BTCC Finals - Silverstone - 14/15 October

[redshoes]

Wasn't even qualifying, it was free practice. Didn't see what happened and any reference over the PA later in the day was a bit vague.

[Hazard]

Incidentally, Gow's call has been to give Thompson the full 45kg late entry penalty. Darren's the only Seat running light (not to detract too much from his performance though).

Paul O'Neill qualified 15th despite not running in any of the practice sessions, so great job there.

[touringlegend]

Thompson was scheduled to do this meeting, but then again he is in a different car to what he normally drives in the BTCC.

It's all very well giving a driver 2 points on his licence at the last event of the season!

[cos]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

It's all very well giving a driver 2 points on his licence at the last event of the season!

How long do points on racing licences last for before they 'expire'?

[redshoes]

Dec 31st 2006 - All licences start fresh each year. As TL says, it's case of going through the motions rather than a meaningful penalty.

[MikeHoyer]

Originally Posted by phatgti

Any info on how it happened?
It's bloody qualifying for crying out loud!

Howell and Jones were side by side coming out of Becketts, they touched I think, and Jones spun out and into the barrier.

[Hazard]

Well, congratulations to Matt Neal on his second title.

Seat have also wrapped up the manufacturers trophy.

Team Halfords have wrapped up the teams championship.

Scary thought...all gloves off for races two and three!

Race 1 Result / Grid for Race 2

1 - Gareth Howell [25] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 22:40.400


2 - Colin Turkington [6] - Team RAC - MG-ZS - 2.100


3 - Tom Chilton [5] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 3.098


4 - Matt Neal - 2006 BTCC Champion [1] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 4.291


5 - James Thompson [14] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - 4.785


6 - Gordon Shedden [52] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 5.273


7 - Fabrizio Giovanardi [11] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 5.980


8 - Jason Plato [4] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - 9.909


9 - Mike Jordan [77] - Team Eurotech - Honda Integra Type-R - 10.107


10 - Rob Collard [7] - Team RAC - MG-ZS - 12.713


11 - Gavin Smith [10] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 13.030


12 - Tom Ferrier [23] - Motorbase Performance - Seat Toledo - 15.287


13 - David Pinkney [55] - Motorbase Performance - Honda Integra Type-R - 15.665


14 - Paul O'Neill [82] - Tech-Speed Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 24.683


15 - Jason Hughes [28] - Kartworld Racing - MG-ZS - 35.039


16 - Martyn Bell [15] - Geoff Steel Racing - BMW 320i - 40.757


17 - Richard Marsh [16] - Team Farécla - Peugeot 307 - 57.596


18 - Mark Smith [66] - In-Front Motorsport - Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 - 1:02.522


19 - Chris Stockton [43] - BTC Racing - Lexus IS200 - 1:03.143


20 - Darren Dowling [42] - BTC Racing - Lexus IS200 - 1 LAP


21 - Nick Leason [19] - Daniels Motorsport - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - N.C.F.


22 - Eoin Murray [17] - Murray Motorsport - Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 - D.N.F.


23 - Darren Turner [24] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - D.N.F.


24 - Mark Jones [79] - Team Forward - Lexus IS200 - D.N.F.


25 - James Kaye [20] - Synchro Motorsport - Honda Civic Type-R - D.N.S.


Car graphics courtesy of the SeatCupra.net Spotter's Guide

[cos]

Clean racing up front there, apart from Giovanardi nudging Turner off. Good result for Ferrier - next best S2000 car after the Leons, looks like Motorbase have made a good purchase there. Colin only 5 behind Plato now. ready to snatch 2nd...

[touringlegend]

Yep all gloves off except that Plato needs to score well in Race 2, which I think he should be able to with less ballast. Maybe he doesn't care whether it's 2nd or 3rd though.



Thommo's Seat looks far better all yellow and blue than the UK cars IMO.

