TEAM VERTU SCORES THRUXTON VICTORY
Team VERTU ended a challenging weekend on a high at Thruxton with victory as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season resumed at the fastest circuit on the calendar.
The EXCELR8-run team heads into the fifth meeting of the season chasing victory for the second season in succession, with all four drivers chasing strong results to strengthen their respective positions in the championship standings.
Free practice was all about dialling in the car to the unique challenges that Thruxton provides, with Tom Ingram the best placed of the four drivers in eighth place despite running exclusively on the hard tyre that would be used across race day.
Ricky Collard and Tom Chilton would end up just outside the top ten with Nicolas Hamilton in 22nd before focus turned towards qualifying for Saturday’s Race for Pole.
Chilton would be the only one of the four drivers to head out in the opening session, which would ultimately prove to be the quicker of the two to set up the ‘odd’ side of the grid – with the sixth quickest time meaning he would head up the sixth row of the grid.
Ingram headed the times in the second session which meant, despite his lap being fourth fastest overall, that he would line up on the front row of the grid, with Collard earning a place on row four and Hamilton securing a place on row eleven.
A strong start from Ingram saw him attack pole sitter Josh Cook through the opening corners before he settled into second spot, which is where he would remain to the flag to claw back some points on title rival Ash Sutton in the standings.
It would be a tough race for the other three drivers however, with Collard forced out on lap one with an alternator issue that resulted in a brief safety car, which then resulted in the demise of Hamilton when he was hit in the rear by an over-eager Daryl DeLeon on the restart and forced to pit with damage.
From 13th on the grid, Chilton had raced his way forwards into ninth, but he too encountered an issue with the alternator that would see him forced back into the pits in the closing stages.
Despite heavy rain on Sunday morning, track conditions had dried by the time the field lined up on the grid for the opening race, with Ingram on the front row of the grid but the other three Hyundais forced to start near the back following their qualifying race woes.
Ingram’s hopes of adding to his silverware were ended on the opening lap however when he was run wide onto the grass on the high-speed run from Goodwood to Village, dropping him down to the lower reaches of the top ten.
The defending champion battled hard from that point to work his way back up the order, but was only able to recover to fifth by the finish.
From the back of the field, Chilton and Collard ran together for much of the race as they battled their way into the points scoring positions, with Chilton able to make it up to 13th place, with Collard following him home having gained eight spots from where he started.
Hamilton would end up taking the flag in 20th after he was embroiled in a race-long battle with Ryan Bensley and Lewis Gilbert for position.
From fifth on the grid for race two, Ingram got a3way well to make up a spot off the line and then battled his way into the top three with a move on the Mercedes of Dan Rowbottom.
Chasing down the Toyota of Josh Cook, Ingram drew alongside going up Woodham Hill on lap twelve and tried to go around the outside of his rival, only to be forced to take to the escape road to avoid a collision – emerging from the corner having taken second spot.
Ingram would remain in second spot to the finish but a ten second penalty for track limits would see him slip to fifth in the final results.
Chilton and Collard would both find themselves embroiled in a huge battle in the midfield, with Chilton running ahead until the final lap when Collard grabbed eleventh spot, despite a scare mid-way through when bodywork started to rub on the front left tyre.
Hamilton would repeat his race one result as he once again took the flag in 20th place, scoring more valuable points towards his Jack Sears Trophy tally.
With the top six reversed on the grid for the weekend finale, Ingram lined up on the front row of the grid and wasted little time in hitting the front as he battled his way ahead of James Dorlin on the run to the complex for the first time.
After an early caution period, Ingram was able to ease clear at the front as he secured victory at the fastest circuit on the calendar for the second successive season, despite a five second penalty for a starting infringement.
Behind, Collard would prove to be one of the stars of the race as he produced a trademark aggressive performance to rise through the pack from eleventh on the grid to take fourth spot, ending up less than half a second away from adding to his tally of podiums this season.
Chilton also maintained his race day improvement to come through into the top ten in eighth place, with Hamilton ending the weekend with his fourth points finish of the campaign in 15th; a result that moved him up into the top three of the Jack Sears Trophy and also means he has now set a new personal best for points scored in a season by the half-way stage.
Tom Chilton, #3 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Unfortunately, the qualifying race is where things went wrong for with the alternator issue as otherwise, we’d have been up in the top ten and things would have been very different. It just shows how one small issue can have a massive impact, particularly at a circuit like this where overtaking is so difficult.
“When you’re in the field, you’re constantly losing downforce following cars through the quick stuff and then even when you hit the TOCA Turbo Boost button, it’s hard to regain the ground lost – plus the car gets hotter when you’re in traffic and you lose power.
“Saying that, we’ve improved in each of the three races this weekend which is a positive thing for us to take away, and I’ve really enjoyed the racing. I’m sad to still not have a Thruxton win in my career, so that’s one I’ll to focus on ticking off next year…”
Ricky Collard, #11 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“The issue on Saturday was something that was just outside my control, but what I could control was trying to recover as much as possible on Sunday. To come from the back of the field round here and end the weekend with a P4 is really positive, and is credit to the team and credit to the car because this is the most difficult series there is.
“This is probably the most difficult circuit to overtake because of things like the aero wash and the fact that the corners are all so high-speed and run into each other, so there aren’t as many opportunities as you might think. I think I’ve still managed to overtake more than anyone else though, which is something to be pleased about.”
Nicolas Hamilton, #28 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Thruxton was always going to be a tough one for me as historically I haven’t gone well here, and it’s been a bit of a mental challenge. However, I was born resilient and have just kept with it, and the result is that I’ve finished in the points again and have now scored at four of the five meetings.
“To be up into the top three of the Jack Sears Trophy is also fantastic and is down to the fact that I’ve been more consistent this season and have stayed out of trouble. Thruxton is the event that I was looking forward to the least so I’m glad to now be able to move on and look ahead to Knockhill.”
Tom Ingram, #80 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said:
“Frustrating is probably a good way to describe the weekend as we’ve been so fast this weekend, yet only got the result we should have done from the final race. If I’m being honest, we were a bit rubbish in practice but across the weekend we’ve worked on making changes to the car and I’d say that by the end of race three, it was the best car I’ve ever driven around Thruxton, which is really encouraging.
“A series of events mean the weekend hasn’t yielded what we hoped for various reasons, but the big positive to take away is that we’ve made some pretty fundamental changes to the car this weekend and they worked, as race three showed. These changes are things we can look to carry to other circuits as there are elements of the lap here that translate to other circuits, even when a lap as a whole is so unique.
“It bodes well that the improvements worked, and should continue to work for the rest of the year.”
Justina Williams, Team VERTU Team Owner, said:
“It’s good to end what looked like being a challenging weekend with another Thruxton win. We clearly have a quick car here but things outside our control looked like they were going to hamper our chances, so to score a win and see the improvement in results across the board in the four races is a positive.
“We know there is work still to do, and we’ll keep pushing hard when we head to Scotland for the next round.”
