[BTCC] Rounds 25-27 Brands Hatch Indy

[tux]

I agree R.E the non restart of the race however with the current rain it may have been a pragmatic decision.

[redshoes]

Great interview with the F4 winner. 'I don't understand why the race was stopped as the conditions weren't that bad..... can you speak up, I can't hear you over the sound of the hail'

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Great interview with the F4 winner. 'I don't understand why the race was stopped as the conditions weren't that bad..... can you speak up, I can't hear you over the sound of the hail'

Haha brilliant. Sun's out again here now, probably too wet for a slick gamble but hopefully means the race will start.

[mark_l]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Haha brilliant. Sun's out again here now, probably too wet for a slick gamble but hopefully means the race will start.

You can probably guarantee that Neate will choose the wrong tyre.

[slummingangel]

Congrats to Sutton. Did what he had to, even keeping Turkington defensive for so many laps. At the start of the season I thought to my self I wanted either Turkington Cammish or Sutton to win the championship. I thought Sutton's roughness in passing in the first few rounds would come back to bite him at the end of the season but glad to see he calmed down and was more patient for the remainder of the season.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Well well, an all wet race, and one Turkington particularly struggled in. Very good work from Sutton for an impressive season, but gutted neither Ingram or Cammish could really join in the hunt.

[5five]

I am not a massive Ash Sutton fan, but he definitely deserved this Championship - congratulations!

Commiserations to the others, but Sutton + that Infiniti was the class of the field in 2020.

[Evantra]

Congratulations to Sutton! I know I'm very much an Ingram fan (3rd and 2x 2nds today, put up a fight!) but certainly Ash has been much more impressive to me than Colin or Dan this year.

And who would've thought, after 2015, that the Infiniti would be a BTCC championship winning car!

What's next for Ash though - will he go for a third title? Or will he go off to WTCR or something else?

[pimmy]

It's been a great season with the points going back & forth all the time. Sutton's a worthy champion.

[mprmke]

Still a great season under difficult circumstances.

Congratulations to Sutton for winning the title. Sutton, Turkington and Hill the standouts all season for me. I know Hill wasn’t really in the title race, but some amazing drives in a car that’s well past it’s sell by date. Would love to see him in some decent machinery.

Biggest disappointment of the season has to be BTC. You’d have expected them to be title contenders in the FK8 with Cook. You’d also expect Chilton to be higher up with his consistency. He was a consistent finisher and point scorer, but always a handful of places lower than you’d expect from him.

[Matt K]

Great finale, not as thrilling as last year but still fantastic. And I'm so happy for Ash, definitely deserved that. Say what you want but he's the class of the field, yes, he's an aggressive racer, sometimes a bit over the top but this is what touring cars are all about I think.
When it comes to his future, I doubt he'll go anywhere next year. In these tough times I believe there's (hopefully) quite a safe package with Laser Tools and he'll be back to the team and championship next year.
I feel for Turks a bit, as he's my second favourite driver (alongside Ash) but he wasn't just as impressive as Ash, today he's had quite a poor day and it came in the decisive moment.
Cammish was strong towards the end, however, the contact with Morgan too clumsy and I feel it's not the first time he did something like that. Too little too late however it's the second year in a row he's in the Top 3 so he's established himself as a top BTCC star.
I look forward to next year, having not only the aforementioned trio in mind when thinking about title candidates but also Hill, Butcher and Ingram. It's great Jake's already signed with MB and hopefully this'll be a more lucky year for him. Butcher was super fast this season, hopefully Motorbase will be powered my some additional £££ from a sponsor and Butcher can be one of the dark horses. When it comes to Ingram, there's a feeling he's been close but not close enough many times, I hope (however I think it unlikely) he'll have a teammate next year and will put up a proper title fight next year.
It was also great to have a (almost) full season despite the pandemic. I really hope next year it'll be much better when it comes to this, fans will be allowed and the teams will be working in better conditions than this year.

