After eight different winners in nine races, the opening to the 2025 BTCC season has certainly been less predictable than in previous seasons. This has, of course, been helped by the regulation changes for this year regarding boost and tyres. However, with only the hard tyre available at Thruxton due to the abrasive circuit, how would this impact the weekend’s racing?

Qualifying

Saturday’s qualifying session was held in treacherous conditions and there were a couple of red flags after cars went off the circuit, notably ‘King of Thruxton’ Josh Cook, who even needed a quick check at the local hospital. It was championship leader, Ash Sutton, who conquered the conditions by putting his NAPA Ford on pole with his closest championship rival, Tom Ingram, second.

Race winners at Snetterton, Dan Cammish and Mikey Doble, joined forces on the second row, before brilliant, yet unexpected, qualifying performances from James Dorlin and the returning Senna Proctor completed the top six. 

Race One, 5.5/10 – Tom Ingram, Dan Cammish, Josh Cook

• Sunny conditions met the drivers for race day and it was a chaotic opening lap. Sutton and Ingram got away well, but Jake Hill made up several places on the outside line, Charles Rainford was off the track and spinning avoiding a different incident, Max Hall and Sam Osborne went off and into the barriers causing a safety car and at the end of the lap, Ingram took the lead. However, the positions were swapped back as the safety car boards were out. 
• When the racing re-started on lap 8, Doble out-braked himself and went deep, allowing Cammish back up to third after losing a couple of positions initially. Ingram was harassing Sutton and at the end of the lap, Sutton wobbled under harsh braking, tapping Ingram who was on the outside line, meaning he cut the chicane, but Ingram took the lead and did not relinquish it back.
• Cookie, meanwhile, was on a charge and was up to 8th on lap 9 and this continued throughout the race as he ticked off several drivers before finishing on the final step of the podium in a superb drive, especially given events 24 hours earlier.
• After closing on Ingram with a few laps to go, Sutton’s car swallowed the Kwik Fit sticker from the front of his car and it restricted his top end speed, meaning Cammish and Cook were able to overtake him and deny us a dramatic finale. Ingram’s win was his first of the season, meaning it was nine winning drivers in ten races.

Race Two,  6/10 – Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram, Josh Cook*, Dan Rowbottom

• Although it appeared that Ingram started well, it was nothing compared to Sutton who rocketed from the second row and through the middle of the cars ahead of him and into the lead. He immediately sought to build a big lead and by the end of lap 2, it was nearly two seconds. 
• On lap 5, Cook was defending from Hill, but pressure from Rowbottom meant that Cook could get away and after Rowbottom was through, Hill ended up tapping Adam Morgan at the chicane. Morgan did his best stunt driver impression as he smashed through the foam barriers to rejoin the track. 
• While Cook was right on Ingram’s tail, behind Rowbottom had lost position to Hill after running wide and collecting lots of grass, but with a splash of boost he was able to retake the place. It was to get worse for Hill on the final lap as Cammish, who had been closing in, made the move stick. 
• While Sutton won by nearly four seconds from Ingram, Cook failed the post-race ride height check and was subsequently disqualified, promoting Rowbottom to the podium. 

Race Three, 5/10 – Dan Rowbottom, Tom Ingram, Dan Cammish

• As a result of Cook’s disqualification, it meant ball 7 belonged to Dorlin and not Proctor for the reverse grid pole, although he did join him at the front, ahead of Hill, Cammish, Rowbottom and Ingram. 
• Hill zoomed into the lead as Proctor fell backwards with Rowbottom up to second and then by the end of the lap, Cammish and Ingram were third and fourth. 
• On the next lap, Rowbottom performed his signature move of the day with a wide line and a cut back to take the lead. A couple of laps later, the top five were all in a row for the lead, with Rowbottom having used three of his four laps of boost. 
• A robust Sutton move on Ingram secured fourth, but on lap 8, Morgan put a wheel on the grass which caused him to crash heavily into the barriers resulting in a safety car period for three laps. 
• On the restart, Cammish went around the outside of Hill and on the next lap, Hill slid into Sutton, causing the latter to do a full 360 spin on the track before carrying on, but Hill needed to pit. Sutton incredibly managed to recover to fifth.
• On the penultimate lap, Ingram used his boost wisely to take second from Cammish, but this was Rowbottom’s race as he won in consecutive meetings. 

At the end of the fourth meeting of the season, it is becoming crystal clear that the NAPA Fords are the cars and team to beat this season. Incredibly, three of the top four championship positions are filled by the team, with only Ingram infiltrating the stronghold. Luckily for Ingram, he currently has the security of a 40 point gap to Rowbottom in third, while he stays close on the tail of Sutton. 

All weekend, Sutton was supreme. The lack of boost in qualifying was helped by the poor conditions, but Sutton still delivered when it mattered. Although he couldn’t convert the pole to a win, not helped by his car eating the Kwik Fit sticker in surely one of the most bizarre issues of the season, he was unstoppable in the second race. His start was one of the best in several seasons by any car, yet alone one from a front wheel drive vehicle.  This was then backed up by a solid fifth in the final race. 

Ingram, however, will not let him get away and actually closed the gap by a few points over the meeting, helped by securing his first victory of the season. Given the pair’s lead over the rest of the pack, it is looking very much like a two horse battle for the championship. 

Reigning champion, Hill, had an average weekend and is fifth in the standings. Given the form of the BMWs this season, bar Brands Hatch, it is going to take a miracle for Hill to retain his title.

At the end of the next meeting, it will mark the halfway point of the season, which seems to have come around incredibly quickly. The different tyre allocations will be back for Oulton Park to compliment the boost allocations which should increase the drama once again, although Thruxton did pretty well by just using the hard tyre.

Will the top two of Sutton and Ingram continue to grow their lead or will Rowbottom and Cammish be able to reduce it and bring themselves into realistic championship contention?

2025 British Touring Car Championship after 12 of 30 Rounds

1.	Ashley Sutton	181 points
2.	Tom Ingram	172
3.	Dan Rowbottom	132
4.	Dan Cammish	128
5.	Jake Hill	114
6.	Adam Morgan	92