2024 BTCC Croft | 7 talking points

Colin Turkington retains Croft speed

Croft has been Turkington territory in recent years, with the four-time champion’s 14 wins around the 2.13-mile circuit the most any driver in the championship has at a single venue. Despite some early pace from the Toyota of Josh Cook in practice, the ‘King of Croft’ truly staked the claim on his land in qualifying. Obliterating the lap record with a time of 1:20.072, Turkington was almost two tenths clear of Dan Cammish’s NAPA Racing UK Ford, who joined him on the front row of the grid. The pole would be Turkington’s 29^th of his long career, and offered a golden opportunity to get his 2024 campaign back on track.

Away from the front row, track limits would play just as much a part in forming the grid as outright speed. The biggest headline in the first portion of qualifying was NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Rowbottom failing to make it to Q2, with two track limits strikes wiping his fastest times off the board. Championship leader Jake Hill would fall foul of track limits in Q2, only managing 11^th on the grid after having times deleted. Other potential front runners in Andrew Watson and Josh Cook – both Toyotas, albeit in different colours, would also have their times struck out.

Colin’s cruise as tyres determine rankings

With the sun absolutely blasting down on the Croft Tarmac, tyres became the biggest talking point ahead of race one. Knowing that the top ten across the line would be required to run the hardest available compound for the next race, the question was do you focus on a result in race one, or set yourself up for a better race two? The vast majority plumped for the latter, as only seven drivers opted to run the soft tyre in the opening race.

Five of the first six on the grid opted for the softs, as well as Jake Hill, who was looking to make up for his poor qualifying result on Saturday. The difference in pace was plain to see; Jake Hill carved his way through the hard-shod cars, receiving very little defence from Rob Huff to jump up to sixth. Huff was the first driver on the harder rubber, and knowing he’d be in prime position for race two, opted to play the long game.

If you’re wondering why this has largely been focused on the chasing pack, it’s because there wasn’t really much to talk about out front. While an early charge from Tom Ingram saw him leapfrog Dan Cammish into second and put pressure on Turkington at the head of the field, once the BMW had got into his stride there was never any doubt to the result. It was a demonstration in driving skill from the pole-sitter as he cruised to his 15^th Croft win.

Cook makes the most of superior speed as BMWs targeted

All eyes were on the top six from race one as the grid prepared for the second competition of the day with the harder tyres bolted on. Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill claimed that with a much higher track temperature, the advantage was with the harder rubber as opposed to the softs in race one. This hypothesis was soon proven wrong as he ended the first lap of the race back down in ninth. Things would go from bad to worse for Hill when a frustrated Tom Chilton attempted to make a move on his softer tyres, punting the Laser Tools Racing BMW into the tyre barriers.

The soft tyres were visibly faster than those on the hards, and Rob Huff – the first car on softs – duly worked his way up the field and was leading by the end of lap five. His charge was made much easier when a coming together between Ash Sutton and Colin Turkington slowed both down, allowing Huff to dive past the pair and hunt down leader Tom Ingram. Having worked past Ingram, Huff led until lap 13, when the satellite Toyota of Josh Cook pulled off an astonishing move through the Esses on the works car. As the two Toyotas ran side-by-side, it allowed the Ford of Dan Rowbottom to close in. Huff would have to focus on defending his position from Rowbottom, which allowed Cook to clear off into the distance and take his second win of the year.

Tom Chilton takes lights-to-flag win as Turkington crashes out

Starting from reverse grid pole, despite his blatant removal of Jake Hill in race two (to be discussed), Tom Chilton was given the perfect opportunity to take his first win since the dramatic 2023 season-opening weekend. There was no deluge or tyre gamble to attribute on this occasion, as this was a masterclass from start to finish from the Team Bristol Street Motors driver, never putting a wheel wrong in his Hyundai i30.

