[BTCC] Round Seven, Croft 18-19 Sept, Races 19,20&21

[BTCC frog]

It's incredible that both BTC cars are ahead of both Dynamics cars in the championship, particularly considering Proctor missed Thruxton. They have been my standout team for the season, considering they were only ninth and tenth last season in a less competitive field. Rowbottom was very unlucky in that race.

It looks like a five-way battle for the championship now, with the gap to Morgan over a race weekend. Sutton leads from Hill, Cook, Ingram and Turkington.

[Jon411]

Could still change but it's looking like Sutton's championship to lose.


I think realistically it's a 4-way fight - Turks is in it mathematically but the BMW is just not strong enough this year - don't know if it is due to how all the "equalisations" are playing out but Lasertools have just done a much better job with the Infiniti to the point that the BMW doesn't look to be on the same level and it just doesn't look racey - I fully expect Ash to finish ahead of Colin in Race 2.

The upcoming tracks and weather could bring Hill/ Cook/ Ingram back towards Ash but anywhere that may favour the RWD is probably going to result in Ash scooping up the points rather than Colin clawing much back.

I could see the title being decided at Donington this year as Ash is looking that good.

[AnnoyedMoose]

Hard to see past Hill for the race 2 win once the weights are applied.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

and again BTC make Dynamics look stupid

How so?

One car taken out through no fault of the driver, the other making up 7 places during the race - yeah, stupid.

[porsche962fan]

by getting much better results than Dynamics in qualy and race

[tux]

100% those tyre stacks need to be changed, huge amount of damage to Ortons car for a small error.

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by AnnoyedMoose

Hard to see past Hill for the race 2 win once the weights are applied.

I reckon Hill will take the lead quite quickly, but Sutton will get up into second place and close on Jake for the lead. We could have a great scrap between those two, but Hill would probably be my pick for the win. And I think Ingram will snatch a cheeky reversed-grid win.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

by getting much better results than Dynamics in qualy and race

Ah, understood. Designing and building a car and then supplying to another team, who then get good results with it is the hallmark of stupidity.....

[S griffin]

Great win by Moffat, soaking up pressure from Hill. Decent result from Tingram considering where he was and his amount of ballast. Sutton still has the edge, but a DNF will open the door to his closest pursuers

Let’s see what R2 brings

[mark_l]

Race 1 - Chris Smiley Formal Reprimand +2 penalty points, Aron Taylor-Smith Verbal Reprimand +0 points.

[S griffin]

Did Smiley get penalty points for that incident at the hairpin? Looked like just a simple racing incident to me, but what do I know?

[mark_l]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Did Smiley get penalty points for that incident at the hairpin? Looked like just a simple racing incident to me, but what do I know?

It just says 'causing a collision.....' it doesn't say who else was involved.

https://www.barc.net/wp-content/uplo...ris-Smiley.pdf

[Evantra]

Bit of a messy race... surprised everyone managed to stay on track. Shedden seems to be at the centre of it once again.

Well deserved and long overdue for Hill. Great recovery by Ingram.


...Hamilton!?

[porsche962fan]

it looked like the other drivers were much more robust against Sutton

[BTCC frog]

Only 22 points now. Jake Hill looking like a surprise closest challenger to Sutton. I also did not expect Cook to be third in the championship at this stage.

With Jelley’s move to WSR he has gone from being the unluckiest driver on the grid to the luckiest, with all those reversed-grid poles, and new teammate Oliphant has taken his place as the unluckiest. That’s three times he has been taken out of race one this year, thus ruining his weekends. I would say he has been almost as good as Turkington this year but the championship standings don’t show it. Butcher and both Dynamics cars have been almost as unlucky; incredibly Moffat is now the top Scotsman in the championship.
Now please let’s have number 12 on the reversed-grid

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Ah, understood. Designing and building a car and then supplying to another team, who then get good results with it is the hallmark of stupidity.....

Obviously. Build a super quick car for a rival team, and then they beat you with it
In all fairness, Team Dynamics have been massively unlucky this season.

[porsche962fan]

Turkington on pole, this should be his race

[mark_l]

Gow says the 2022 Hybrid car doesn't sound any different from this years car

I was hoping they might sound better.

[Matt K]

So sorry for Turks, he looked racey but a bit of bad luck spoiled his chances for a podium.... not his season that's for sure, also, the championship fight looks over for him.

Hill's been impressvlive this weekend and I'm happy to see him finally win. I think though that Sutton's combination of speed and consistency will make it very hard for others to compete with him for this year's crown.

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

Turkington on pole, this should be his race

That's a bit of a shame. I was hoping for a Plato pole. Race three might be a little processional now, but not necessarily. If there were four drivers you wouldn't want immediately behind you it would be Shedden, Sutton, Ingram and Cook. What would have been even worse for Turkington would be if he had Chris Smiley in front of him as well, who I would also have liked to take pole.

I feel Colin deserves a reversed-grid pole. The last time he had one was Thruxton 2017, and on that occasion he converted it into victory.

[mark_l]

A Ginetta GT5 race ruined by the Croft tyre stacks, why are they still being used when they are a clear danger to cars. The GT5 looks like it had the suspension ripped from the car in the impact.

Motorsport UK need to take a look at the use of the stacks, especially at Croft as well as other circuits.

[Evantra]

Originally Posted by mark_l

A Ginetta GT5 race ruined by the Croft tyre stacks, why are they still being used when they are a clear danger to cars. The GT5 looks like it had the suspension ripped from the car in the impact.

Motorsport UK need to take a look at the use of the stacks, especially at Croft as well as other circuits.

Agreed and that chicane is utterly pointless. Croft is a great circuit but the first couple corners are not brilliant.

[tux]

Minis off everywhere, carnage.

[mark_l]

Originally Posted by tux

Minis off everywhere, carnage.

and the tyre stack causes more car damage.

and a red flag.

[pimmy]

Originally Posted by Evantra

Agreed and that chicane is utterly pointless. Croft is a great circuit but the first couple corners are not brilliant.

The chicane is just a legacy of the old pit lane. It should have been removed when the track was reconfigured in 1997. If they must have a chicane then they should dig up the old tarmac and replace it with grass, shouldn't need tyres there then.