[Evantra]

Andrew Jordan's hastily deleted tweet - "Awesome job @ASuttonRacing!!!! @Official_WSR didn't give Colin a car to put up any sort of fight."

[Matt K]

Pathetic...

[porsche962fan]

maybe WSR should try ultra soft setups that work on Infiniti

[mprmke]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

maybe WSR should try ultra soft setups that work on Infiniti

What works for one car/driver doesn’t necessarily work for others. WSR have struggled for a few years now to find the right set-up for Turkington in those kind of conditions. We know he’s very good in them with the right set-up from previous times, but more recently it hasn’t happened.

Also, as has been discussed so many times, Sutton favours a very extreme set-up, which just wouldn’t suit 99.9% of all other drivers. It’s a very “ragged edge” style, although today in the wet it looked like the complete opposite.

[mprmke]

The one thing I’ve really missed this season is having Plato on the grid. He really is a presence and an aura that adds something to the series.

Jordan, on the other hand, hasn’t been missed at all. And actually, I’ve rather enjoyed watching him make appearances in other series’, where he has less of a mouthpiece, but looks exciting wringing the necks of other types of car to get results against people who probably aren’t as talented as him, but have greater experience of such cars/series’

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Congratulations to Sutton! I know I'm very much an Ingram fan (3rd and 2x 2nds today, put up a fight!) but certainly Ash has been much more impressive to me than Colin or Dan this year.

And who would've thought, after 2015, that the Infiniti would be a BTCC championship winning car!

What's next for Ash though - will he go for a third title? Or will he go off to WTCR or something else?

I don't understand the "WTCR is the more prestigious championship" thing

From a British viewpoint, especially when you consider the casual fan, BTCC is one of the most prestigious and well watched championship going.
Thompson went from a popular, successfull BTCC driver to falling off the radar by switching to WTCC and it hasn't done Shedden any favours either

Plus if you're one of the lucky few to be paid to race BTCC cars, why suddenly throw all that away to head to the back of the grid of the world championship against teams with 4x your budget and race in front of 1% of the fans, both on TV and on track

No, Ash has a chance of ending his career as the most successful BTCC driver of all time with a bit of a rub of the green, no need to throw that away chasing the World Crown that less people would care about him winning and would cost an arm and a leg to enter.

Congrats Ash on the 2020 title.
Well deserved and a refreshing change that the fates favoured the bold, instead of the conservative point collectors, for once

[touringlegend]

At one time I seriously believed Ash could end up down under in Supercars, but from what he’s said today I think he believes and wants to stick in the BTCC and break some more records.

[GT6]

A good days racing, in fact a good seasons racing, just a shame none of us could be there, fingers crossed for next year. Oh and congratulations to Ash.

[Evantra]

Worth noting that Excelr8 scored points in every single race this season, very positive second year and hopefully lots of winter testing for the Hyundais.

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by touringlegend

At one time I seriously believed Ash could end up down under in Supercars, but from what he’s said today I think he believes and wants to stick in the BTCC and break some more records.

I also believed he could make it to Supercars but let's face it, if you're not an Aussie (or a New Zealander) it's very tough to get there unfortunately. Shame, I'd love to see Ash there.

[Sodemo]

Not sure why, but Turkington has struggled in the past at Brands particularly in the wet. However there were times when Jordan performed better at certain points in the same car when Turks was having a bad day. It’s almost as if the BMW has a very narrow setup window or something. Maybe they need to develop a more flip floppy, soft car like the Infinity?

[Alfisti]

I genuinely believe the best man won. I think the Moffats spent a fraction of WSR's budget getting those Infinitis together, which to me shows they have some very good folk working on the cars. Hopefully Ash will be back on the grid in the Infiniti defending his title next year.

[redshoes]

Was I the only one to be a tiny bit disappointed that it was nowhere near as dark as predicted for the last race.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by redshoes

Was I the only one to be a tiny bit disappointed that it was nowhere near as dark as predicted for the last race.

Remember on TV it never looks as dark as it really is.