Daryl DeLeon scored his first Jack Sears Trophy round victory on what was a hard-fought day of racing for WSR in the British Touring Car Championship at the series’ fastest circuit, Thruxton.
The Cambridgeshire 19-year-old, who took a maiden overall race win at Brands Hatch in May, was on strong raceday form at the Hampshire speedbowl. He secured his best Thruxton BTCC finish with 10th spot in Race One and bettered it with ninth in Race Two.
“It’s been a big challenge today at a track where we knew the speed difference between ourselves and some of the other cars would show up,” commented Team Principal Dick Bennetts. “All four BMW drivers have had to dig deep and most of them have been victims of rivals’ driving.
“Daryl’s Jack Sears Trophy win has been the high point and it’s very satisfying that both he and Charles now have a round win to their name this year.”
Forced to drive his BMW 330i M Sport off-track at the Complex to avoid his WSR stablemate Charles Rainford being rammed by another driver, he lost ground but did recover to finish 14th.
He also recorded three second-place finishes in the Jack Sears Trophy (JST), giving him the event win and an increased 19-point advantage in the category standings over Charles.
Charles’ raceday was one of constant recovery after he was spun at Race One’s opening corner by a rival and fell to the back of the order.
The Horsham racer recovered to 17th by the chequered flag and continued his progress to take 11th in Race Two. His contact at the hands of another driver in Race Three required a pitstop and resulted in a frustrating 19th-place finish.
His LKQ team-mate Aiden Moffat drove to three points finishes as the Edinburgh racer fought hard in the midfield.
Aiden’s recovery from 20th to 14th made him the biggest gainer in Race One and he added 12th and 13th spots in the races that followed.
Reigning champion Jake Hill was similarly frustrated as he battled to sixth and fifth-place finishes in Races One and Two.
Taking the lead in the finale from the second row of the partially-reversed grid, he was denied a strong result when contact from another car pushed him off the track and caused an unplanned pitstop to remove debris from his BMW’s radiator.
He is fifth in the Drivers’ Championship as the series prepares to head to Oulton Park – the scene of one of Jake’s finest victories last year – in a fortnight.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4/10
DRIVERS
1/ Ash Sutton – 181 points
2/ Tom Ingram – 172
3/ Dan Rowbottom – 132
4/ Dan Cammish – 128
5/ Jake Hill – 114
6/ Adam Morgan – 92
10/ Charles Rainford – 73
12/ Daryl DeLeon – 61
13/ Aiden Moffat – 57
MANUFACTURERS
1/ Ford – 348 points
2/ Hyundai – 333
3/ BMW – 290
4/ Toyota – 191
TEAMS
1/ NAPA Racing UK – 315 points
2/ Team Vertu – 305
3/ Restart Racing – 172
4/ LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR – 170
5/ One Motorsport – 136
6/ Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport – 124
9/ WSR – 90
JACK SEARS TROPHY
1/ Daryl DeLeon – 191 points
2/ Charles Rainford – 172
3/ Ronan Pearson – 157
4/ Sam Osborne – 147
5/ James Dorlin – 128
6/ Dexter Patterson – 127
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