British Touring Cars Championship Donington Park

Images by Jak Walker

24 - 25 August 2024

The BTCC arrived at Donington Park with the Championship poised on a knife edge. This year’s race to be crowned king of the tin tops is the closest in years, with Tom Ingram having a meagre three point lead over Jake Hill with three rounds to go. PistonClick photographer Jak Walker was there to capture the action and what was to be one of the best BTCC races for years.

Ingram would be taking on the 2.5mile GP circuit and the rest of the title contenders with limited hybrid deployment for the qualifying and first race, which was his reward for leading the championship. 

Trying to make the most of Ingrams lack of extra oomph at the start of the weekend was Jake Hill, three points behind Ingram in the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW 330e M Sport. With Tom Ingram in the Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30N and Ash Sutton, 20 points behind Ingram in the NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST it’s great to see different manufacturers in with a shout for the team championship.

Jake Hills qualifying didn’t go quite according to plan as he didn’t make Q3, being seventh fastest. On the other hand Josh Cooks qualifying went according to plan to top the time sheets ahead of Colin Turkington and Micky Doble in third. 

Race 1

Turkington made easy work of the first race, starting from second he quickly took the lead from Cook at the first corner and stayed there to the flag. Sutton came in second with Jake Hill, who started seventh, taking the last podium place when Cook hit the tires at the Esses letting Hill through.

Championship leader Ingram battled through to fifth after dropping down the order when Doble slid into him at Goddard’s.

Race 2

It was a bank holiday weekend so it was quite standard that the weather would be changeable, rain before race two. The quickly drying track didn’t affect the top three podium finishers from race one.

Ash Sutton went one better in race two to stand on the top step for the 41st time taking the win from Turkington. Hill claimed third and his 11th podium of 2024 to extend his lead in the championship.

It was starting to look good for Hill in his bid to claim his first BTCC championship as Ingram had retired from race two with mechanical issues.

Race 3

With the reverse grid coming into play, the third race is always a lottery on who will drive into parc fermé after the 17 laps are completed. After his retirement in race 2, Ingram would get a great view of the back of the title contenders cars as he would start 19th on the last row of the grid.

With the drive of the day, Ingram battled his way through with some truly inspired racing to eventually take second place. Dan Cammish took the win and Árón Taylor-Smith was third.

The BTCC Championship now heads to Silverstone on the 21-22 September for the penultimate round. It looks like the King of the Tin Tops won’t be decided until the season finale at Brands Hatch 5 - 6 October.