TEAM VERTU BAGS DOUBLE PODIUM FROM DONINGTON PARK OPENER

Team VERTU secured a double podium finish in the opening rounds of the new Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park.

The EXCELR8-run team headed into the weekend looking for a strong start to the defence of the titles it won last season, with defending champion Tom Ingram and long-time team-mate Tom Chilton joined in the driver line-up by newcomers Ricky Collard and Nicolas Hamilton.

Donington Park debuted a new format for Britain’s premier racing series, with just a single 40 minute practice session for the four drivers ahead of the first ever BTCC ‘Race for Pole’ on Saturday afternoon.

Practice saw Ingram lead the way in the #80 Hyundai as he laid down an early marker for the weekend, with Chilton taking fifth and both Collard and Hamilton using the session to get valuable track time after limited pre-season running.

Ingram then topped his pre-qualifying session for the qualifying race which ensured he would start on pole position, with Chilton and Collard finishing third and ninth in the same session – which would leave them in fifth and 17th on the grid.

Hamilton ran in the second session and would post the tenth quickest time, which ensured he would line up on the tenth row of the grid for the qualifying race later in the day.

After an action-packed opening lap that saw him go wheel to wheel with long-time rival Ash Sutton, Ingram dominated the 13 lap encounter to cross the line in first place, although a five second penalty for being slightly out of position at the start demoted him back down to second, falling just 0.024s shy of overturning the penalty.

Chilton would end the race in sixth place, with Collard racing his way forwards to twelfth – the second largest gain of any driver on the grid. Hamilton also made up ground from where he had started to ensure he would start race one on Sunday from 19th on the grid.

Despite being the only one of the leading drivers not to run the soft tyre in race one, Ingram grabbed the lead when polesitter Dan Rowbottom bogged down at the start and was able to control proceedings from the front, despite a safety car that backed up the field and negated his early lead.

A controlled drive saw Ingram take the flag first once again, but he was then excluded from the results due to an overboost issue.

It left Chilton to fly the flag for Team VERTU despite a challenging race in the midfield as he crossed the line in ninth spot, with Hamilton racing his way to 17th after a race-long dice with the Toyota of Max Buxton.

Unfortunately for Collard, his first race back in the series for three years would end in retirement when he was forced to bring his car into the pits shortly after the safety car period having suffered a puncture.

Drama before the start of race two saw Ingram come in at the end of the green flag lap with an alternator problem that ruled him out of the action, with Hamilton also departing early when he was tipped into a spin at turn one and was left stricken in the gravel.

Chilton was also in the wars on the opening lap when he was forced off across the grass going down the Craner Curves and dropped to the back of the field, although he recovered to score points in 13th place, with Collard instead emerging as the leading Team VERTU driver from the race.

Despite starting at the back, Collard made the most of running the soft tyre to storm through the field to take eighth place, his only scare coming on the opening lap when he was forced to jump on the brakes to avoid Chilton as he rejoined the circuit.

Collard was then drawn on pole for race three but faced the challenge of being on the medium tyre when a number of cars around him were on the soft.

Despite that, the former British GT champion got his elbows out to deliver a battling drive at the front of the field, leading the early laps despite briefly being overhauled by the BMW of Charles Rainford.

A small error at turn one eventually saw Collard lose the lead but he then fought hard to keep Dan Cammish’s Ford at bay whilst at the same time, Ingram was rocketing up the order on the soft tyre to join the pair in fighting for the top three positions.

Collard’s defence against Cammish allowed Ingram to get ahead of the Ford into third spot and he then took second from his team-mate to cap a fine drive from the back of the field, gaining 19 spots in total to end the weekend with a runner-up finish.

Collard would cross the line in fourth having been overhauled by Cammish, but he was promoted back up into third when his rival was deemed to have exceeded track limits – earning him a podium finish on his series return.

A mechanical scare before the start meant Hamilton was forced to start from the pits before he recovered to 18th, although the weekend ended in disappointing fashion for Chilton when a clash ahead on track meant unavoidable contact with the BMW of Daryl Deleon, triggering his retirement with damage.

Next stop for the team is Brands Hatch on the weekend of 9-10 May.

Tom Chilton, #3 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“I’ve taken a win here for the last two years so this isn’t the weekend I was hoping for and it’s been a difficult start. We just didn’t have the pace in the first two races and getting involved in some contact didn’t help, plus we were having to defend a lot which was hampering our pace out of the corners and leaving us vulnerable to attack from behind.

“In the third race on the soft tyre, the car actually felt amazing and I genuinely think we could have been up there fighting for the podium with Tom and Ricky. Unfortunately there was a bit of a clash ahead involving one of the BMWs and he just got turned in front of me with nowhere to go.

“For sure it hasn’t gone our way this weekend, but we’ll work to improve at Brands Hatch and have a few ideas to look at.”

Ricky Collard, #11 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Given I had half a day in the car, I didn’t expect to be coming away from my first weekend back in the BTCC with a podium finish. The goal coming here was to get three points finishes and whilst I didn’t manage to do that, I’m not really going to complain when I’ve got some silverware!

“Obviously we had a really good result in the second race which earned us pole but I didn’t really know what to expect when we were on the medium tyre and there were so many people behind on the soft tyre. I just got my elbows out and gave it my best shot and whilst it was a bit frustrating to lose the lead in the way I did, I have to remember how little time I’ve had coming in here.

“Even though the deal all came together really late, I already feel comfortable in the team and I’ve got some awesome team-mates to work with. I really feel we can work together to do something special.”

Nicolas Hamilton, #28 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“It’s been a hard weekend for me, and probably a bit tougher than I expected it to be. We were there or thereabouts to start with, but I struggled a little but with the braking which is all related to my disability and just something that we know we need to work on a bit more.

“Whilst I feel a bit dejected about the results, I’m still massively excited about this season and being part of this team – it’s a privilege to be here. The BTCC is one of those series where sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and this weekend, it just didn’t go my way.

“However, I’m made of strong stuff and I’ll take everything I’ve been able to learn here and look to come back fighting when we get to Brands Hatch next month at a circuit where I’ve already had track time in the car, which can only help.”

Tom Ingram, #80 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“It’s a weird feeling at the end of the weekend because I’ve won twice on the road and then bagged a second place finish, but I’m heading home with only 27 points to my name and eighth in the standings.

“Ultimately it’s been a tricky start but we’ve clearly had the pace as we showed when we topped practice, topped qualifying and then finished nearly five seconds clear of the rest on Saturday.

“It shows that our approach over winter, which was to make sure we were in the best possible to shape to hit the ground running when there there is only limited practice, was the correct one as that is going to be important going forwards and it’s just unfortunate that race three is all we have to show for our efforts on Sunday.

“The blessing in disguise from this weekend is that we’re now going to go to Brands Hatch next time out carrying more turbo boost into qualifying which I think will make a big difference. We’ve just got to take the points we’ve banked here and move on.”

Justina Williams, Team VERTU Team Owner, said:
“We have mixed emotions after the opening round as we know we could have had more points on the board, but we’ve also shown that we have a strong car and driver line-up with the result of the final race of the weekend.

“As a team, we need to take the positives from the opening rounds and come out fighting at Brands Hatch in a couple of weeks.”