A determined double-podium finish at Croft for WSR moved BMW back to the top of the British Touring Car Championship Manufacturers’ points and brought comeback king Colin Turkington into the thick of the fight for the Drivers’ title.
Second and third-placed finishes for the Northern Irishman, plus sixth spot in the last race of the day meant a 43-point haul – the second highest of any driver in North Yorkshire – that moved the Team BMW man to within just 12 points of the series lead.
What made the results remarkable was that the four-time champion had been involved in a heavy accident just two weeks earlier at Oulton Park, requiring the WSR team to build up a complete BMW 330e M Sport around a spare chassis that had not been used since 2019 in double-quick time.
“It’s been a very good weekend when you consider how things looked leaving Oulton Park,” commented Dick Bennets, Team Principal. “Colin’s had two podiums and closed right in on the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, and we’ve put BMW back in front in the Manufacturers’ points too, which is a great way to head into the summer break.
“I’ve said it before, but the team effort that’s gone into preparing Colin’s car around a spare chassis that hasn’t been used for a couple of years was just incredible and everybody involved can be very proud that their hard work has been the reason we’ve had the results we have this weekend.”
Colin’s pole position on Saturday, which cemented his status as the BTCC’s King of Croft, was followed by his fifth and sixth podiums of the season; results that helped BMW into prime position to win an unprecedented seventh-straight Manufacturers’ title.
Jake Hill was one place ahead of Colin in the finale; the ROKiT MB Motorsport driver taking his BMW to a top-five result in each of the day’s races.
The Kent racer’s pair of fifth-place finishes plus a fourth in Race Two meant he removed a significant portion of his deficit to the Drivers’ Championship lead, while remaining in fifth place in the points.
After qualifying 12th, Stephen Jelley made progress in the first two races of the day; moving forwards to 11th in the opener and then making further gains for 10th in Race Two; the closeness of the field making progress tough for the Leicester racer.
Drawn in third place on Race Three’s partially-reversed grid, the Oulton Park race winner ran strongly to finish fourth; a result that moved him to within a handful of points of the championship top 10.
The efforts of the drivers made BMW the winning manufacturer in the final race of the day. The trophy was collected by Team Principal Dick Bennetts, for whom it was a fitting way to mark his birthday.
The series now heads into a five-week summer break and will resume at Knockhill, Scotland, on July 30-31.
Championship standings (5/10 rounds)
DRIVERS
1/ Tom Ingram – 195 points
2/ Josh Cook – 192
3/ Colin Turkington – 183
4/ Ash Sutton – 171
5/ Jake Hill – 154
6/ Rory Butcher – 137
12/ Stephen Jelley – 77
MANUFACTURERS
1/ BMW – 384 point
2/ Hyundai – 370
3/ Ford – 346
4/ Honda 286
5/ Toyota – 271
TEAMS
1/ Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Tradepricecars.com – 308 points
2/ Napa Racing UK – 259
3/ Team BMW – 258
4/ Rich Energy BTC Racing – 229
5/ Halfords Racing with Cataclean – 219
6/ Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport – 160
8/ ROKiT MB Motorsport – 150
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