[BTCC] Silverstone National, 23/24 September, Rds. 25/26/27

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by sceptic

Porsches always get two green flag laps here and at Knockhill, due the the short lap, regardless of the weather.

That's as may be, however they did comment as the Porsches were going around on their two laps that it was because this was the first time that the drivers had had experience of wet conditions this weekend. Not disputing what you say, just repeating what they said on air.

[crmalcolm]

The Porsche Regs state:
"The standing start will be preceded by a Green Flag Lap but, for shorter tracks (including Brands Hatch (Indy layout), Silverstone (National layout), and
Knockhill), there shall be two Green Flag Laps."

The BTCC Regs state:
"After completion of the countdown sequence, competitors will undertake two Green Flag Laps at circuits where the track distance is less than 1.5 miles (Brands Hatch Indy and Knockhill). At all other circuits, competitors will only undertake one Green Flag lap"

[Mike Harte]

Obviously someone needs to tell the dynamic duo in "Comms Tower" !

[v8supes]

Why do they just let Sutton drive past? They dont defend or anything?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by v8supes

Why do they just let Sutton drive past? They dont defend or anything?

Some drivers are his team mates.
Some are friends.
Some are grateful for something Sutton did for them previously.
Some would prefer Sutton to win as opposed to Hill.
And the rest will compete.

[Robin Marriott]

WTH was that safety car for? No need for that at all.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Robin Marriott

WTH was that safety car for? No need for that at all.

The reality - to bunch the field and give a gap for marshals to remove dangerous debris in a safe manner.
The conspiracy - because TOCA/Gow don't like Hill.

[Robin Marriott]

Like TH said though, there’s been more debris on the track before with no safety car. I’m not a subscriber to the conspiracy theories but I don’t believe that was anything other than an intentional spoon stirring the pot.

[v8supes]

Somehow Sutton wins from 23rd.... Hill has a problem. The guy cannot be stopped, everything falls into his lap.
Ingram P3. The other drivers cannot be that far off their level? They look like they have more power and grip than everyone else.

[Evantra]

Wow, really shows the level Sutton and Ingram (and Hill) are above the rest of the grid.

[Robin Marriott]

Anyway, all that aside that was an astonishing race from both Sutton and Ingram (and ATS)

[stuart thompson]

Should we just change Sutton’s name to Moses? I think he paid
Half the field off there didn’t he?

[BTCC frog]

What an extraordinary race, the best in the BTCC all year and for some time. I wanted Aron Taylor-Smith to win for Power Maxed but have to tip my hat to Ash Sutton, fantastic drive to win from 23rd.

[crmalcolm]

If Sutton paid off the field, Ingram shared the bill!

[Matt K]

What a race by Sutton and Ingram! Absolutely amazing! Fantastic racing. Feel sorry for Hill though, the sadness in his eyes said it all.
Hope that the Hill camp won't use Rowbottom's move to fuel narrative about NAPA's dirty tactics...

[porsche962fan]

what an anti-climatic show

[FFSM]

Ting really needs to pick a team where his team mates will actually help, like Ash's do. Grahame Chilton's spoilt little brats would be more likely to hold Ingram up out of spite than ever help him.

Still remember Tom Onslow-Cole's (overall) championship bid being derailed at Silverstone, to help daddy's boy win the independent's title...

[Evantra]

Can someone crunch the numbers as to how many times number 12 has been pulled! Feels like it happens every other round!

[AnnoyedMoose]

Chilton looked like he was trying to hold Sutton up to me. Certainly took Sutton longer to get by him than most.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by AnnoyedMoose

Chilton looked like he was trying to hold Sutton up to me.

In the words of Charlie Cox, it's like holding off the Terminator with a water pistol

[JDMROB]

That’s what 2 world class drivers at the top of their game with professional race engineers do against a bunch of amateur teams/drivers. The difference was unbelievably noticeable there.

Hill was unlucky however, although the car would have failed with or without a safety car that wasn’t needed.

Best race of the season though, I enjoyed that.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by JDMROB

That’s what 2 world class drivers at the top of their game with professional race engineers do

As much as some might want to dismiss it as being a fix, or that other drivers just got out of their way - the truth is that we have just seen two drives of the highest level in Touring Cars. Possibly amongst the best drives ever in BTCC history in terms of how much quality was on show from Sutton and Ingram.

You could pass it off as boring if you focus too much on the impact for a championship battle - or just watch the race in isolation and appreciate that what Sutton is doing is something special. It puts him up with the greatest of BTCC drivers in history. And for Ingram to be almost matching him shows how lucky we are to have both of the on the grid competing with each other at the same time.

I think it shows in that if you were to speak to either Sutton or Ingram, they would show a lot of respect for each other and the talent on display. They appreciate how hard each other works, and the dedication and skill required to put in the results they both do regularly. Maybe something that other drivers could learn a lot from?

[Mike Harte]

In answer to the question about why other drivers let Sutton and Ingram through without too much opposition, you also need to consider that the drivers that did let them through all realise that they are not in contention for the championship whilst those two are, and that by trying to keep them behind, it may well also end up compromising their own race.

Those two were coming through and to every one from the drivers to their engineers in the garages, they will know that they were quicker than pretty well everyone else, and it doesn't pay to hinder them. And I am speaking from experience, even though it was an awfully long time ago.


I would also like to add that that was an absolutely thrilling race, and hopefully everyone enjoyed watching it.

[Matt K]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

As much as some might want to dismiss it as being a fix, or that other drivers just got out of their way - the truth is that we have just seen two drives of the highest level in Touring Cars. Possibly amongst the best drives ever in BTCC history in terms of how much quality was on show from Sutton and Ingram.

You could pass it off as boring if you focus too much on the impact for a championship battle - or just watch the race in isolation and appreciate that what Sutton is doing is something special. It puts him up with the greatest of BTCC drivers in history. And for Ingram to be almost matching him shows how lucky we are to have both of the on the grid competing with each other at the same time.

I think it shows in that if you were to speak to either Sutton or Ingram, they would show a lot of respect for each other and the talent on display. They appreciate how hard each other works, and the dedication and skill required to put in the results they both do regularly. Maybe something that other drivers could learn a lot from?

100% this. I'd like to think that in the future there'll be people who'll be watching some highlights from Sutton/Ingram/Turkington era thinking 'it must've been a special time' and it's cool to think we're experiencing it live. Just the same way as I was getting passionate about BTCC watching videos from the Super Touring era that I cannot remember but similarly thinking how great it was.
And honestly I feel nothing but the pity for people thinking today's race was anti-climactic. Especially as - even if Sutton is really dominating this year - it's nowhere near the F1 level. Perhaps in the future people will look back thinking greatly of Vettel's, Hamilton's, Verstappen's dominances but F1's dominance (at least in my eyes) lacks this kind of crazy heroics. It's just the best driver of the moment in the absolutely best machinery leading from start to finish or passing others with help of DRS. In the BTCC we much more often experience races like today where there's drama, lots of crazy passing moves and tears of joy at the end. That's why BTCC is a lot more interesting to me. That's of course my view, probably lots others would disagree but hey, that's how it is.

[CarfanLUFC]

looked to me in that first lap incident that held up Ingram that Sutton ran into the back of him, surprised more wasn't made of that.

Great drive by Sutton though, got some luck but made it count.