Finals day is back upon us again, and the BTCC heads back to the Brands Hatch GP circuit.
Brands Hatch has always been a popular circuit for BTCC/BSCC meetings hosting no less than eight rounds and twelve championship races in the inaugural season. Given the association with series, it seems fitting that one of the class winners in the very first BSCC race was Jack Sears, with John Sprinzel the other class winner. That same day, Tommy Sopwith was also a class winner, and the two were tied at the end of the very first finals day, again at Brands Hatch before the shootout.
The layout back then is very similar to the current Indy layout, although with different corner names to those currently used. The design utilising the natural amphitheatre to create a layout that offers great viewing opportunities and significant elevation changes to challenge all types of racer.
The first time we saw NGTC machines running as constructor entries on the Indy circuit, the race wins were taken by Collard in a BMW, Neal in a Civic and Plato in an MG. The results were shared between RWD and FWD cars, and across a range of manufacturers. There appeared to be no specific advantage to any particular setup.
As with most recent years, the series visited the circuit twice. The events of the 2019 finale on the GP circuit are still fresh in many memories, and we recall the close battle between Turkington, Jordan and Cammish that was ultimately decided by a brake failure on the Honda.
Last time round, the Indy circuit was used for the finale, and on this occasion Sutton took the title in the last round after a close battle with Turkington who went into the event with a 9-point lead. Sutton outscored Turkington by 23 points that day, a bigger swing is required this time around for Sutton to be overhauled.
Qualifying is scheduled to be on the ITV Hub at
www.itv.com/btcc, and the session starts at 1500hrs. Sunday coverage starts at 10:45 on ITV4. The full timetable can be found at -
https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...s-Hatch-GP.pdf - the first BTCC race begins at 11:30.
Early weather forecast shows that Saturday is forecast to be 14deg with light rain.
Sunday 16deg with rain showers.
With one trophy already decided, Rowbottom will be awarded the Jack Sears crown at the end of day podium ceremonies. There are a few others that still need to be decided, and whilst some destinations look fairly certain, I’m pretty sure there will be at least one surprise along the way.
The Goodyear Wingfoot Award currently stands:
1-Colin TURKINGTON-106
2-Rory BUTCHER-95
3-Jake HILL-90
This will be decided on Saturday, and all three drivers are in with a shout.
The Independent Teams’ title sees Laser Tools with a gap ahead of Ginsters, Halfords and BTC Racing.
1-Laser Tools Racing-437
2-Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com-394
3-Halfords Racing with Cataclean-386
4-BTC Racing-377
For any of the teams to overhaul Laser Tools, they need all 3 cars to register a number of concurrent DNFs. This one could be decided in round 28.
The Independent Drivers’ title has become the two-horse race that was predicted between Sutton and Ingram.
1-Ash SUTTON-363
2-Tom INGRAM-330
Sutton has the upper hand, and this could potentially be decided in round 28.
The Teams’ Championship also looks like Laser Tools have one hand on the trophy:
1-Laser Tools Racing-540
2-BTC Racing-463
3-Team BMW-431
BTC and Team BMW have managed to take this to the final event, but Laser Tools will surely have this trophy wrapped up.
In the Manufacturers’/Constructors’ Championship:
1-BMW-793
2-Motorbase Performance/Ford-702
Curiously, the points tally of Motorbase/Ford is the same that BMW had going into Donington - BMW should have this one wrapped up early though.
And finally, the Drivers’. BTCC.net state that five drives have a mathematical chance of taking the title. My calculations suggest this is actually six:
1-Ash SUTTON-316
2-Colin TURKINGTON-284
3-Tom INGRAM-278
4-Jake HILL-278
5-Josh COOK-271
6-Rory BUTCHER-250
A pole, 3 wins, 3 fastest laps and leading all 3 races will see Butcher score 67 points, taking his total to 317. Realistically, the contest is between the leading five and Sutton needs to have a disaster of a day to not take the title.
Here’s hoping that the title is decided without controversy, that the discussion revolves around the on-track talent, the driver-bashing can be put aside for a while and may the best driver win…………..