After a rain soaked meeting at Silverstone, the championship top two of Jake Hill and Tom Ingram started the season finale at Brands Hatch level on 365 points. Reigning champion, Ash Sutton, still had an outside chance of retaining his title, but was just over 30 points behind. The remaining top six of Dan Cammish, Josh Cook and Colin Turkington still had a mathematical chance, but in reality, no chance.

Qualifying

Turkington took his fourth pole position of the season on Saturday which secured him the Goodyear Wingfoot Award for being the best qualifier over the season. He was joined on the front row by Ingram, with Sutton and Cook falling in behind. The third row was completed by Árón Taylor-Smith and championship contender, Hill. 

Race One, 6.5/10 – Jake Hill, Colin Turkington, Tom Ingram 

• The drivers at the top of the end of the grid selected the soft tyre for the opening race of the day, as drama ensued on the opening lap. While Turkington got away well, Ingram didn’t have the best of starts and was jumped by Sutton, with Cook in close attention too. As the trio approached Druids, Cook, on the inside line, lost control of his car’s rear under braking and cut across Sutton, who had Ingram at his side and slightly behind him. Sutton was dumped into the gravel and out of the championship, Cook was smashed into by Adam Morgan, who was then bumped by Rob Huff. Although Ingram survived the incident, he was now ninth, but Hill avoided the drama and moved up to second as the safety car came out. 
• As racing restarted on lap 6, Ingram wasted no time in claiming three places, but race control said his start would be investigated after the race, although it came to nothing. 
• In a significant move for the championship, Turkington indicated to the side to allow his teammate Hill through for the lead, while Ingram overtook Cammish for fifth. 
• The BMWs could not escape into the distance, more because of Hill not having the pace, rather than Turkington, and it meant that when Ingram took third from Mikey Doble, he was soon on the tail of the lead duo. 
• At this point, Turkington turned his BMW into the widest one in existence  as he defended for his life from Ingram to allow Hill to slowly edge away and by the end of lap 15, he had a 1.5 second lead. 
• There was a great late battle for fifth between Cammish, Taylor-Smith and Daryl DeLeon over the last couple of laps, but the main news was that Hill’s victory meant that he now had a five point lead over Ingram.

Race Two, 7/10 – Tom Ingram, Jake Hill, Colin Turkington

• The BMW pair were away well as the lights went out, with Cammish moving up to fourth, but Ingram dug in and was soon around the outside of Turkington to take second and it wasn’t long before he was in the lead. 
• At the start of the second lap, a superb send down then inside from Ingram at the top of Paddock Hill bend was a move that meant business and from there on, he gradually built a lead. Sutton, meanwhile, was already up to ninth from the back. 
• With overtakes on both Astras, Sutton moved up to fifth on lap 4, but that was where his progress was halted and he remained in position for the remainder of the race. He wasn’t under any initial pressure as it seemed like the whole field were stuck behind his last overtake – Taylor-Smith. However, with a few laps to go, he really tried to overtake his teammate Cammish, but after switching positions several times, it was as you were.
• There was a good mid-race, mid-pack battle between the two Hyundais of Tom Chilton and Dan Zelos with the two Toyotas of Cook and Aiden Moffat, but this mattered little to Ingram who claimed victory to cut the gap to Hill to just one point going into the final race. 

Race Three, 8/10 – Ash Sutton, Jake Hill, Josh Cook

• BTCC chief, Alan Gow, pulled out ball seven for the final reverse grid race of the season in drizzly and greasy conditions, meaning Cook was promoted to pole, where he was joined at the front by Taylor-Smith. The second row comprised of NAPA duo Sutton and Cook with Turkington ahead of title contenders Hill and Ingram. 
• As the lights went out, Ingram was immediately ahead of Hill and following lots of blocking at the front, Sutton and Turkington found a way to be second and third. However, the latter was hit by Taylor-Smith on the next lap, ran wide and slipped to seventh, while a wide Cammish nearly let Hill through, although a lap later he did get by meaning he was now directly behind Ingram. 
• Sutton was all over Cook at the front with the position changing back and forth on lap 4, but Cook retained the lead until Sutton made his decisive move lap 6, but not before Hill had overtaken Ingram in a hugely significant championship move. 
• Hill continued his move forward with an overtake on Taylor-Smith, although Ingram found a way through too a lap later, while Cammish and Turkington were also battling and in the mix. All of the action meant that Hill was now three seconds clear of the group in third.
• Lap 9 saw Hill take another step towards the title with a move on Cook for second after a small slide, but Sutton was clear at the front. 
• If it wasn’t clear that Hill was set to be champion, this was pretty much confirmed when Cammish and Turkington overtook Ingram on consecutive laps as his Hyundai just didn’t have the pace in the conditions and he dropped to sixth. 
• Outgoing champion Sutton won the final race of the season by ten seconds from the new champion, Hill, with Cook taking the last step on the podium. 

After a much better season for action than in recent years, congratulations goes to Jake Hill on his first BTCC drivers’ title. Similarly, acclaim also goes to Árón Taylor-Smith on his independent crown with 20 wins out of 30 races and his teammate Mikey Doble on winning the Jack Sears Trophy. BMW pipped Alliance Racing/Ford to the manufacturers’ title, but NAPA Racing did claim the teams’ trophy. 

At Brands Hatch, there was little doubt that Hill owed Turkington a beer, or several, as he couldn’t have been a more helpful teammate and team player in the final rounds of the season, particularly in the opening race of the day. 

Meanwhile, Ingram couldn’t have done any more, but he just didn’t have the pace in the final race of the day. To have just one point between them after 29 races just shows the quality of the 2024 season and Ingram couldn’t have tried harder. 

However, with eight wins to his name and total of sixteen podiums, there is little doubt that Hill deserved his first championship. In the end, Hill and Ingram were around 50 points ahead of Sutton, although that doesn’t really tell the closeness of the season. The top six in the championship, however, were over 100 points clear of Taylor-Smith in seventh as it was clear that Hill, Ingram, Sutton, Turkington, Cammish and Cook were the elite of the year.

As for the season as a whole, thank goodness we got our real BTCC back. Finally, hybrid proved to be a leveller after a few years of trying and the tracks where three tyres were used proved to be a real hit as it made such a difference, as well as the usual standard and option tyre at the others, bar Thruxton. As ever, the weather was able to wreak havoc on occasion and that’s not something even Alan Gow can control! 

There were also questions going into the season about how a grid of only 20 cars would work, but surprisingly it worked well, especially as it resulted in fewer safety cars over the season. Similarly, the new qualifying format was also a success. 

Going forward into 2025, we will need to see what new regulations will be introduced and which drivers will return, but with Hill already confirmed, will he retain his number one driver status a year from now? 

2024 Final British Touring Car Championship Standings

1.	Jake Hill	421 points
2.	Tom Ingram	413
3.	Ashley Sutton	365
4.	Colin Turkington	346
5.	Dan Cammish	346
6.	Josh Cook	327