British Touring Car - Rounds 13,14 & 15

Croft - Report by DSdigital Motorsport Photography

25^th – 26^th June 2022

The headline story from BTCC Croft 2022 must be the miraculous comeback made by Dan Lloyd and Colin Turkington. They left Oulton Park only two weeks before nursing injuries after being involved in a serious collision which saw Turkington , who was unsighted, hit Lloyd’s car head-on.

The impact left both cars with extensive damage. In the aftermath, both drivers were faced with a race to regain their fitness for Croft while the teams, ExcelR8 and West Surry Racing (WSR) respectively, had the gargantuan task of repairing the damaged vehicles as well as prepping the team’s other cars for the next outing.

ExcelR8 rose to the challenge and, despite the damage being more extensive than originally thought, they worked around the clock and rolled up at Croft with the Hyundai i30N looking good as new. With Lloyd’s race licence reinstated after he had been pronounced fit to race, he was good to go.

However, the team faced further problems and drafted in James Gornall for a one-off drive when Jack Butel was unable to race due to unforeseen circumstances. There were no dramas for the two Toms, Ingram and Chilton, who completed ExcelR8s four car team.

Tom Ingram leading the ExcelR8 Hyundais out for qualifying.

The mood at WSR must have been very down-beat when they realised that it would be impossible to rebuild Turkington’s BMW 330E M Sport in the time available before Croft. Luckily they had his 2019 winning chassis under dust sheets in the corner of the garage but was it a straightforward wash, polish and oil change to make it race ready? Oh no, it had to be converted to the 2022 spec hybrid system. With the updates completed, Colin was ready to join team-mate, Stephen Jelly, on the grid.

Chapter One of the weekend’s fairytale story was written during Saturday’s qualifying when Colin Turkington topped the timesheet with a 1:21.468 lap of the 2.1 mile circuit with Dan Rowbottom second and Dan Lloyd third, these three were separated by just 0.063s. James Gornall qualified his Hyundai i30N in 15th position only 0.5s slower than the pole time, a remarkable achievement given that he only sat in the car for the first time on the previous day for the shakedown session.

Chapter Two started when the lights went out to start Round 13 of the 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship. Turkington led initially but Lloyd passed Rowbottom on the way into Clervaux and then harried Turkington all the way up to Tower. Gordon Shedden was the most notable victim of the first corner melee and he limped round to the pits to retire with broken suspension.

By the time the cars appeared at the Jim Clark Esses for the first time Lloyd headed Turkington and Rowbottom with Ingram challenging hard for third spot. However, the race was soon neutralised by the safety car that was deployed after Ollie Jackson found his way into the tyre barrier at Sunny Out. When racing resumed on lap six the gap between the two leaders ebbed and flowed as the Hyundai stretched its advantage during the first, fast flowing part of each lap only to be reeled in by the BMW through the slower corners of the Complex.

A second safety car period to recover Taylor-Smith’s SEAT left Lloyd with three racing laps to repel Turkington who was trying desperately to hold on to second place from Rowbottom and Ingram in a closely contested sprint to the flag.

So, a fairytale finish to Round 13 for Dan Lloyd and the ExcelR8 team who, for the first time, had all four cars finish in the points. Just reward for them and WSR too with Team BMW 330Es of Turkington and Jelly 2nd and 11th respectively and Jake Hill , in the RoKiT liveried version in 5th.

From despair at Oulton Park for Lloyd, who had sleepless nights trying to figure out how to pay the car repair bill which amounted to £95,000, to elation at Croft and scenes on unbridled joy on the podium.

Chapter Three was all about Round 14 which was bound to be an anticlimax, wasn’t it? Well, not for ExcelR8 or WSR and all the enthusiastic spectators. Lloyd made a great start from pole to head the field into Clarvaux. Turkington slotted into P2 but Ingram made a cracking start from P4 and swept past Rowbottom around the outside at the notorious first corner to grab P3.It was clear that Ingram had Turkington in his sights as he attacked on the run up to Tower and then swept past the BMW in an audacious manoeuvre at the Esses.

After three laps the safety car made another appearance while Gornall’s Hyundai, which had nosed into the barriers at Hawthorn with broken suspension, was recovered. Once again, Lloyd made an excellent restart when the green flag flew at the start of lap seven and managed to fend off his pursuers for the remainder of the race to take his second victory of the day. He was followed over the line by Ingram and Turkington with Jake Hill, who had passed Rowbottom on lap eleven, finishing fourth.

Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script; a second win for Lloyd, the first 1-2 finish for ExcelR8, more points for Ingram which took him into the lead of the championship and 9th for Tom Chilton made it a great result for the team. Meanwhile, BTC Racing were having a miserable day, the drivers concerned about a bewildering lack of straight line speed.

Gordon Shedden, who had started at the back of the grid thanks to his DNF in Round 13, disproved the claims that it was difficult to overtake by charging through the field to finish 12th and hoping to benefit from the reverse grid draw.

Chapter Four started with Dan Lloyd pulling number 12 out of bowl which put Shedden on pole for Round 15. Josh Cook, who’d had a lacklustre day so far, would line up alongside him with Turkington, Ingram and Lloyd in 10th, 11th and 12th respectively.

Shedden got a dream start and led the pack into Clervaux followed by Cook, Jelly and Chilton but Rory Butcher was the man on the move. He made a demon start from 6th on the grid and swept past Chilton on the outside at Clarvaux and was alongside Jelly around Hawthorn. He and Jelly were then forced to cut the chicane and rejoined in-front of Cook who had actually been ahead as they entered the chicane. So as not to risk a penalty, Butcher immediately conceded the place to Cook.

By the end of lap 1 Shedden had sprinted ahead of his pursuers and had opened up a gap of 1.5s from Cook and Butcher who were contesting the remaining podium positions. Butcher took 2nd on the entry to Tower on lap 2 but Cook immediately retook the place on the exit.

Further back Michael Crees brought his PMR Astra into the pits at the end of lap 1 with a puncture. He rejoined but would retire from the race on lap 11. Ash Sutton’s race was effectively over when his Focus ST sustained suspension damage on lap 3 and Aiden Moffat was forced to pit to fix a flapping bonnet when shown the ‘meatball’ flag.

Shedden had an untroubled race and took the flag 2.5s ahead of Cook with Butcher a further 0.7s behind. The three BMWs were next over the line with Jelly in 4th having repelled Jake Hill’s challenge. Turkington was 6th, up 4 places from his starting position. The best-placed Hyundai was Ingram in 7th which was good enough to keep him at the top of the championship table, just three points ahead of Cook. Chilton and Lloyd collecting more points for 9th and 11th taking ExcelR8’s tally to 370 which places them 2nd in the Manufacturers/Constructors championship. Gornall had a good run from the back of the grid and came home 17th, just missing out on another points finish.

The BTCC now heads into its summer break and returns at Knockhill at the end of July.