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Tyres NorthamptonAsh Sutton leads the BTCC championship by five points over Jake Hill after Round 9 of the season at Silverstone after Sutton secured second place in Race 3. Meanwhile, four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington endured a tough day, failing to score a top 10 finish across all three races and losing the championship lead. On an eventful weekend, Rory Butcher also claimed his first 2022 win in Race 1 for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, just in front of Hill. Butcher got a great start from pole position before leading into Turn 1 at Copse and quickly built a sizeable advantage over Hill's BMW 330e M Sport on the opening lap.
The championship leader Turkington spun at Luffield three laps in and dropped to P27 before retiring from the race. The DNF is a massive blow to the Northern Irish driver’s title challenge. In contrasting early-race fortunes, Gordon Shedden produced a fantastic move on Dan Cammish to snatch fourth place. He drove up the inside of the NAPA Racing UK driver at Copse in a very assured pass.
The Safety Car was deployed after Ash Hand retired from the race, eliminating Butcher’s advantage at the front. However, on Lap 14, the race leader perfected the restart in his Toyota Corolla GR Sport to keep ahead of Hill, who filled the 35-year-old’s mirrors. The safety Car period extended Race 1's distance from 22 to 24 laps, but the extension didn't stop Butcher from taking his first 2022 win after soaking up immense pressure from Hill.
After a pulsating first race of action, Butcher again delivered a superb start to Race 2, fending off the two BMWs of Hill and Adam Morgan. Again, Shedden had early pace and produced an incredible double overtake on the BMW duo at Brooklands as the rear-wheel drive cars struggled for tyre temperature in the race's opening stages.
The Safety Car was deployed after the Infiniti Q50 of Dexter Patterson found itself stranded in the gravel on Lap 6 after a collision with Nic Hamilton at Luffield. Now well-versed, Butcher judged the restart perfectly to maintain the lead ahead of Hill three laps later.
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As in Race 1, Hill piled on the pressure, but this time he got past Butcher halfway through the race, slipping up the inside at Copse to take the race lead. The Safety Car was deployed once more as Ricky Collard’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport retired with a fire on Lap 17.
Hill, the new race leader, performed a great restart on Lap 21 and immediately built a sizeable margin over his Butcher as the race directors added another lap to compensate for the Safety Car period. But just like Butcher did in Race 1, Hill controlled the final few laps of the race and took a brilliant victory in Race 2. Butcher settled for second, and Shedden finished in third place.
Rich Energy BTC Racing driver Josh Cook started the third race from pole position. The British driver led into Copse ahead of Morgan before the pair made light contact at Becketts. Championship hopeful Tom Ingram took full advantage of the collision, passing both of them to take the lead in his Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance on the first lap of the 21-lap event.
More Safety Car periods punctuated Race 3, keeping Ingram as the race leader in front during two mid-race slowdown periods. Crucially, Ingram maintained the lead at the last restart on Lap 14, with three laps this time added to the race distance to create a 24-lap race.
As with Butcher and Hill in Silverstone's first two races, the 29-year-old Ingram controlled the end of the race irrespective of the additional laps. He took a significant victory for the championship in the third and final race at Silverstone ahead of Sutton and Butcher to sit just seven points off the top spot in the standings. After a weekend with championship-changing consequences thanks to Turkington's disastrous days, Sutton now holds a slim five-point advantage over Team BMW's Hill ahead of the final round at Brands Hatch on the 8-9 October.
