[BTCC] Round One, Donington Park 23-24 Apr, Races 1,2&3

[tux]

Whats with all the reliability issues? Hybrid system in the main was reliable in testing, no?

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by justracing

If I understood correctly that was a mega result for Adam Morgan who had no hybrid boost at all.

Alternatively could it be a case of the hybrid system not making much difference? Taking nothing away from Adam!

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by tux

Whats with all the reliability issues? Hybrid system in the main was reliable in testing, no?

Not really. Most teams reported teething issues with the system, and very little running under the full stress of race pace.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Alternatively could it be a case of the hybrid system not making much difference? Taking nothing away from Adam!

Team confirmed that Adam had no boost.

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by tux

Whats with all the reliability issues? Hybrid system in the main was reliable in testing, no?

any time a car has an issue doesnt mean its hybrid related

[mprmke]

Testing with the Hybrid system was very limited, considering the magnitude of how it’s going to affect the racing this season. Ideally, you’d have wanted at least 12 months of proper testing, but obviously that’s not practically possible, so increased issues this season, especially in the early rounds, are going to be inevitable.

[justracing]

Clutch issue for Turkington in race 2, starting from 14th in the last race.

[Robin Marriott]

Seems odd to me that they’re bothering to make the cars leave the pit at the start of the session on electric power only but continuing with the bizarre hot start after the post race checks rule.

[porsche962fan]

HARD performed way above expectations , so did Gamble

[GT6]

a good weekend for the btcc, 3 races 3 different winners and a real shake up the rules, looking forward to seeing the cars at brands.

[Evantra]

Tom Ingram, do not mess this up!

[mprmke]

Great result for Hill. Perfect example that the weekend is never a write-off no matter how bad the result is in race one, as long as the car is still in one piece.

If he’d have been a bit more measured at the beginning of the first race, a WSR BMW would have one that race and had a 1-2, plus he likely wouldn’t have sustained the damaged that ultimately got him DQ. But showed he is elite level in that last race.

BMW looks head and shoulders above with the Hybrid at the moment and would have dominated if race 1 had gone more to plan. Bearing in mind Donington is one of their weaker circuits.

Hyundai best of the FWD at the moment.

Sutton always a threat, even without the edge he had in the Infiniti, he’s still knocking on the door.

Plato unluckiest driver of the day to suffer a puncture on the last lap of Race 1. Would have had two comfortable top 10 finishes, followed by being somewhere near pole in race 3.

Cook doing well to turn his weekend around bit by bit to grab a podium.

Thompson head and shoulders above anything else we’ve seen is a HARD car before. Deserves a top seat asap.

[porsche962fan]

0 seconds hybrid in qualy for Tingram

[CroftPilgrim]

Originally Posted by mprmke

Great result for Hill. Perfect example that the weekend is never a write-off no matter how bad the result is in race one, as long as the car is still in one piece.

If he’d have been a bit more measured at the beginning of the first race, a WSR BMW would have one that race and had a 1-2, plus he likely wouldn’t have sustained the damaged that ultimately got him DQ. But showed he is elite level in that last race.

BMW looks head and shoulders above with the Hybrid at the moment and would have dominated if race 1 had gone more to plan. Bearing in mind Donington is one of their weaker circuits.

Hyundai best of the FWD at the moment.

Sutton always a threat, even without the edge he had in the Infiniti, he’s still knocking on the door.

Plato unluckiest driver of the day to suffer a puncture on the last lap of Race 1. Would have had two comfortable top 10 finishes, followed by being somewhere near pole in race 3.

Cook doing well to turn his weekend around bit by bit to grab a podium.

Thompson head and shoulders above anything else we’ve seen is a HARD car before. Deserves a top seat asap.

A fair summary. Hill or Ingram looking strongest contenders for the championship at this stage I think

[Matt K]

Very good weekend, I've enjoyed it a lot, would've enjoyed a bit more if Sutton won at least one race but the third race shows they might be getting there, or at least I hope that's the case. Ash is a triple champion for a reason and together with his engineer will certainly make some ground.

I'd say Jake Hill is an early favourite together with Tom Ingram probably. They were both really impressive, Jake's recovery in R2 proved his speed, in R3 was clearly in a league of his own. I have to say I expected a bit of hiccups because of his switch to RWD and there's nothing of this sort. And BMWs look a lot faster and stronger than probably past two seasons. Ingram really fast, shame he couldn't back up his R1 victory with a back-to-back in R2 but still, the only driver who finished all races inside the Top 5, which is a statement.

