Team BMW's Tom Oliphant takes a maiden win in the British Touring Car Championship with victory in Round 6 at Brands Hatch ahead of Laser Tools Racing's Ashley Sutton and Team Parker Racing's Stephen Jelley.
9th August 2020
Reverse Grid Draw
For the last Touring Car race of the day, the grid is reversed with the winner of the previous race picking a number from a bag and the number which is picked, will start from Pole. In the bag is the drivers who finished in 6th to 12th.
Colin Turkington randomly picked the number 12 which is the place that Aiden Moffat finished the previous race in so he started the race from Pole. This means that the grid is fully reversed and Turkington will start from 12th.
Race
Starting from Pole allowed Moffat to hug the inside line into Paddock Hill Bend as a poor start by Jack Goff allowed Stephen Jelley to get into second while in the rear-wheel drive BMW, Tom Oliphant, who started in sixth, was able to get a great drive off the line to nab third.
Out of Druids, Senna Proctor was tapped into a half-spin by Goff with the Hyundai swinging back to the right to hit Goff and Adam Morgan. Goff, on the grass lost control and came back onto the track and hit Tom Ingram's Toyota which is then spun around.
Ahead, Moffat defended well against Jelley and that allowed Oliphant to get alongside but the BMW driver couldn't get past. Moffat went wide into Stirlings and that compromised his line into Clearways and that allowed Jelley to get alongside on the start/finish straight but the momentum was with Oliphant as he took to the outside of the pair of them and nicked the lead into Paddock Hill Bend.
Ashley Sutton's demon start continued as he dived down the inside of James Gornall for fourth into Druids on Lap 2. Having started from 19th, Cammish had kept his nose clean and sat in 12th behind Turkington with Josh Cook also making up huge ground in 13th.
A mistake by Moffat allowed Jelley, Butcher and Sutton to get past but Sutton was able to find his way past Jelley to take second by the end of Lap 2. Butcher followed through into third into Paddock Hill Bend at Jelley's expense.
Onto Lap 7, Oliphant defended well to keep Sutton at bay as Butcher closed in on the pair of them. After running in ninth, Andy Neate went off the track with Cammish also pulling off the track with smoke coming from the bonnet of his Honda. He parked-up on the run to Hawthorns.
With ten laps completed, Oliphant, Sutton and Butcher pulled away from the pack as Turkington made his way past Jackson for eighth. Jake Hill slows with a left-front puncture. Onto Lap 12, Turkington dived down the inside of Gornall for seventh into Druids.
Disaster once again struck for Butcher as the Motorbase Performance driver slowed. Another puncture robbed him of a top three finish. This promoted Jelley to third as Oliphant led by three tenths ahead of Sutton.
Chris Smiley was left facing backwards after making contact with the barrier after running in fourth. Butcher's team-mate, Jackson went wide exiting Paddock Hill Bend and dropped out of the points with a suspected puncture as well.
As he had done since he'd taken the lead, Oliphant managed to keep Sutton at bay to cross the line to take his first ever victory in the BTCC. Jelley crosses the line to take fourth while Moffat dropped to fourth and Turkington, from 12th, finished fifth.
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