[Piglet]

Fingers crossed that Mike Jordan is OK following that shunt

[Hazard]

Certainly a nasty incident for Mike there, please see and post in this thread about this incident: http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89737

Race 2 Result

1 - Matt Neal [1] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R -
2 - Gordon Shedden [52] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 0.452
3 - Fabrizio Giovanardi [11] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 0.700
4 - Gavin Smith [10] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 2.705
5 - Rob Collard [7] - Team RAC - MG-ZS - 2.883
6 - Gareth Howell [25] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 3.363
7 - Tom Ferrier [23] - Motorbase Performance - Seat Toledo - 8.894
8 - Paul O'Neill [82] - Tech-Speed Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 15.185
9 - Jason Hughes [28] - Kartworld Racing - MG-ZS - 16.883
10 - Darren Turner [24] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - 17.024
11 - Colin Turkington [6] - Team RAC - MG-ZS - 20.406
12 - David Pinkney [55] - Motorbase Performance - Honda Integra Type-R - 22.248
13 - Richard Marsh [16] - Team Farécla - Peugeot 307 - 37.225
14 - Mark Smith [66] - In-Front Motorsport - Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 - 38.355
15 - Darren Dowling [42] - BTC Racing - Lexus IS200 - 41.794
16 - Nick Leason [19] - Daniels Motorsport - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 51.142
17 - Chris Stockton [43] - BTC Racing - Lexus IS200 - 52.023
18 - Mark Jones [79] - Team Forward - Lexus IS200 - N.C.F.
19 - Martyn Bell [15] - Geoff Steel Racing - BMW 320i - D.N.F.
20 - Jason Plato [4] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - D.N.F.
21 - James Thompson [14] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - D.N.F.
22 - Mike Jordan [77] - Team Eurotech - Honda Integra Type-R - D.N.F.
23 - Tom Chilton [5] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - D.N.F.

Race 3 Grid (Top 9 Reversed)

1 - Jason Hughes [28] - Kartworld Racing - MG-ZS - 10.107


2 - Paul O'Neill [82] - Tech-Speed Racing - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 9.909


3 - Tom Ferrier [23] - Motorbase Performance - Seat Toledo - 5.980


4 - Gareth Howell [25] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 5.273


5 - Rob Collard [7] - Team RAC - MG-ZS - 4.785


6 - Gavin Smith [10] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 4.291


7 - Fabrizio Giovanardi [11] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - 3.098


8 - Gordon Shedden [52] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 2.100


9 - Matt Neal [1] - Team Dynamics - Honda Integra Type-R - 0.000


10 - Darren Turner [24] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - 17.024


11 - Colin Turkington [6] - Team RAC - MG-ZS - 20.406


12 - David Pinkney [55] - Motorbase Performance - Honda Integra Type-R - 22.248


13 - Richard Marsh [16] - Team Farécla - Peugeot 307 - 37.225


14 - Mark Smith [66] - In-Front Motorsport - Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 - 38.355


15 - Darren Dowling [42] - BTC Racing - Lexus IS200 - 41.794


16 - Nick Leason [19] - Daniels Motorsport - Vauxhall Astra Coupé - 51.142


17 - Chris Stockton [43] - BTC Racing - Lexus IS200 - 52.023


18 - Mark Jones [79] - Team Forward - Lexus IS200 - N.C.F.


19 - Martyn Bell [15] - Geoff Steel Racing - BMW 320i - D.N.F.


20 - Jason Plato [4] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - D.N.F.


21 - James Thompson [14] - Seat Sport UK - Seat León - D.N.F.


22 - Tom Chilton [5] - VX Racing - Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch - D.N.F.

[cos]

Potential there for some of the 'underdogs' to get a good result in the final race, although I'd expect Howell or Gio to come through for the win.

[cos]

An IRL-style safety car call just there...?
Edit: "oil" on the "track" apparently...

[maximus]

Oh and well done ITV on missing the re-start. Again.

[Knowlesy]

You see maximus, this is the benefit of MotorsTV.

That final safety car amused me a lot I must say. I have seen that somewhere.