I must say George Gamble is one of the biggest surprises and I'm really impressed. Not only was it his first weekend in the BTCC but also he's in the 'infamous' second Cicely car. Shame he couldn't grab some solid points in R3 but I'm really looking forward to his progress throughout the rest of the season.

As for surprises, Team HARD is another surprise, didn't expect Thompson & Taylor-Smith to be constantly around Top 10. I suspect they might go backwards the same way Goff did last year as the season progresses but still great results.

The whole hybrid thing may seem a bit 'artificial' and just for 'publicity' but on the other hand racing didn't look worse because of that. I already prefer this over the success ballast and the option tyre and it throws something new into the mix. I enjoyed that for sure. The only thing I dislike is that the 'boost levels' are applied for qualifying. IMO would be a lot better if qualifying sessions were a level playing field with everyone having the same amount of hybrid laps. Also I like what Tingram said about hybrid being something of a driver's thing as opposed to the ballast or option tyre. In general was interesting to listen to his view on that.

[crmalcolm]

Power Rankings survey is live:

https://www.surveylegend.com/survey/...PT1fX6DhZ_x1d-

[mprmke]

Hybrid is great. Quicker overall and even with less hybrid to deploy, it (rightly) still favours the better drivers who know how to use it to its best effect.

[Sodemo]

I spent the whole day avoiding the results of teh F1 and BTCC only to come back and find out the BTCC has not series linked.

How long do I need to wait before ITV hub have the races available to watch?

[thetool]

Anyone got the proper standings? Someone at TSL appears to have broken the excel sheet they use, as their's are wrong.

[redshoes]

I'm pleased they got rid o the option tyres. To me that always felt like a gimmick just for the sake of it. Not having success ballast means a lot less work worrying about set-up, which I think is a good thing.

As far as the hybrid, my biggest takeaway was really how little difference it appeared to make. Morgan had arguable his best weekend for some time but did 2 of the 3 races with no hybrid boost at all. Gamble finished on the podium in race 2 but only used around half his allocation. Similarly, Hill was able to drive away in race 3 without using all his boost laps. Ingram had saved his limited number of boost laps to the end and I think he still had 1 or 2 in reserve. Those were just the ones I spotted from the coverage. Lap charts from TSL don't mention when hybrid was used so they may have been other example.

I think any concerns people had that it would spoil the racing appear to have been unnecessary.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by thetool

Anyone got the proper standings? Someone at TSL appears to have broken the excel sheet they use, as their's are wrong.

What do they have wrong in their championship points?

https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=T...1603ptstrg.pdf

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by redshoes

As far as the hybrid, my biggest takeaway was really how little difference it appeared to make. Morgan had arguable his best weekend for some time but did 2 of the 3 races with no hybrid boost at all. Gamble finished on the podium in race 2 but only used around half his allocation. Similarly, Hill was able to drive away in race 3 without using all his boost laps. Ingram had saved his limited number of boost laps to the end and I think he still had 1 or 2 in reserve. Those were just the ones I spotted from the coverage. Lap charts from TSL don't mention when hybrid was used so they may have been other example.

I think any concerns people had that it would spoil the racing appear to have been unnecessary.

Agreed on all counts, thought it was really rather irrelevant. To someone in the crowd you wouldn't know any different. Which is a good thing in my opinion, as it feels like we're racing without gimmicks, apart from the reverse grid bowl which I feel needs to be a set position i.e. tenth or eighth gets pole.

And yes, also noticed that drivers had a few laps of boost unused. Hopefully they don't feel the need to 'turn it up' and make it more powerful - if the drivers don't use it then it won't be 'selling' the hybrid aspect.

But apart from Morgan there didn't seem to be any issues with the system, which I thought might be a bit of a recurring problem at round 1.

Of course, Donington is one of the easier tracks to overtake, so will be interesting to see if there's as much a mix in the results at Oulton Park and Knockhill, for example.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

What do they have wrong in their championship points?

https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=T...1603ptstrg.pdf

Were Hyundai a constructor last year?

[Craner Curves]

Enjoyed the races. I just love watching Donington, always provides good racing. I enjoyed the hybrid aspect and didn't even notice the option tyre gimmick had gone until the end of the show!

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Were Hyundai a constructor last year?

No - there were only 3 constructor teams entered in 2021:

BMW,
Toyota,
Motorbase Performace / Ford