BTCC Silverstone: Osborne breaks duck as Sutton trims points gap to Ingram

Sam Osborne claimed an emotional maiden win in the British Touring Car Championship in the finale at Silverstone, while team-mate Ash Sutton trimmed his points deficit to Tom Ingram.

Osborne, who started his 200th BTCC race earlier in the day, was drawn on reversed-grid pole position, and his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST was the only car in the top 10 on soft-compound Goodyear tyres.

The son of Alliance boss Pete Osborne aced the start, and most of the race was a case of fending off the attacks of Josh Cook, who had lined up fourth on the grid in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport.

Osborne built up a lead of almost 1.5 seconds over the first few laps, but Cook began coming back at him, and by the sixth lap of 22 the two were in close proximity.

Cook, despite the disadvantage of running on medium tyres, was close enough to glance down the inside at Maggotts on the 16th lap of 22, with both locking up into Becketts, and the Toyota driver had another look down the inside of the Brooklands left-hander.

With four laps remaining the leading duo each had enough TOCA Turbo Boost for every lap to the finish, but then the Toyota washed out wide at Luffield with just over two tours to go, and Osborne was able to stretch out a winning margin of 1.609s.

Josh Cook, One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R (Photo by: JEP)

The lock-ups and hard charging had taken the life out of Cook’s tyres. “I had a disadvantage on the mediums, and I had to make it up with additional effort,” he explained.

But Osborne was a thoroughly deserving first-time winner, after staying calm throughout a period of intense pressure.

“The start was textbook – we got away and then we just tried to manage the pace,” said an overwhelmed Osborne. “The guys have been so patient over the years; they’ve always grafted and grafted, and do you know what? Packing down hospo [hospitality] tonight is going to be absolutely awesome.

“Josh really kept us honest there, and probably three or four times he was on my bumper. I was like, ‘Keep it calm’.”

Sutton stormed through from 11th on the grid to third within the first six laps, but after that he could make no further progress towards Osborne and Cook, even though he was on soft rubber – albeit he had significantly less TTB available.

Aiden Moffat ran fourth in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport until a lock-up at Becketts allowed team-mate Jake Hill past on the penultimate lap.

Hill had been embroiled in a titanic struggle with championship leader Tom Ingram in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback, and soft-shod Alliance Ford racer Dan Rowbottom.

Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW 330i M Sport (Photo by: JEP)

Hill squeezed Ingram very close to the pitwall as he attempted to pass the BMW, and panel-rubbing between the two into Becketts sent the Hyundai wide and allowed Rowbottom to slip through. From then on the sister car to Sutton’s would be the bane of Ingram’s life, particularly since it was on soft tyres with Ingram on mediums.

Ingram finally got past Rowbottom at Copse on the 16th lap, and went on to pass Moffat on the final lap to claim fifth. That means his points lead over Sutton is now back down to 33 going into the final round, with nobody else in contention.

Seventh and eighth were the Excelr8 Hyundais of Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton, both charging through from the back of the grid after incidents in the second race.

Senna Proctor (also in an Excelr8 Hyundai) and Rowbottom finished next, but each was penalised 10 seconds for track-limits offences, promoting Dan Cammish (Alliance Ford) and front-row man Mikey Doble (Power Maxed Racing Cupra Leon) to the top 10.

Cammish was another to line up at the rear – he did not take the start of race two after a clamp on the turbo broke.

Daryl DeLeon was similarly out of luck in race three, his WSR BMW pushed off its third spot on the grid with a driveshaft failure, before joining in after three laps.

BTCC Silverstone - Race 3 results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	21'17.419
2	J. Cook Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+1.609 21'19.028	1.609
3	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	+4.463 21'21.882	2.854
4	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330i M Sport	22	+9.543 21'26.962	5.080
5	T. Ingram Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+10.065 21'27.484	0.522
6	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR			BMW 330i M Sport	22	+10.541 21'27.960	0.476
7	A. Morgan Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+11.380 21'28.799	0.839
8	T. Chilton Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+11.701 21'29.120	0.321
9	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	+14.799 21'32.218	3.098
10	M. Doble Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	22	+15.549 21'32.968	0.750
11	A. Taylor-Smith Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+16.190 21'33.609	0.641
12	C. Rainford LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR			BMW 330i M Sport	22	+17.615 21'35.034	1.425
13	S. Proctor Team Vertu			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+23.613 21'41.032	5.998
14	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	+24.053 21'41.472	0.440
15	D. Patterson ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport			Cupra León	22	+24.614 21'42.033	0.561
16	G. Shedden Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+24.979 21'42.398	0.365
17	D. Lloyd Restart Racing			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+25.934 21'43.353	0.955
18	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+26.983 21'44.402	1.049
19	M. Buxton Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+33.952 21'51.371	6.969
20	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing			BMW 330i M Sport	19	+3 Laps 21'25.755	3 Laps
nc	N. Halstead Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	18	+4 Laps 22'02.898	1 Lap		Retirement
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