With BTCC back in action this weekend, here’s a reminder of what happened last time out along with ratings from our BTCC Correspondent.It was yet another great day of racing in the BTCC, this time at Rockingham. There may have been a few more notable rough moves, but in general the closeness of the racing was incredible. There were once again three different winners on the day, but this time a BTCC record was broken as the 12^th different winner of the season was crowned in the final race with the honour falling to Aron Smith. At the top of the standings, Sam Tordoff remains the man to beat after a couple of outstanding recovery drives after a nightmare qualifying session.

Race One	1st Gordon Shedden, 2nd Mat Jackson, 3rd Jason Plato
Race Two	1st Sam Tordoff, 2nd Andrew Jordan, 3rd Rob Collard
Race Three	1st Aron Smith, 2nd Gordon Shedden, 3rd Colin Turkington

Championship Standings after Round 24 of 30:

1. Sam Tordoff	258 points
2. Matt Neal	253
3. Gordon Shedden	238
4. Mat Jackson	230
5. Rob Collard	227
6. Colin Turkington	210

Subaru Team BMR – Subaru Levorg GT (Cole, Plato, Scott, Turkington)
There was a podium apiece for Plato and Turkington at Rockingham as the Subaru once again looked the real deal. However, a couple of unfortunate events meant that race two didn’t quite pan out for JP and CT. Scott had the usual poor weekend. 7.5/10

WSR, Team JCT600 with GardX – BMW 125i M Sport (Collard, Tordoff)
WSR, Team IHG Rewards Club – BMW 125i M Sport (Goff)
A terrible weekend for Goff, who seemed to be everyone’s battering ram on Sunday, to compound a poor qualifying from all the BMWs on Saturday due to an electrical fault. Tordoff produced an outstanding drive to win the second race of the day as he limited Saturday’s damage and Collard must have been happy with two top six finishes. 7.5/10

Halfords Yuasa Racing – Honda Civic Type R (Neal, Shedden)
Neal continued his championship charge with three consistent finishes to slightly cut Tordoff’s lead at the top. Shedden brought himself back into battle with a first and second too. An all-round good weekend for the Hondas. 8/10

MG Racing RCIB Insurance – MG6 GT (Cook, Sutton)
A better performance than the last couple of rounds for the MGs with a good qualifying and a fourth and sixth in the opening race with Sutton also coming home fifth in the second race. Cook recovered well in the final race after retiring in the second race, while Sutton suffered in the final race and was a tad over aggressive. 7/10

Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST (Jackson, Jordan)
Another good weekend for the Motorbase pair. Jackson continued his outside title hopes with three strong top-five finishes and Jordan will be pleased with a second in the second race to compliment a strong weekend for himself. 8/10

WIX Racing – Mercedes-Benz A-Class (Morgan)
Three points finishes for Morgan, but not really in the hunt at the front. Some good middle order battles. 6.5/10

Handy Motorsport – Toyota Avensis (Austin)
Just a fourteenth to show for Austin from the weekend on a track where he’s previously won with Sherman. He’ll be hoping for better at Silverstone next time. 4/10

Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis (Ingram)
No points to show for Ingram after sixteenth in the opening race and two retirements. He was involved in plenty of action, but there were several parts missing and bent panels to content with. 5/10

Notable mentions: Aron Smith. You can’t win a race and not get a mention, albeit a reverse grid pole. However, Smith had to work for it with three safety car periods. A great result for Team BKR. Jake Hill had an impressive weekend, but only had one points finish in eighth and Ollie Jackson had his best weekend of the season with an eleventh and thirteenth.

 

Next up: Silverstone, 18^th September.