British Touring Car Championship Round 9 at Silverstone

Images by Jak Walker

28 September 2024

The BTCC teams arrived at a very wet Silverstone last weekend for the penultimate round of the 2024 championship. Jake Hill was leading the drivers championship by nine points after the Donington round. Tom Ingram in second was 11 points ahead of Ash Sutton in third. In the Constructors Championship its even closer, Alliance Racing Ford are ahead of BMW by 2 points. 

So to say that it was going to be crucial for the drivers to get as many points as possible before the final round at Brands Hatch was a bit of an understatement.

The stage was set for the very important qualifying session at Silverstone under some very leaden skies. Surprisingly Ash Sutton didn’t make the quick six final run and would start a disappointing 14 on the grid.

Aron Taylor-Smith who is leading the independent drivers championship was on pole with title contender Ingram second. That was until post race checks were completed and three cars failed the ride hight test. Taylor-Smith, Mikey Doble and Dan Zelos were demoted to the back of the grid promoting Ingram to P1 and Hill to P5. 

Race 1

The first race saw Tom Ingram convert his pole position into a victory, holding off challenges from Ash Sutton and Josh Cook during the race. Ingram conserved his Hybrid power keeping consistent pace throughout the race which ensured he stayed ahead, despite Sutton’s relentless pursuit.

Hill got through the field to challenge Ingram but ran out of Hybrid boost, Ingram took the win, Hill was second Cammish was third. 

Race 1

Race 2

Race two had Ingram on pole again looking for a second victory, but it was not to be for the Bristol Street Motors driver in the Hyundai i30 Fastback. Ingram started well in the wet conditions but the following drivers picked him off for him to eventually finish fourth.

Hill took the checkered flag less than a second ahead of Turkington with Cook in third. Ash Sutton was 12th after being hit with a drive through penalty after one of his team didn’t leave the grid in time.

Race 2

Race 3

By the time Race 3 was due to start heavy rain was falling, a red flag inevitably came out on lap 9 of the race with the restart delayed due to the torrential rain. Once the race resumed the conditions were far from ideal, fine if you were at the front not so if you were behind the leaders who were kicking up huge amounts of spray.

Ingram was one of the fortunate few who could see where they were going and he made the most of it. Sutton needed to have a good result if he was to keep any hope of a title challenge going into the final round.

Chasing Ingram from 12th on the grid he was with him on the final corner and made a challenge for the lead. Paint was swapped but Ingram driving the Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30N held onto his weaving car to the flag. NAPA Racing UK Sutton second and LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ's Josh Cook third.

Race 3

After a great meeting, if somewhat wet meeting at Silverstone for the teams and fans, Jake Hill and Tom Ingram are tied at the top of the table on 365 point. In the independent Championship Árón Taylor-Smith is leading the way on 510 points, 84 ahead of Mikey Doble on 426.

Six drivers head into the final round at Brands Hatch with a mathematical chance of being crowned BTCC Champion 2024. We expect a bumper crowd at Brands Hatch on the 5-6 October to witness the 2024 BTCC Champion being crowned, in what has been a great season of touring car racing so far.

BTCC Championship after Round 9