[BTCC] Round One, Thruxton 8-9 May, Races 1,2&3

[Robshillito1990]

Neate deserves banning from btcc after today. No defending him. Total liability that seemingly with only a £2000 fine that toca are fine about him carrying on until he injures or kills someonr

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by codename_47

TBH with this places negativity toward the BTCC as a whole, and for some reason thinking people let Sutton by and he isn't fully deserving of his hard won successes, it actually seems there's one forum on every BTCC discussion that stands out amongst the crowd...

Absolutely fantastic racing all day long from Thruxton though, what a brilliant idea to not start the season at the tight confines of Brands Indy and let them stretch their legs on the straights of Thruxton

F4 and ginettas particularly good, but BTCC Race 3 in the wet/dry was sublime
I'm sure some here will say the conditions made sure he "lucked" into the win, but I'm not sure exactly what Sutton did wrong this weekend
Biffed out of the way by Turkington in race 1, dragging himself through the field to get into a position to win Race 3 and certainly the greatest overtaker in a grid full of great overtakers.

Only a shame it's another month to the next race, and the track isn't quite as good. But can't wait for more

`

Totally agree with this; it was a fantastic weekend. The grid looks so much more competitive than it was last year, and that was even without ballast in qualifying and race 1. There seems to be around 20 drivers capable of getting podiums this year, and after worries that it would just be Turkington, Sutton and maybe Shedden in the title fight, it now looks like Jake Hill, Tom Ingram, Josh Cook, and maybe Rory Butcher too could be in the title fight. Also the Vauxhall Astras were a lot stronger than I had expected, the Cupras looked alright; maybe Goff and Smith can get some podiums later in the year, and Dan Rowbottom did a fantastic job.

What a fantastic year we are going to have. I really do not understand the negativity of so many BTCC fans.

[B0U170NS]

So just from this first race meeting Jack Goff has scored more points than the whole of last year. And between himself and Aron they've scored more points than the 3 VWs last year. A very encouraging start apart from poor Geddie's cupra.

[bella]

some folk just don’t know how to compliment or use happy words. want to be edgy and get likes. there’s some stuff that the btcc doesn’t have the right take on but i think today showed they’ve actually got a hell of a lot right. that’s things that have taken years of tweaking and other decisions that are made on the day.

[t4tinks]

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...-Round-2-1.pdf

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...-2-Round-1.pdf

So Neate gets a £2000 fine and 3 penalty points, Turkington gets 3 penalty points, is there a maximum for an offence?

[bella]

note that there was “no evidence of mechanical failure from the data that was obtained after the race”.

i hope his lad is learning race etiquette and conduct from someone else.

[antnee]

Good season opener! I was worried the Astra and Plato would be off the pace this year (similar to Neal last year) but he had a really solid race day! Similar with Robo, I wasn't sure on his pace but those moves in R2 have removed any doubt from me!!

[stuart thompson]

Originally Posted by t4tinks

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...-Round-2-1.pdf

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...-2-Round-1.pdf

So Neate gets a £2000 fine and 3 penalty points, Turkington gets 3 penalty points, is there a maximum for an offence?

So the difference between mid judging your braking while defending your position and destroying 3 cars and risking serious injury is a mere £2000 lol

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by bella

note that there was “no evidence of mechanical failure from the data that was obtained after the race”.

He got thrown out of the whole meeting last year, but no ban for this?

[bella]

or instead of doing the old “you can fart in a policemans face but you can’t hug your granny” comparison you can simply say that they’ve set a boundary for nerfing off another competitor whilst you were out of control, and you’re not going to get away without a penalty for doing so, and you’re absolutely not going to get away with it frequently.

i’d also suggest that without knowing what was said to either driver, the next step for another similar transgression will be different for each of them because theybwere penalised for contravening different regs.

frankly i think it was smart of jade to tell the telly and social media what he’d told her. she doesn’t need to say anything else about it now - he’s dug himself his own hole. well played, jade.

Originally Posted by Evantra

He got thrown out of the whole meeting last year, but no ban for this?

paperwork doesn’t say what sort of punishment he’ll have been told to expect for any more nonsense, does it? the lines been drawn. his move now.

[SR18]

Originally Posted by t4tinks

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...-Round-2-1.pdf

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...-2-Round-1.pdf

So Neate gets a £2000 fine and 3 penalty points, Turkington gets 3 penalty points, is there a maximum for an offence?

Turks getting the same amount of penalty points than Neate? SERIOUSLY!?

[Evantra]

Tim Harvey -

"There was no mechanical failure. This was confirmed to me by the team prior to the fine being imposed and the very pointed wording there in. Such a shame he tried to blame his mechanics and team for his own error..."

[steve_r]

Has the line really be drawn though? We dont know that a line has been drawn. He has been given a mere 3 point penatly for causing an absoluley awful incident. I dont know how many points he has on his license, but presumably he will not be banned.

