BTCC 2019: Croft Review
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship headed North to the Croft circuit for another action packed three races in what was turning out to be a fascinating championship season.
The BTCC drivers faced mixed conditions throughout the day as the weather played its full part in the afternoons action. The BMW of Andrew Jordan converted his pole position into the first win of the day in race one after a race long battle with the BTC Racing Honda of Chris Smiley and also had to deal with a lengthy safety car period. The battle for the final podium place was won by the Motorbase Ford of Tom Chilton, however towards the end of the encounter, he had to defend hard from the charging BMW pair of Colin Turkington and Tom Oliphant.
Race two was a similar story for Jordan, as he notched up another impressive double win in his BMW 3 series, a car that is already proving to be a dominant force. Jordan managed to pull away well despite having maximum ballast and pull a comfortable gap to the cars behind. Chris Smiley, doing his best to hold on to second position, had a gaggle of cars behind him. All queuing up ready to pounce on a mistake. Turkington eventually made it past Smiley in the closing stages but couldn't do anything about Jordan up ahead.
It got worse for the the BTC Honda of Smiley in the closing stages, as contact with Ash Sutton on the final lap going into the complex put Smiley into a spin and into the barriers just to corners from the finish line. Dan Cammish claimed the final spot on the rostrum for race two with his team mate Matt Neal following in pursuit.
Sutton took fifth ahead of a rather lively Jason Plato in the PMR Vauxhall Astra. Tom Ingram, Josh Cook, Tom Chilton and Aiden Moffat completed the top ten running order.
In what was an exciting final encounter, Tom Chilton took the reverse grid race honours after holding off the challenges from both Josh Cook and Jason Plato, with the latter, making a triumphant return to the podium.
The weather played a massive part as drivers and teams were left to decide whether to stay on wet tyres on a drying surface or gamble for the slicks.
Chilton showed his class and after a defensive masterclass having held opponents off for the entire race, came home to win and re-ignite his championship challenge.
Turkington heads to the top of the drivers standings after another impressive points scoring weekend with an 11 point advantage over Josh Cook, with Ash Sutton a further two points back.
BMW head the manufacturers standings with Honda Yuasa heading the teams table.
Josh Cook and BTC Racing head both of the Independent Drivers and Teams standings.
Next up for the BTCC, the annual trip to the picturesque Oulton Park in Cheshire.
