The final rounds of the 2023 championship season were held on the Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch, as has become the tradition over the years. Ash Sutton arrived very much in control of proceedings with a 45-point gap to Tom Ingram, last year’s champion. The championship would be decided between the pair. 

Qualifying – Ash Sutton, Rory Butcher, Tom Ingram, Dan Rowbottom, Bobby Thompson

Sutton claimed his sixth pole position of the season on Saturday, with his team, NAPA Racing, achieving all but one of the first place starts across the campaign. Rory Butcher was an impressive second with Ingram lining up positionally behind Sutton on the track. The top six were completed by Bobby Thompson, who was sandwiched in fifth between two further NAPA Racing Fords of Dan Rowbottom and Dan Cammish. 

Race One, 5.5/10 –  Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram, Bobby Thompson

• Despite an initial good start by Butcher, Sutton remained in the lead, but after being slightly held up, it meant that a gap appeared for Ingram to take second from Butcher. There were also good starts for Thompson and Jake Hill.
• While Sutton started to build a lead, including a lap record fastest lap, Thompson pressurised Butcher and after they switched and switched again, Thompson secured the place. 
• The BMW pair of Hill and Colin Turkington were going well and on lap 7, while Hill was trying to pass Rowbottom, Turkington nipped by instead.
• While the middle third of the race was quiet, on lap 12, Turkington overtook Rowbottom for fourth and the safety car was called for to recover Mikey Doble’s car after he was punted by Stephen Jelley.  
• When racing resumed, there were only two racing laps and while the field were close together, Cammish and Hill overtook Rowbottom for fifth and sixth in the only notable action, as Sutton crossed the line for victory and to claim his fourth title. 

Race Two, 5.5/10 – Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram, Dan Cammish

• It was a dramatic start to the second race of the day as after an initial good getaway from the pack, Turkington was hit in the rear by one of the NAPA pack and Thompson, possibly breaking his rear tow link, but as he was on the outside of the track, he was collected once again by an unsighted Ronan Pearson who had hit Michael Crees. Understandably, a reasonable safety car period was needed. 
• As racing resumed on lap 5, Cammish moved up to third and Ricky Collard jumped three places to fifth, but Thompson was soon holding him and others up. While Collard and Hill soon got by, it meant that Rowbottom, Jelley and Cook were dicing behind him in an entertaining battle. Similarly, 15th to 21st was also a nose to tail situation. 
• As the battles continued, another safety car session was needed on lap 14 as Sam Osborne was fired off into the barriers, but when racing resumed it meant it was a last lap dash to the finish.
• Although, Ingram tried his best to roll the dice one final time, Sutton was pretty comfortable and took the chequered flag. The race also confirmed Andrew Watson as the Jack Sears Trophy winner. 

Race Three, 6/10 – Jake Hill, Josh Cook, Stephen Jelley

• One of Sutton’s first jobs as a four-time champion was to select the pole sitter for race three and Jelley was promoted to the front from ninth, with Rowbottom, Cook and Hill completing the first two rows on the grid. 
• Like race two, there was another safety car required on the opening lap after an incident at Druids. This time, Aiden Moffat’s front wheel had no chance of survival after being walloped by Doble, although Morgan’s BMW gave him a helping hand too. This came after Jelley had got away well, with Hill moving up to second. However, debatably before the safety car boards came out, Cook overtook Hill.
• As racing resumed on lap 5, Cook passed Jelley for the lead, but couldn’t get away and on the next lap they swapped and swapped again as the top 12 were all in a train, which at one point resulted in Sutton being spat out onto the grass and down the pack. 
• The drama continued on the next lap as while Jelley and Cook were fighting it out, Hill stuck his car up the inside of Cook, on the grass, and took the lead from both of them before starting to disappear.
• Hill couldn’t escape for long as the safety car made yet another appearance on the day as George Gamble decided to smash into Jade Edwards’ rear end, potentially after a brake issue. 
• As the racing resumed, Turkington continued to show pace after starting at the back and was up to 12th, before finishing 10th, and Rowbottom was under pressure from Ingram for fourth. Eventually, Ingram made the pressure count and made the position stick. 
• Meanwhile, Hill secured the final win of the season with Cook and Jelley joining him for the final champagne spray out of thirty races. 

It was pretty clear from very early on in the season that this was Ash Sutton’s championship to lose and he maintained focus and drive throughout the season to win it with relative ease. Praise must be given to Tom Ingram, as despite an inferior car to Sutton, he pushed him as hard as he could and all the way. The BMWs of Hill and Turkington certainly had their moments, but after a terrible Knockhill for Turkingon, it left Hill to carry the baton, albeit he was unlikely to overturn Sutton’s form. 

The NAPA Ford under Sutton’s stewardship has been something else. To secure six pole positions in such a close championship is extraordinary and that’s before hybrid restrictions are even taken into account. To match the great Alain Menu’s twelve victories in a season for the first time since 1997 is stunning. The beauty of this era of the BTCC is, or was, that although there are some favoured front runners, anyone can win on their day. Not this year. 

Also, this season hasn’t seen one victory for an independent, but when NAPA win over half of the races (16), chances are always going to be limited with other manufacturer teams in the hunt. 

The second season of hybrid deployment was arguably slightly better than the first, but the effect clearly isn’t the same as the previous success weight ballast.  In half of the season’s meetings the victor in race one has secured a double race victory. The meetings where three tyre compounds have had to be used made for some good racing and this is maybe something to look at for the future. 

Other notably good races have been when the weather conditions have been less than perfect, but unless the BTCC adopts Bernie Ecclestone’s long-lost idea of sprinklers in Formula One, the weather will remain up to The Gods and we’ll keep our fingers crossed for good races.

Teams and drivers will go away over the winter and reset. NAPA will look to dominate further, but for the sake of fans of the championship, let’s hope that some of the other teams will be able to make some strides into their advantage of this season. If they can’t, you might as well hand the championship to Sutton at Donington in April and make the ‘real’ championship a battle for second. 

We look forward to seeing what changes Alan Gow makes over the winter and we anticipate the series’ return in 2024 when hopefully the battle for the coveted trophy resumes. 

Final 2023 British Touring Car Championship Standings

1.	Ashley Sutton	446 points
2.	Tom Ingram	400
3.	Jake Hill	372
4.	Colin Turkington	312
5.	Josh Cook	268
6.	Dan Cammish	253

• BTCC Champion: Ash Sutton
• Independent Champion: Josh Cook
• Jack Sears Trophy: Andrew Watson
• Teams’ Champions: NAPA Racing
• Manufacturers’ Winner: Ford