Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport has reason to be hopeful for the rest of the season, after one of the Lancashire-based squad’s best weekends to date. Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship saw the Mercedes-Benz A-Class race to third, second and fourth across the three races at the high-speed Thruxton circuit.

The team endured a frustrating start to the season – scoring one podium from the first six events of 2019 – which prompted a recent change in engineering personnel for the Hampshire races, as staff who previously worked with both Ciceley Motorsport and Adam Morgan were drafted in to bring about a change in fortune for the remaining rounds.

It was evident that there was an immediate difference in car performance for Adam, lining up fourth for the first race of the weekend - his strongest qualifying performance of 2019.

Adam clinched his first podium since the season-opener at Brands Hatch after a race-long battle with the Honda Civics of Dan Cammish and Josh Cook in race one.

The A-Class took on 42 kilos of success ballast for race two, proving a further test for Adam and his newfangled team of engineers. A season best second place awaited the Lancashire driver at the flag as he followed Josh Cook home.

The semi-reversed grid for the final race of the day meant Morgan started fifth, carrying a further six kilos after his race two success. In tricky conditions, he held his nerve and even gained a place (with an audacious dive to the outside of the chicane) eventually finishing fourth to complete the team’s second best point scoring weekend ever.

Dan Rowbottom confirmed a strong weekend for the outfit as the BTCC rookie added to his 2019 points tally.

Ciceley Motorsport currently sits fifth in the independent teams' standings while Morgan occupies the sixth independent driver spot, two points shy of a top five position.

A return to form means the team are upbeat and hopeful of similar results heading to Knockhill - a track where Adam scored a second place finish in 2015 and narrowly missed out on a podium last season.

“Straight away, the car felt different,” Adam commented. “It is so much easier to drive and that in turn gives you more confidence. We needed to know where the root of the problem was and we felt fresh eyes would be a good way of starting that process.

“I made a good start in race one and got alongside Cammish, I then looked after the tyres for the first few laps which helped in the battles later on. A podium is a huge boost for us all and the car just felt great.

“Race two was the first time I’ve run with weight all year so we didn’t really know how the car was going to react, but it was excellent once again. Maybe there was a bit left in me, but I just want good finishes and points, so another podium is brilliant. We discovered when we got the car back that a clutch release bearing failed so we needed to do an engine change before race three.

“It’s been an incredible weekend. The car feels so different, much easier to drive, more confidence inspiring and we have had pace that we’ve lacked all season. We had great pace in race three against lighter cars and we’ve done so little to the setup all weekend, just the occasional camber change, because it has worked. We’re back!”

Norman Burgess, Commercial Director of Ciceley Motorsport said: “It was a tough decision to part with our Italian friends after all their endeavours, which we appreciate massively but we have shown that a fresh set of eyes and different ways of engineering a car have worked well.

“Adam has been in the mix every time he’s hit the track and the morale in the team has skyrocketed accordingly. It’s been a tough start to the year but this has been a massive boost for us all. Dan has had a great weekend too, he is really getting to grips with his car and I am certain that his first top ten finish is just around the corner.

“We go to Knockhill now confident of running at the front and finishing the season on a high note.”

Rory ready to race the AmD Honda at Knockhill in just over two weeks’ time.

Can he put on a show for the Scottish home fans?

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?”