Actually, they employed that tactic a lot in 2004 I seem to remember.

[maximus]

It didn't really make it more interesting though this time, and Howell managed to scamper away anyway.

[sharpy]

I thought that Paul O'neill had a great race 3, he did really well to lead the race for the first 3 laps in what he described as an underpowered car. I wonder if he would be considered by a team for 2007??

[touringlegend]

I doubt it was deployed on "entertainment" purposes, the ITV programme was scheduled to finish at 5.30 and didn't till about 6 - unless there was a revision in schedules that the Sky EPG didn't update.


O'Neill did great in the Astra which you could see was well down on speed on the straights. With all due respect to Fiona Leggate, Paul probably got more sponsor exposure in Race 3 that Fiona did all season, it'd be foolish not to consider him for 2007.

[Tim Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

That final safety car amused me a lot I must say. I have seen that somewhere.

Actually, they employed that tactic a lot in 2004 I seem to remember.

Wasn't watching much in '94, but it reminded me of the TOCA shoot-outs from years ago. They made no effort on TV to explain why the car was out (at least none I recall).

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

I doubt it was deployed on "entertainment" purposes, the ITV programme was scheduled to finish at 5.30 and didn't till about 6 - unless there was a revision in schedules that the Sky EPG didn't update.

I think there was...the race wasn't due to start until 5.15 due a change in the schedule - there's no way that was going to finish before 5.30.

[redshoes]

Don't know if ITV showed it but there was a lot of cememt dust put now at Becketts during the safety car period. Both Kaye and Stockton had pulled off just before so I assume one of the two had dumped a load of oil on the track. From the smoke coming from under Kaye's bonnet it was probably him.

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Don't know if ITV showed it but there was a lot of cememt dust put now at Becketts during the safety car period. Both Kaye and Stockton had pulled off just before so I assume one of the two had dumped a load of oil on the track. From the smoke coming from under Kaye's bonnet it was probably him.

Yeah, the safety car was for oil on the track from one of the BTC Lexus's. I thought it was Dowling's actually.

[touringlegend]

A crowd of 33,000 attended according to btcc.net, Silverstone's largest car racing attendance after the Grand Prix. Pretty odd that figure's been released as Alan Gow's previously said it's not their policy to release these figures.


Nevertheless thats a high figure - probably the highest for many years!

[redshoes]

I think what Gow meant was that it's down to the circuits to reveal attendance figures, not TOCA, since TOCA don't get involved with ticket sales. In this instance I assume 33k is Silverstone's own estimate.

It was definately busier than normal and judging by the way more Luffield grandstands had to be opened during the day, probably busier that Silverstone expected.

Just wish they had got the traffic control sorted. I was about 5 mins away from the track at 9.20 when the traffic came to a standstill and eventually reached the circuit nearly 2 hours later.

[Larsen]

First BTCC race at Silverstone i've been too since 2000, but you have to go back to 2003 since i last went to a BTCC meeting which was held at Rockingham. Must say i've enjoyed my day and loved the racing. I was there for the weekend and managed to get plenty of photo's out of it.

Highlight for the weekend was certainly that crazy driver in the Renault Clio deciding to suddenly veer off the track into the gravel before hitting tarmac then grass, finally spinning towards a group of Clios who he barely missed. Must say that there was alot of laughter in the granstand when that happened...i think alot of people saw that as a shortcut that didnt work out.

The BTCC was great. Enjoyed all 3 races (despite missing some of the first race, since i was stuck in queues on the dual-carriage way that Redshoes was talking about) Great shame what happened to Mike Jordan, i only found out what was happening when Alan Gow announced whats been happening before the last race started. There was also a bit of a comical act from Leason (is that how you spell it?)...dont know what happened there but i heard a great cheer from the Luffield grandstands as two tires seemed to have fell off. Heard that he took a bow! Good on him to acknowledge the crowd.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy post! Certainly will come back next year again, but i also hope that the BTCC go back to Rockingham some time in the future.