BTCC 2018: Turkington secures third title in Brands Hatch finale

BTCC Brands Hatch 2018
Turkington clinched his third title at Brands Hatch
BMW racer secures crown despite difficult outing at Kent track, while Cammish and Sutton end season with race wins

BMW driver Colin Turkington secured his third British Touring Car Championship title in the 2018 season finale at Brands Hatch - despite failing to score points in two of the three races.

Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton also left the Kent track celebrating: Honda Civic Type R racer Cammish scored his first two career BTCC wins, while 2017 champ Sutton claimed his sixth victory of the season in the final race.

Northern Irish racer Turkington entered the season finale 34 points clear of title rival Tom Ingram, and extended his advantage with a 12th place finish in the opener, when both drivers were hampered by success ballast. Ingram could only muster 14th in his Toyota Avensis.

Inside the 2018 Honda Civic Type R BTCC racer

Meanwhile, Cammish became the 17th different winner of the season, after battling past pole-sitter Brett Smith, who was driving an older-spec Type R. Cammish’s Honda team-mate Matt Neal also fought his way past Smith to take second.

Cammish and Neal put on a show in the second race, running one-two throughout, despite the best efforts of third-placed Andrew Jordan (BMW). But the attention was on the title rivals behind them, who were both storming through the order.

Ingram led the way, fighting his way up to fourth place. Turkington wasn’t too far behind until he made contact with Dan Lloyd (Civic) at Paddock Hill, going off and dropping to 22nd. But Ingram needed third place to keep his title hopes alive, and couldn’t find a way past Jordan.

A day in the life of a BTCC driver: we shadow Tom Chilton at Rockingham

“That was the most difficult race of the year,” said Turkington, who dedicated his title to his mum, who died earlier this year. “I was trying so hard. We didn’t have the car to go forward and I was getting shuffled back so quickly.”

Ingram said: “I gave it everything I had. We had no tyres left at the end, no brakes left. There was nothing more I could do.”

While the title was settled, Josh Cook (Vauxhall Astra) and Sutton (Subaru Levorg) still put on an incredible show in race three. Cook had started from pole, but found himself defending from Sutton late in the race.

It didn’t look like 2017 champion Sutton could find a way past, but he got a run on Cook exiting the final corner, and pulled alongside him on the run to the line, taking the win by 0.032secs.

Rob Austin (Alfa Romeo) finished third ahead of Tom Chilton (Ford Focus RS), with Ingram fifth.

Turkington finished well down the order in 23rd, content to sit back and savour his third BTCC crown.

Read more

A day in the life of a BTCC driver: we shadow Tom Chilton at Rockingham

Inside the 2018 Honda Civic Type R BTCC racer

Profiled: the young guns of the BTCC

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