morning, with Dan Harper initially struggling on slick tyres before carving his way back to the front and taking the spoils.

Harper doubled up in the second race later in the afternoon, holding off Josh Webster and Lewis Plato as the single-make series produced plenty of thrills and spills for the watching crowd.

Meanwhile, Will Burns built on his Saturday success in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, taking his second win of the weekend ahead of Tom Hibbert and Reece Somerfield before Harry King bounced back from a tough few rounds with victory in race three.

Elsewhere, Will Martin and Zak O’Sullivan went toe-to-toe in a titanic duel to the flag in the Ginetta Junior race, with the former eventually prevailing after James Hedley’s early retirement, while Carter Williams completed a clean sweep in British F4 with back-to-back victories for JHR Developments.

Finally, the Renault UK Clio Cup also threw up a stormer of a race which culminated in controversial contact between Jack Young and Max Coates at the final chicane, with the former taking the chequered flag but being penalised post-race and the latter ending up stranded on the grass and furious in parc ferme. The race win eventually went to Ethan Hammerton. 

As well as all the on-track action, this weekend was also notable for long-standing Thruxton Circuit Director Bill Coombs stepping away from the limelight as he takes more of a back seat role at the track.

“It’s 40 years since I did the racing school here, so it’s an appropriate time to back out,” he said.

“I’ve had some wonderful times here, particularly running the racing school, and more recently with the circuit. We’ve had this development plan which we have put into action and hopefully everybody has seen the changes that we’ve made over the past seven years, culminating in the Thruxton Centre.

“It is the only place that you can get so close to the action and it’s great that it’s situated on such a fast corner. The crowds love it here, and the hospitality has sold really well. Racing is always great here at Thruxton. It’s good racing on a super-fast, old-school circuit which we love.

“I’m still staying on the main BARC board so you will still see me around, but not doing the day-to-day operational stuff. I’m very pleased to hand that over to our team. We’ve got a fantastic team at Thruxton, and Pat Blakeney will head that up. I am sure he will do a fantastic job.”

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship will be returning to Thruxton for Rounds 10, 11 & 12 of the 2020 season on 16/17 May next year.