BTCC Rounds 7, 8 & 9 - Brands Hatch (GP)

[VkmSpouge]

With Lea Wood and Martin Depper joining the grid there are now 22 cars racing this weekend. Weather forecast predicting a lot of rain for tomorrow's races.

Tom Chilton looking very fast in first practice as are all the three Vauxhall Vectras who finished 2-3-4 behind the Ford. Jason Plato and Steven Kane seemed to have some kind of problems that prevented them from setting any competitive laps.

[MattL]

Plato had an 'oil pressure issue', which means his Cruze's engine is now being changed. Kane didn't seem too concerned - just sorting out a few niggly things.

[DazzlaF1]

And Pinkney up in the top 4 as well, very well done there from him.

Guess that little outburst at Rockingham was a flash in the pan after all

[VkmSpouge]

The Fords are flying in practice with a 1-2 but so far they have not been able to convert pace on a Saturday to results on a Sunday. The Hondas and Vauxhalls looking good as well. I wonder if the Chevies are sandbagging?

[MattL]

Half an hour until BTCC qualifying is scheduled to start and the rain has just made an appearance. It made for an interesting Formula Renault qualifying session with plenty of late changes. Who knows what will happen during the BTCC session!?!

[Alfa Fan]

Everyone on track but Pinkney.

[Alfa Fan]

Arthur Forster P2 :D

[Allyc85]

Chilton 3 quarters of a second up on anyone else??!! Mean while TOC has failed a ride height test and has lost all his times so far!

[DazzlaF1]

FINAL GRID

1. Chilton ........ 1m 31.614
2. Shedden ........ + 0.471
3. Nash ........ + 0.811
4. Neal ........ + 0.820
5. Collard ........ + 0.859
6. MacDowall ........ + 0.869
7. Plato ........ + 1.015
8. Jordan ........ + 1.099
9. Onslow-Cole ........ + 1.116
10. O'Neill ........ + 1.240
11. Boardman ........ + 1.303
12. Pinkney ........ + 1.317
13. Jackson ........ + 1.379
14. Kane ........ + 1.393

Everyone else over 2.5 seconds adrift

[Mp3 Astra]

That weight hurting Plato it would seem, but Neal is able to cope quite well. Chilton and the Fords have looked unbeatable all weekend; no doubt they will find some way to mess up! But, in all seriousness, Tom C has deserved a win since the final rounds last year, let's hope he can finally bring one home.

[AndySpeed]

Everyone else over 2.5 seconds adrift

Something that's more apparent this season than ever is the 'class B' that seems to be forming at the back, where you've got Hamilton, Neate, George, Hollamby, Forster, Johnson and now Wood and Depper battling. Apart from a couple, it's the "old boys" club!

[RMLCruzeing82]

Something that's more apparent this season than ever is the 'class B' that seems to be forming at the back, where you've got Hamilton, Neate, George, Hollamby, Forster, Johnson and now Wood and Depper battling. Apart from a couple, it's the "old boys" club!

good old boys wripping it up there :p and a top drive by chilton hope he can do a better start this weekend then last

[PDS]

Everyone on track but Pinkney.

Gearbox problems..

[Alfa Fan]

Very wet today!

[Allyc85]

Should make things very interesting!

[VkmSpouge]

Race 1 Result:
1 Tom Chilton
2 Gordon Shedden
3 Tom Onslow-Cole
4 Rob Collard
5 Matt Neal
6 Paul o'Neill
7 Alex MacDowall
8 Jason Plato
9 Tom Boardman
10 Mat Jackson
11 Steven Kane
12 Matt Hamilton
13 Lea Wood
14 Andy Neate
15 Martin Depper
DNF Andrew Jordan
DNF Martin Johnson
DNF Arthur Forster
DNF Dave Pinkney
DNF Shaun Hollamby
DNF James Nash
DNF John George

Tom Chilton just ran away from the field despite having to contend with two safety car periods. Very well deserved win for Chilton.
Gordon Shedden looked pretty good. Rob Collard clearly the class act of all the BMWs, Motorbase are seriously struggling battling it out with Martin Johnson.
Paul o'Neill being fairly aggressive today, he did a great move on Jason Plato.
Was not impressed by ITV cutting away from several overtaking moves like Gordon Shedden passing Rob Collard and Dave Pinkney getting alongside Tom Boardman so that we never saw how Pinkney ended up in the gravel.

[Allyc85]

Tom Chilton just ran away from the field despite having to contend with two safety car periods. Very well deserved win for Chilton.
Gordon Shedden looked pretty good. Rob Collard clearly the class act of all the BMWs, Motorbase are seriously struggling battling it out with Martin Johnson.
Paul o'Neill being fairly aggressive today, he did a great move on Jason Plato.
Was not impressed by ITV cutting away from several overtaking moves like Gordon Shedden passing Rob Collard and Dave Pinkney getting alongside Tom Boardman so that we never saw how Pinkney ended up in the gravel.

Summed it up pretty well :)

[Allyc85]

What a save by Shedden!! Busy first few laps in race 2, bet Plato really didnt want to be chatting to Edwards after the car let him down.

[markoos72]

They're all falling off...

