Team Bristol Street Motors Retain BTCC Top Spot Despite Knockhill Drama

13/08/2024 09:37 Share

Team Bristol Street Motors endured a trying weekend as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship made its annual trip to Scotland for the seventh meeting of the campaign at Knockhill, but was still able to celebrate scoring a double podium for the second successive round

The EXCELR8 Motorsport-run squad headed into the weekend looking to build on a solid weekend at Croft, where Tom Ingram had established a 21 point lead in the standings and Tom Chilton had battled to his first win of the campaign to help the team to close the gap on rivals NAPA Racing UK in the Teams’ Championship race.

The weekend started well as both Ingram and Chilton lapped inside the top ten in mixed conditions during opening practice, whilst Ingram and local hero Ronan Pearson were well placed in FP2 as they lapped within half a second of the pace - with Chilton close behind.

Qualifying however would prove to be a huge challenge for the Hyundai squad, with three of the four cars failing to make it through Q1. Ingram would struggle from his lack of hybrid as championship leader and missed out on progression by just 0.024s, with Pearson just 0.014s further back - leaving them in 15th and 16th on the grid.

Nick Halstead would also fail to progress but was able to set the 19th best time, leaving Chilton to fly the flag into the second part of the session, where he would end up setting the ninth fastest lap.

Knockhill BTCC

All four drivers elected to run the medium compound tyre in race one and take the hit of running the slower tyre first, which would ultimately impact on the results.

Chilton would be the best of the quartet in 14th place - making him the third best driver on the harder compound available - with Pearson and Halstead having to settle for 17th and 19th positions.

For Ingram, there was huge disappointment however after contact with the Toyota of Aiden Moffat whilst battling for position forced him into the pits to retire and left him at the back of the grid for race two.

Now running the soft tyre, Ingram got away well at the start to move up into 16th spot and onto Chilton’s tail, with the two working together to move their way through the pack until Ingram took a trip across the grass after a clash with Chris Smiley - dropping him back down the order.

As Chilton climbed his way through to take a solid ninth place, Ingram was forced to battle back from his trip across the track to try and work his way into the positions that would allow him to benefit from the reverse grid draw, and he would clinch tenth on the final lap to also score valuable championship points.

Pearson was well set to join then in bidding for the top twelve positions when he was forced into the pits with a potential power steering issue, whilst Halstead struggled to get the best from his tyres but was still able to make up two spots to finish in 17th.

Knockhill BTCC

With the top twelve reversed for the final race, Ingram and Chilton shared the second row of the grid, with Ingram wasting little time in getting ahead of Aron Taylor-Smith into second place.

A huge battle with Rob Huff followed that saw Ingram briefly edge ahead, but he would ultimately have to settle for second place behind the former World Champion, with Chilton acting as a defensive shield behind in third having also overhauled Taylor-Smith and then kept both Ash Sutton and Jake Hill at bay.

From the very back of the grid, Pearson once again showed what might have been with a fine drive through the pack to take tenth place, matching Ingram’s ten place gain from race two.

To end the weekend on a positive note, Halstead also enjoyed his strongest performance of the day as he crossed the line in 15th place despite mid-race contact that saw him spin off track. A penalty for one of his rivals post-race would see him then promoted into 14th.

Ingram remains in the championship lead with a three point buffer over Hill in the standings, whilst Team Bristol Street Motors also retains second in the Teams’ Championship.

Pearson also remains second in the Jack Sears Trophy ahead of the next event of the season at Donington Park.

Tom Chilton, #3 Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said
“It’s nice to see that the old man still has it, and to be on the podium with Tom for a second weekend in a row is really good for the team. The first two races weren’t ideal, particularly race one where we struggled to get any kind of performance from the medium tyre, but we saved everything for the final race and then when we go the reverse grid, we were able to benefit from it.

“I’ve had a few tough years and it’s nice to be in a position where my experience is now paying off and we’re once again getting the results. We had a great car in that final race and were able to make the most of it, and the fact that Ash Sutton was behind me and couldn’t make a move is a nice bonus.”

Tom Chilton

Ronan Pearson, #14 Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“It’s almost like a copy and paste from Croft a few weeks ago, where we’ve had a positive end to what was a difficult weekend. I’d hoped to qualify higher up the order than we did and having got the medium tyre out of the way, was keen to see if we could get forwards into the points in race two and hopefully push towards the reverse grid.

“To then have to pit with a problem was frustrating as it meant we were right at the back again with most of the field on the same tyre, so to come through the pack to tenth was really good - particularly at a circuit like this where it isn’t easy to overtake. Without the issue in race two we could have had another Jack Sears Trophy win here which would have been great for a second year in a row, but at least we were able to end the weekend with a strong result.”

Nick Halstead, #22 Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“I feel it’s been a positive weekend and it’s great to come away from the weekend with some more points to my name. Race one on the medium tyre was damage limitation and I hold my hands up that I didn’t have the pace in race two when we switched to the soft rubber.

“The pace in the final race was fantastic and I really enjoyed myself, and it could have been more had I not been taken off towards the end. We’ve done a lot of work this weekend on a new set-up which I’ve loved and it gives me confidence going forwards to Donington Park.”

Tom Ingram, #80 Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said
“It’s been a hell of a day after the drama of race one, and then the further drama of race two - where I was concerned we were on for another no score when I was bouncing across the gravel and the grass...

“We’ve had a good car throughout the weekend but were hurt by the lack of hybrid in qualifying, which put us back in the pack. After race one, we had it all to do to try get up into the top twelve in race two, and it wasn’t easy having to do it twice after the contact with Chris.

“Race three was a fantastic battle however with Rob, but it was one of those where I knew he had nothing to lose, and he knew that I had to be careful with the championship situation. Having Tom behind me was good as he could support me and I knew he wouldn’t do anything stupid, and it had allowed us to come away still leading the championship with three rounds to go.”

Justina Williams, Team Owner, said
“It’s been a tough weekend but we come away from it with a great result in race three with two cars on the podium, and it means we have kept our lead in the championship. To see all four drivers score points is also a positive and each of them had put in a strong performance on race day which we now need to build on when we head to Donington Park.”

Tom Ingram