BTCC - Croft review
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship battle resumed at Croft in North Yorkshire for rounds 13,14 and 15 of the season.
The Adrian Flux Subaru Racing Levorg of Ashley Sutton claimed pole position for the first of the days three action packed races, with team mate Jason Plato lined up alongside. Sutton followed up a solid performance on Saturday with a dominant lights to flag victory in the Sunday’s opener with team mate Plato having to retake second place which he lost off Andrew Jordans’s Pirtek BMW at the start.
Things got worse for Jordan as the race progressed due to him struggling for rear grip and late on had a spin at Clervaux corner which allowed many cars through, including Tom Ingram, who went on to complete the podium positions. Team GardX Racing with Motorbase’s Sam Tordoff produced another sublime defensive drive to take yet another fourth place as he held off the likes of Colin Turkington and Rob Collard for the entire race, while Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook looked on from behind. Further down the order, Matt Neal climbed up the order to finish in 9th ahead of the recovering Andrew Jordan.
The second encounter wasn’t as simple as the previous race for Sutton, as himself, Plato and Ingram went three wide going down towards the first corner and Ingram would be the one that came out on top and led the race from the two Subaru’s. Unfortunately for Jason Plato, he was deemed to have jumped the start and was handed a drive through penalty which ended any challenge of a podium straight away, meanwhile in front, Sutton slid his way past Ingram on lap two at the final hairpin.
Colin Turkington made the most of a good getaway in the BMW to come across the line third behind the Subaru and Toyota which kept his championship challenge on track. Sam Tordoff settled for yet another fourth place which is incredibly the sixth time this season he has finished in that position, however it must be said that he’s been very consistent. Andrew Jordan improved from the first encounter to come home in fifth while Tom Chilton and Matt Neal were close behind and Senna Proctor, Dan Lloyd and Rory Butcher rounded out the top ten.
In the reverse grid encounter, it would be BTC Norlin Racing’s Dan Lloyd who would become the latest first time BTCC winner this season after claiming victory in the thrilling final race of the day.
Lloyds win was be made even sweeter by coming at his home circuit and also being BTC Norlin’s first win in the series. Tom Chilton produced a solid drive to come home in second behind Lloyd and Senna Proctor returned to the podium for Power Maxed Racing.
In terms of the championship picture, Colin Turkington had a trio of top five finishes which will keep him at the top of the tree going into the summer break. The gap to Tom Ingram in second is now 19 points with Matt Neal a further 17 behind.
BMW hold the lead in the manufacturers standings whilst Tom Ingram and his Speedworks outfit head both the Independents tables.
Dan Lloyd also took a clean sweep of Jack Sears Trophy wins, but Dan Cammish still heads the way in the battle for best rookie.
The championship now heads into a five week break which will resume at Snetterton in Norfolk on July 28th and 29th.
Words: Matt Gough
Picture: Eric Barnes Photography
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