Presumably he lied about the cause of the incident, or at least others have misinterpreted his words to take away an understanding that his car had a technical failure of some kind?

I feel so sorry for Team HARD who have spent months building up these brand new cars only to have one of them destroyed in the 2nd race. I know that this is rought and tumble BTCC, but the amount of damage today to all these lovely brand new cars must be soul destroying for the teams - never mind the cost.

[medius]

Driver of the day, Alex Solley in the Minis, drove with skill and maturity far beyond his years. He was quick in JSCC Saxos but this weekend was a big step forward for the guy. Very impressive and thoroughly deserved his win.

In touring cars though, Jake Hill, championship leader. Sounds good doesn't it?

[tux]

"departing from the standard of a
reasonably competent driver"

Brutal.

[Alfisti]

A lot of good racing today, many drivers performing as good as or better than I had thought.

Watched the BTCC races from lights to flag and nowt else, nor have I read anything yet.

Star turn of the day for me is equally Ash and Jake. Ash's recovery drive in R1 was fantastic, admittedly R2 he treaded water, but R3 was Ash at his brilliant best. Perfectly driven, perfect judgement of conditions and looking after the tyres when the weather went against them. Jake impressed me in R1 a lot, but R3 really was fantastic. That he kept it neat, tidy, on the black top and in front of Ash for so long when the rain came back over the last few laps was seriously impressive. Championship contender impressive.

The Hyundai in Tingrams hands is going to win races, I have no doubt in that. I thought Tingram in the Hyundai would be better than Butcher in the Toyota and on todays evidence "by a country mile".

The Infinitis all impressed. Aidan looked like a man now comfortable in the car, and Carl Boardley showed genuine speed, something he's not managed to date in BTCC - both should be bothering the points scorers regularly.

JP, Rowbo, Dan Camm impressed me with their close clean racing. BTC simply impressed me. Cookie was superb, I hope the third car lands a decent driver, if it does then BTC could lift the teams championship if todays form is anything to go by.

Chris Smileys save is going to be one of the best we'll see all year!

I hope Glynn Geddie, his motor and the boys at #HARD can come back next time and get some running. Once again the unmentionable one demonstrates serious problems with the issue of licences in this country: the man is bloody dangerous, are MSA going to wait for some poor ******* to be maimed/ crippled or worse before his licence is permanently removed? Geddies car could easily have badly injured or worse a marshall, I assume nobody was hurt as I never heard the commentators mention any injuries during R2 or R3.

[CroftPilgrim]

Originally Posted by FFSM

What a great season opener! Ash is clearly head and shoulders above at the moment, I just hope he doesn't completely run away with it.

I wouldn't say that. We didn't see him go toe to toe with his rivals this weekend Hill, Cook, Shedden, Ingram, all looked fast

[bella]

Originally Posted by tux

"departing from the standard of a reasonably competent driver"

Brutal.

sickest burn i've ever seen on a note from the stewards hence why i say it's different this season. they're not going to take any nonsense over this, but they still have procedure and a rulebook to follow.

motorsport regulations penalise the action, not the consequence. but given we had a cracking three races with some stand out performances and a lot of respect between drivers shown on track, it's disappointing that the majority of the buzz is about some muppet who thought he'd try and tell a fib to cover up a mistake. at this point, it's beginning to tarnish the reputation of the series and it seems a shame considering all the things they've very much got right to have somebody who doesn't seem to represent any of that taking up all the headlines.

[Robshillito1990]

I can't see Motorbase keeping him on after this. Read Tim Harvey's tweet. He lied blaming the team and mechanics for a failure that never happened. From the sounds of it the team spoke to Harvey before race 3 and they were not happy at all.

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by Robshillito1990

I can't see Motorbase keeping him on after this. .

they need his pounds

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

they need his pounds

I believe you are correct. Last year that statement was 100% true.

Given that Shaun Hollamby, Mark Blundell et al are no fools I assume the same applies this year. They couldn't possibly believe his driving and judgement measure up could they?

[Robshillito1990]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

they need his pounds

There will be much more capable drivers out there with budget to take his place.

[Pdh]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I believe you are correct. Last year that statement was 100% true.

Given that Shaun Hollamby, Mark Blundell et al are no fools I assume the same applies this year. They couldn't possibly believe his driving and judgement measure up could they?

Why would mark blundell have much of a say about Andy neate driving for motorbase and I’m guessing Shaun hollamby was happy about it while he was part owner

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Pdh

Why would mark blundell have much of a say about Andy neate driving for motorbase

I think this is what some may be making the link from:

Leading British Touring Car Championship squad Motorbase Performance has been sold in what amounts to a merger with the rival AmD Tuning-run MB Motorsport team
https://www.motorsport.com/btcc/news/motorbase-acquired-amd-tuning-hollamby/4939227/

[Pickles]

Originally Posted by Evantra

He got thrown out of the whole meeting last year, but no ban for this?

He'd already buggered off home before the Cupra was put in the trailer.