Behind Chilton, teammate Tom Ingram was locked in a fight for second with Aron Taylor-Smith in the early laps, and when the two ran wide through the chicane, NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish didn’t need a second invitation. Cammish swept into second and held on to round out a strong day in the office. Ingram’s race, meanwhile, would end up becoming much more dramatic later in the race. The BMW 3-series of Colin Turkington was charging up the field, pulling off some outstanding manoeuvres, but when it came to trying to get past the new championship leader, his progress came to an abrupt end. That abrupt end would be the tyre barrier after a thrilling side-by-side run through the Esses with Ingram’s Hyundai. Whether this incident will be discussed further post-event remains to be seen, but hopefully this will be chalked down as a ‘racing incident’.

Judicials rolling over to Knockhill

With the first race of the day not starting until after midday, the teams had to contend with a relatively condensed schedule. While this would usually mean it’s the mechanics who are stretched for time, on this occasion it was those sitting in the TOCA bus who found they were up against it. With limited time between races, the stewards made the decision to consider any penalties for the incidents in race two until after the race weekend had finished.

The reason given was that there would not be adequate time to discuss the two major incidents in question – Sutton pushing Turkington wide and Tom Chilton biffing (that’s the technical term) Jake Hill into the barriers – and allow for any appeals. As such, Tom Chilton was allowed to keep his reverse grid pole for race three knowing that he’s probably going to have a grid penalty when the paddock moves north of the border. While this does make sense, you can’t help but wonder whether this may be a new directive going forward. Here’s hoping it’s not, as how many drivers might think they’ll take a future grid drop to ensure they score more than a close title rival? Not that any BTCC driver would ever dream of such a tactic, of course…

Pre-66 touring cars get us excited for Revival

A welcome addition to the BTCC bill over the Croft weekend was the Classic Touring Car Racing Club, who provided a grid full of pre-’66 saloon cars in celebration of its 50^th anniversary. Familiar names found themselves at the top of the timing sheets, as Sam Tordoff stormed to pole with a pair of victories in his Ford Falcon. Unfortunately, we were robbed of seeing Goodwood Hill record holder Max Chilton’s attempt to hunt down the Falcon, as his Team Dynamics-prepared Cortina pulled into the pits on the formation lap. A recovery drive in the setting sun saw Chilton drive from 29^th on the grid to fifth to round out the day’s racing.

Perhaps the biggest star of the weekend though, was James Ibboson in his Hillman Imp solely for the reason that the car seemed allergic to its own exhaust pipe – dumping it on the side of the circuit twice, forcing Ibboson to pull over on the cooldown lap and pick it up.

As ever, much of the entertainment came from the Minis, not least the car piloted by Goodwood regular Nick Swift, as a number of Cortina vs Mini battles cropped up throughout the field. Of course, Croft couldn’t be more different to our own Goodwood, but two exciting races certainly whetted our appetite for the St Mary’s Trophy at the Revival in September.

Tom Ingram capitalises on Jake Hill’s poor weekend

The weekend could not have gone worse for incoming points leader Jake Hill, taking just 21 points from the entire weekend. For reference, that’s as many points as you’d get for a race win (20 plus a lap leading bonus). Rival Tom Ingram, however, had a polar opposite weekend. Two podium visits and a fourth were enough to jump from four points behind Hill to 21 ahead going to Knockhill. Ash Sutton sits a further six points behind Hill, but has lost a net four points on the top of the table. Considering this time last year we were already booking the trophy engravers, Sutton will be hoping for a swift return to form with just four meetings to go.

Ford and NAPA Racing UK continue to sit at the top of the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ standings respectively, with Ford 39 points ahead of BMW and NAPA Racing UK 60 points clear of Team Bristol Street Motors in the latter. Meanwhile, Aron Taylor-Smith and Power Maxed Racing retain their stranglehold on the two Independent tables. Taylor-Smith’s teammate Mikey Doble enjoyed another pair of Jack Sears Trophy wins, extending his lead to 69 points over Ronan Pearson.

The BTCC circus now begins to prepare for its annual trip north of the border to the ever-popular Knockhill. Just 1.27 miles of Scottish excitement awaits in what is always one of the most dramatic weekends of the year, especially as there’s now only 12 races until we crown the BTCC’s latest champion.