Tom Chilton drove a sublime race from pole position to claim his second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victory of the season at Donington Park this afternoon. Chilton converted his first pole in 14 years to win, leading home a Team VERTU Hyundai i30N one-two ahead of Tom Ingram.
Chilton took the lead from the front, defending to hold position from Ingram. Whilst the latter appeared to be sizing up a move, he had to settle for second early on with Chris Smiley running third in one Restart Racing’s Hyundais.
From there, Chilton largely controlled the race to rack up his 18th career victory in the BTCC. He briefly ceded the lead to Ingram to allow his championship chasing teammate to bag an extra point for ending a lap in first, but the duo switched back in a choreographed move shortly afterwards. The Hyundais at the front then ran unchallenged to the chequered flag to claim first and second place for their team.
Behind that, Smiley could only hold onto third until lap four when Daniel Rowbottom worked his way past in the first of the NAPA Racing UK Fords. A handful of laps later, Ash Sutton and Dan Cammish passed Smiley in quick succession as well to make it three Ford Focus STs in the top-five. The trio then drove home to the finish in that order.
Smiley continued to lose ground in the latter stages of the 14 lap race, with Jake Hill passing him for sixth on lap nine. He was followed home by Adam Morgan and Senna Proctor who completed a strong showing for the Team VERTU machines in seventh and eighth.
Smiley ultimately ended up ninth after his earlier frontrunning form, resisting late pressure from the charging Toyota of Aron Taylor-Smith to hold position across the line.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Donington Park, Race 1
- Tom Chilton, Team VERTU, Hyundai i30N
- Tom Ingram, Team VERTU, Hyundai i30N, +0.599s
- Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +1.784s
- Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +5.525s
- Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +8.346s
- Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, BMW 330i M Sport, +9.120s
- Adam Morgan, Team VERTU, Hyundai i30N, +12.028s
- Senna Proctor, Team VERTU, Hyundai i30N, +14.319s
- Chris Smiley, Restart Racing, Hyundai i30N, +14.598s
- Aron Taylor-Smith, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, +15.038s
Click here for full times and results from this weekend.