For the second consecutive meeting, the weather was glorious for the next instalment of the 2025 BTCC season. It was an enjoyable opening meeting at Donington Park with championship stalwarts, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram, as well as their teams, leading the way after the opening round.  However, WSR suffered an awful opening round after struggling to balance the car to meet the new 

Qualifying

Given the problems of the BMWs last time out, you’d have been strong willed to have bet on a 1-2 for them in qualifying at Brands, but that’s exactly what happened with 2024 champion, Jake Hill, securing the maiden grid slot for the first ever time at his home race. 

He was joined on the front row by Charles Rainford in his second BTCC meeting. There was an impressive third for Adam Morgan with Ingram alongside him, before the top six was completed by Dan Cammish and Mikey Doble. A lack of boost and an incredibly short lap meant that Sutton only qualified 13th. 

Race One, 3.5/10 – Jake Hill, Charles Rainford, Tom Ingram

• The front runners elected to start on the favoured soft tyre and the BMWs were away well as the lights went out, with Ingram jumping Morgan. 
• After a few laps of soaking up pressure from Ingram, Rainford went on the attack to Hill, but without seriously challenging, although by lap 9, Ingram started to close the gap once again.
• The top nine were still in their starting positions on lap 13, other than Ingram and Morgan, who’d swapped. Morgan did catch Ingram towards the end of the race as the top four ran together closely, but in reality it was a dull race, other than the odd bit of action at the back, that Hill ultimately controlled. 
• Sutton was the first driver to finish on the hard tyres, albeit in 10th, a position he had achieved by the end of the opening lap. 

Race Two,  7.5/10 – Daryl DeLeon, Adam Morgan, Ash Sutton

• After their success in race one, the top three started the next race on the hard tyre, but the BMWs were away well and behind, Cammish was up to 4th and Daryl DeLeon, also in a BMW, was 5th from 7th. As the race settled, Cammish took 2nd from Rainford, before DeLeon and Morgan also went through on lap 5. 
• Cars were all over the road on lap 6, Dan Lloyd was on the grass and there were several taps throughout the field, but after Unlimited Motorsport teammates, Max Hall and Dexter Patterson collided at Paddock Hill Bend at the start of lap 7, the safety car was needed to recover the cars from the gravel. A good bit of old fashioned argy-bargy ensued when the pair met soon after. 
• At the end of lap 13, it looked like we were ready to re-start racing, but an issue for Cammish meant that as he tried to pick up speed, he couldn’t and as cars had to unexpectedly pass him, eventually the train became so close that Doble rammed into the back of Cammish before another hit from Aiden Moffat finished him off. As such, the safety car now needed to stay out until lap 20.
• As soon as we were racing, DeLeon sent his car down the inside of Hill for the lead with Rainford also trying on Hill, with Morgan and Sutton in close company. It didn’t take long for the latter duo to overtake Hill as he was now struggling on his hard tyres and for the rest of the race, he fell down the pack before finishing 8th. 
• Although Rainford survived for a little longer with his tyres, Morgan, Sutton and company found a way by with a few laps to go, but this race belonged to DeLeon who drove off into the distance at the front to secure his first ever BTCC win. 

Race Three, 6.5/10 – Charles Rainford, Jake Hill, Tom Ingram

• Ball 9 of Dan Rowbottom was drawn on pole for the reverse grid race meaning Hill joined him on the front row, with Rainford and Josh Cook behind. It was a good start from Rowbottom as he held the lead when the lights went out, leaving the BMWs to battle behind him. 
• However, they were soon battling Rowbottom and a tap from Rainford sent the NAPA man into a bit of a slide, before Rainford claimed the lead. Ingram, meanwhile, had a stellar start, jumping up to 7th from 11th on the grid. 
• As Sutton passed Moffat, it wasn’t without several taps by the Scotsman that earned him a driving standards flag and Ingram was soon through on the pair of them for 5th. Sutton seemed to be struggling for straight line speed.
• Lap 9 saw Hill with a move down the inside of Rowbottom for 2nd and Ingram continued his charge with moves on Chris Smiley and then Rowbottom to secure the final podium position.
• However, Hill had kept Rainford honest throughout and towards the end, it was Ingram all over Hill in a great battle. Ingram temporarily had 2nd, but Hill came storming back at him at the last. While this was going on, there was a similar battle for 4th between four cars, which Sutton secured from Smiley. 
• At the front though, there was another first time BTCC winner in Rainford making it a hat-trick of wins for WSR, by three different drivers, for the first time since Croft 2015. 

At the end of Donington, even suggesting one BMW win at Brands Hatch would have been absurd. However, not only did they win one race, they won the lot. What a turnaround! Credit must clearly going to the technical team and the hard work they have put in since the last meeting. 

While reigning champion, Hill, winning a race was nothing new, his victory in the first race meant that WSR became the most successful BTCC team in history with their 133rd victory. However, what a fantastic moment for both DeLeon and Rainford to secure their first ever BTCC wins. Joining a new team is always a challenge and given the car’s poor performance in pre-season testing and at Donington, the confidence this will give the duo going forward will be immense. It remains to be seen whether the problems are fully solved or whether they are track specific, but either way this is hugely encouraging for WSR. 

At the top of the standings remains Sutton after damage limitation in the first race, before two strong finishes, while Ingram in second had a similar weekend, although his poor race was in the middle. A major reason for that is, of course, the tyres. The top three from race one seriously suffered on the hard tyre during the second race and it was only the prolonged safety car period that prevented Hill and Rainford falling even further down the pack. Given that this is now a regulation, it is going to be intriguing how this develops for the rest of the season, especially if the weather is hot meaning the soft tyres are even more favourable. 

At the top of the standings, Sutton and Ingram will be delighted with their starts to the campaign, seemingly carrying on from last season’s strong performances. While it seems too early to tell who is the championship favourite, it wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone if one of the pair lift the trophy in October.

Elsewhere, there were strong weekends for Smiley, Cook and notably Morgan. After several years of driving a rear wheel drive BMW with the odd good race here and there, Morgan has switched back to the power being hammered down at the front with ease. Obviously, he has lots of experience in FWD, but he settled in to his new Hyundai perfectly and this is shown by his strong championship position. 

Snetterton is next on the calendar and it will be interesting to see how the cars perform with the boost allocations and tyres over a long lap. Brands Hatch Indy is so short, every hundredth of a second counts, but at Snetterton cars could easily be seconds off the pace per lap if they find themselves in the wrong circumstances. 

2025 BTCC Standings after 6 of 30 rounds

1.	Ashley Sutton	92 points
2.	Tom Ingram	87
3.	Jake Hill	80
4.	Tom Chilton	55
5.	Adam Morgan	52
A	Dan Rowbottom	51