[BTCC] Round One, Donington Park 23-24 Apr, Races 1,2&3

[porsche962fan]

again black/white for car 1

[porsche962fan]

so much for 2nd Cicely seat being bad ...

[crmalcolm]

Ingram now in the top 5

[porsche962fan]

WSR BMW 1-2

prepare the moaning about RWD and for the TOCA sledgehammer

[crmalcolm]

Hill, Turkington, Sutton, Ingram, Gamble for Round One.

[hen henths]

JP made the top ten.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by hen henths

JP made the top ten.

Highest placed M-Sport runner I think?

[Robin Marriott]

Last year’s pole time (and the qualifying record) was 1:08.994. 11 cars quicker than that this year.

Great to see it’s not a RWD whitewash too.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

WSR BMW 1-2

prepare the moaning about RWD and for the TOCA sledgehammer

Why?

17 cars qualifying within a second on a track of 1.98 miles is a very close qualifying session.

There's no reason for knee-jerk reactions considering everyone is still getting used to the deployment of hybrid.

[hen henths]

It's amusing that Sutton's idea of messing up is qualifying in 3rd instead of pole in a new car.

[Evantra]

What can we learn from those results then?

WSR looking very strong as ever, 3 cars in the top 7 (5 BMW in top 8) on a non-RWD circuit. Judging by that Hill and Turkington are pretty evenly matched.

Ciceley much better than last year and hugely impressive from Gamble, be interesting to see if he stays there in the race. Still find him hard to like though with the drink driving hit and run.

Not-unexpectantly Sutton's going to be a very strong championship contender again, no issues with FWD it seems! If Cammish is withdrawn tomorrow, then he'll be strong next round with no success penalties. Osborne much higher up than I would've thought.

Hyundais look quick, Ingram gapping his teammates by more than I was imagining. Hope he can challenge for wins tomorrow. Think Lloyd will close up.

Dynamics looking good with both cars in the top ten. BTC look a bit on the back foot, seems like a lot of issues for Cook.

Collard solid for his first time in the Toyota, expecting Butcher to be there too but looks like another one with problems.

Happy to see Thompson in the top 15 as he should be, better than I was expecting. Poor from the other two. Parfitt 3 seconds off which is alarming, no seat time hurting but even so that's a long way off.

As I kind of expected, Laser Tools are nowhere. Patterson 4 seconds off with a decent amount of laps (suggesting car was fine), which is again a bit concerning at this level.

Vauxhalls kinda where you'd expect, not sure Crees would go much better but think there's improvement to come from Hand towards the points.


But all in all, still very close with lots of championship contenders.

[hen henths]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Highest placed M-Sport runner I think?

As far as I can tell, yes.

[hen henths]

Originally Posted by Evantra

WSR looking very strong as ever

Yes but I'm waiting to see how they go in the wet.

Originally Posted by Evantra

As I kind of expected, Laser Tools are nowhere.

It's understandable with their teething troubles this year but I'm interested to see if the Infiniti still has any kind of an edge.

I certainly feel more excited about this season than I did yesterday (was excited then too though) but I'll reserve judgement until I've seen how hybrid affects the racing.

[Craner Curves]

Originally Posted by hen henths

I'd be worrying about those batteries when a car's on fire.

Yes, I'm sure TOCA haven't risk assessed that.

[hen henths]

Originally Posted by Craner Curves

Yes, I'm sure TOCA haven't risk assessed that.

No need for sarcasm. I was just idly curious if there were any special safety features. I heard in the commentary the battery assembly is designed to withstand very high G forces.

[antnee]

The pack sits inside a composite box, so should withstand most external fires just fine.

Any news from Motorbase/Dan on the cause of the fire yet?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by antnee

Any news from Motorbase/Dan on the cause of the fire yet?

I've heard it was a ruptured fuel line.
Unsure if it was a failure, or damaged.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by hen henths

It's amusing that Sutton's idea of messing up is qualifying in 3rd instead of pole in a new car.

He has clarified his error. He applied the hybrid too early coming out of the chicane, which locked it off for 2 seconds. Without that error, he probably would have been a few tenths faster and on pole.

[Sodemo]

Where do the RWD cars stand in terms of their previous performance penalties? Are they all still in place?

- extra RWD base weight
- raised ride height
- longer first gear
- reduced boost below 80kph

Etc?

[Robshillito1990]

I see JP was still wearing his old overalls today. Is there some sort of supply issue of just because the deal was so late in the day?

[Matt K]

Super impressive performance by Jake Hill, I kind of expected him to struggle in a RWD car in the beginning of the season. Well done. Who knows, he may be one of the title contenders this year. However, the beginning looks like it can be a Turkington v Sutton again, although obviously a bit too early to say. They will be in the mix, that's for sure.

Incredible effort by Gamble, don't remember when was the last time when a rookie had such an impressive debut. But of course points are given tomorrow and will be interesting to see how he fares. Anyway, nice to finally see a second car of Cicely. Hope this is not just the beginner's luck.

[porsche962fan]

is Gamble that good or was Chilton that bad , that's the question

if Gamble is that good he may have strong chance for JST which someone here didn't want to gample on

[crmalcolm]

Gamble is good. And pretty much all of his experience thus far has been in RWD.

Chilton was having to adapt to RWD, and he readily admits it took all season to adjust his driving style.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Matt K

Incredible effort by Gamble, don't remember when was the last time when a rookie had such an impressive debut.

Dan Cammish 2018?

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Dan Cammish 2018?

haha yes! My memory is very good but short
Anyway, it's four years and Cammish wasn't very young debuting in the BTCC, was already quite an established driver through his Porsche career.