Tom Chilton took his 18th career victory in the British Touring Car championship in the first race of the day at Donington Park GP. It is his second victory of the season at the track. He took a race three victory on Donington Park National loop earlier in the season.
Tom Ingram followed his teammate home in second place. The pair got a brilliant start and managed to pull two seconds clear of the rest of the field. This allowed Team Vertu tactical freedom which they used to let Tom Ingram lead a couple laps, giving him an extra point in his championship campaign. Ingram now leads Sutton in the championship by 22 points.
NAPA playing the tactical game
The NAPA racing squad suffered from a bit of a disapointing qualifying session yesterday but had no doubt that they would climb up the order in race one. Dan Cammish, Ash Sutton and Dan Rowbottom all sat in a train behind Chris Smiley in third place in the opening laps. But, Rowbottom was the first to break through and then Sutton managed to pass the Hyundai for fourth position on lap eight.
Dan Rowbottom was happy to take the burden of finishing third position and being forced onto the harder compound for race two. This tactical choice leaves Sutton in ‘strategic pole position’ for race two as he has a free choice of tyres whilst the top three are forced to run the hard compound.
Toyota showing promise in Race 1
The Toyota Gazoo squad had an impressive showing in Race 1 of the weekend. The team decided to run half of their cars with different engines this weekend in an atempt to find some pace.
The experiment was working well for Aron Taylor-Smith who managed to wrestle his Corolla into the top 10 for the fifth time this season. Gordon Shedden also had a good result, claiming a 12th place finish and the highest placed hard tyre runner. Shedden will be hoping to make some more progress in race two with optimal tyres for the next two races.
The Toyota squad also welcomed Josh Cook to their team this weekend. The One Motorsport driver has been on the sidelines since Oulton Park as the team pulled out from the rest of the season. Cook has joined Toyota for the rest of the season and he finished his first race back in 18th place.
Race 1 Top 15
RESULTS ARE PROVISIONAL
1. Tom Chilton 2. Tom Ingram 3. Dan Rowbottom 4. Ash Sutton 5. Dan Cammish 6. Jake Hill 7. Adam Morgan 8. Senna Proctor 9. Chris Smiley (Independant Winner) 10. Aron Taylor-Smith 11. Daryl DeLeon (Jack Sears Winner) 12. Gordon Shedden 13. Charles Rainford 14. Dan Lloyd 15. Aiden Moffat
Main Image Credit: BTCC
Track Map Credit: BTCC