[VkmSpouge]

Race 2 Result:
1 Tom Chilton
2 Tom Onslow-Cole
3 Gordon Shedden
4 Alex MacDowall
5 Paul o'Neill
6 Andrew Jordan
7 Tom Boardman
8 Steven Kane
9 Dave Pinkney
10 Matt Hamilton
11 James Nash
12 Mat Jackson
13 Rob Collard
14 Shaun Hollamby
DNF Matt Neal
DNF Martin Johnson
DNF Arthur Forster
DNF Andy Neate
DNF Jason Plato
DNF Arthur Forster
DNF Lea Wood
DNS John George

Another storming drive from Tom Chilton to collect his second win of the day. Good driving by Tom Onslow-Cole to get second place despite having a wounded car. Impressive drive by Alex MacDowall too.
Mat Jackson drove well but like almost all the BMWs he had a spin, I think Steven Kane was the only BMW to have remained on the track for the entire race.
Congratulations to Matt Hamilton on scoring his first championship point!
Both Matt Neal and Jason Plato out with car issues leaves Paul o'Neill to jump into 2nd place in the championship!


What a save by Shedden!!

It was a fantastic save though frankly he should not have got himself into the position of having to save it.

[Alfa Fan]

I see Forster failed to finish twice within the same race.

[VkmSpouge]

I felt his efforts deserved a double mention ;)

[MattL]

Tom Chilton has been excluded from race two. His Focus failed post-race scrutineering on a 'technical infringement'.

[BTCC2]

Chilton excluded from race 2 results for underweight car...

[VkmSpouge]

A real shame for Tom Chilton, such a silly mistake by the team to end up underweight. Still congratulations now to Tom Onslow-Cole for winning by just 0.009s from Gordon Shedden!
Tom Boardman loses pole for Steven Kane.

http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=1936

[christophulus]

Closest winning margin ever then! Shame for Chilton but it's a fundamental thing to make sure the car isn't underweight.

Also Kane is going to start on pole, not Boardman.

[Alfa Fan]

No he's not. Reverse grid remains unchanged.

[VkmSpouge]

No he's not. Reverse grid remains unchanged.

That's what I thought too but BTCC.net says Steven Kane will now start from pole.

[MattL]

Reverse grid does change. Kane on pole.

Note the official line on Chilton's exclusion is a 'technical infringement'.

[BDunnell]

I may be wrong, but didn't the item on btcc.net state that the car was underweight, and that the reverse grid would remain unaltered, before being changed?

[MattL]

Yes, quite possibly.

Race three looks interesting - there's a real mix of tyre combinations on the grid!

The front few:

Kane on pole - wets all round
Boardman - wets
Jordan - slicks (front) & wets (rear)
O'Neill - wets
MacDowall - slicks/wets

[VkmSpouge]

It took Tim Harvey and Ben Edwards 6 laps to notice Paul o'Neill hadn't started? I would have thought the gaping hole in the grid would have been a clue.


I may be wrong, but didn't the item on btcc.net state that the car was underweight, and that the reverse grid would remain unaltered, before being changed?

I think it was altered after the story was posted.

[m.lowe]

Totally enjoyed all three races on tv
Had to laugh at Plato complaining about the Focus and then Alan Gow stating that the car hadn't really challenged that much upto now then it goes and wins.
Gow also made the comment about Plato complaining from year to year
made me chuckle

[Sarah]

I've only just read that Chilton has been excluded from race 2 that's a real shame.

I too wondered why Tim and Ben didn't notice the big gap where Owy's car should have been on the grid.

[Mp3 Astra]

I was at the circuit yesterday. How many safety cars did we have? 6? 7? It was a ridiculous amount, even for the BTCC at Brands. And to top it all off, the weather was some of the worst I've experienced at a BTCC meeting (nothing compared to some of the Croft weather we've seen in the past, and of course Knockhill). Somewhat dissatisfying, but great action when there weren't safety cars on the course.

[AndySpeed]

I was at the circuit yesterday. How many safety cars did we have? 6? 7? It was a ridiculous amount, even for the BTCC at Brands. And to top it all off, the weather was some of the worst I've experienced at a BTCC meeting (nothing compared to some of the Croft weather we've seen in the past, and of course Knockhill). Somewhat dissatisfying, but great action when there weren't safety cars on the course.

Perhaps you should take a look at yesterday's second WTCC race, where 11 of the 13 total laps were behind the safety car! The BTCC is much better in comparison.

As for the weather, it was on the same level as Donington Park in 2007 - bloody horrible!

[BDunnell]

I was at the circuit yesterday. How many safety cars did we have? 6? 7? It was a ridiculous amount, even for the BTCC at Brands. And to top it all off, the weather was some of the worst I've experienced at a BTCC meeting (nothing compared to some of the Croft weather we've seen in the past, and of course Knockhill). Somewhat dissatisfying, but great action when there weren't safety cars on the course.

I think you've answered your own question there! Without the weather, the races wouldn't have been so disrupted. In fact, they did very well to keep things going with a decent amount of action — I remember being at the appallingly wet June 1995 meeting on the Brands GP circuit, before safety cars were introduced to the BTCC, where one of the races ended up being decided on aggregate times from two parts and the other had to be started three times. Race two ended in gathering darkness, such were the delays.

[Mp3 Astra]

Fair point, the weather did have its part to play. It was just frustrating, but it could have been much worse, as your example showed. I've watched that meeting many times on the 1995 VHS. It's a shocker!