BTCC: Rowbottom takes second win of the season at final race of Thruxton

The final race of the weekend would see Dan Rowbottom take his second victory of the season at Thruxton.

Off the line, Jake Hill would jump James Dorlin and Senna Proctor to take the lead from third into turn 1 as the BMW gets an almighty start. Meanwhile, Rowbottom would also find his way up the order into second by the end of lap one while Dan Cammish, Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton chase behind making inroads themselves.

On lap 2, Rowbottom would make the move for the lead on Hill, aiming to pull away quickly and maintain his advantage. Sutton was on a charge in 5th place setting the fastest lap of the race and making life difficult for Ingram who was trying to close in on the cars behind himself.

Sutton would make the move on Ingram passing at the complex but the two title rivals clashed on the exit forcing Ingram onto the grass and losing a ton of momentum. As the two were fighting, Hill would begin the pull away from Cammish before a Safety Car was deployed on lap 8 due to Adam Morgan ending up in the barriers at turn 1.

At the restart, Rowbottom would get away well while Cammish would put pressure on Hill leading to an eventual overtake a lap later. This would make it a NAPA 1-2 leaving the BMW on the final step of the podium for the time being. The battle between Hill and Sutton would become intense as they would end up coming together at Noble causing Sutton to spin which would be saved nicely after a full 360 minimising losses for Sutton. On the other hand, Hill would need to go to the pits after ending up on the grass and having a ton of grass stuck in the front of his car.

Ingram went on the hunt for Cammish after managing to remain unscathed in Hill and Sutton’s crash. Behind them, Doble would make his way into the top eight after having started 22nd due to another engine failure in race 2. On the penultimate lap, Ingram would make the move on Cammish for second around the outside heading into the final chicane, using the turbo boost that was no longer available to Dan Cammish.

Out front, Rowbottom would cruise home for the win taking his second race win of the season in an excellent performance from the NAPA driver becoming the second driver to win multiple races this season. Ingram would come home with another second place ahead of Cammish in third while Proctor would manage to hold off Sutton for 4th in an incredible return for the Hyundai driver. Chris Smiley would finish in 6th taking the Independents win in the process while Árón Taylor-Smith, Josh Cook, Tom Chilton and Dan Lloyd round out the top 10.

After the results of the weekend this would leave Sutton at the top of the tables still but the gap to Ingram was now just nine points between the two. Rowbottom would move up to third in the standings ahead of teammate Cammish and the BMW of Hill would round out the top 5.

In the Independents standings, Smiley would lead by just nine points to Cook and just twenty points to Doble. Behind them, Lloyd and Jelley round out the top 5 for Independents.

The Jack Sears Trophy would see Daryl DeLeon lead the way over teammate Charles Rainford and the Toyota of Ronan Pearson. Sam Osborne would sit 4th in the standings ahead of James Dorlin and Dexter Patterson, who are only separated by a single point in 5th and 6th in the standings respectively.

The next BTCC weekend would head to Oulton Park with the drivers looking to finish the first half of the season strong in just two weeks’ time.