BTCC: Árón Taylor-Smith claims first victory in ten years in race 2 at Brands Hatch

Árón Taylor-Smith claims his first victory in the BTCC since Rockingham in 2016 taking the win at Brands Hatch in race two.

Ash Sutton started on pole from Ricky Collard while Tom Ingram started third ahead of Dan Cammish and Tom Chilton who complete the top five on the grid but with the rain coming, the race was not an easy one.

Sutton would get a great start managing to have a few car lengths in hand into the first turn over Collard while Ingram and Cammish fought over third. Ingram managed to maintain the place while behind them Chilton and Sam Osborne dropped back behind Charles Rainford before a Safety Car was deployed for Lewis Selby who slid off at Druids.

The race would get back under way on lap seven with Ingram trying to get passed his teammate to start going off after Sutton but was unable to find a way. Collard would put Sutton under a lot of pressure like he done in race one as the top five pulled a small margin over the rest of the pack. Rainford would make a move passed Cammish for fourth into Druids before sliding wide which cost him time but not quite the position as Cammish tries to counter-attack. The race between the front three would spice up as they almost went three wide down the Cooper Straight with the best run from Collard giving him the race lead over Sutton on lap eight.

Rainford would aim to get up another place onto lap nine going around the outside of Ingram into Paddock Hill Bend. However, he was put off-line by Ingram forcing him to end up falling behind the Hyundai. Behind them, contact between the Laser Tools Racing Toyota’s and the Hyundai of Chris Smiley sent the latter spinning off the road and into the barriers. However, he was able to gather it back up and continue going.

Rainford would finally make the move on Ingram stick for third and started going after Sutton and Collard with Rainford trying to make it to the inside for turn one with contact made between the two almost causing the BMW to go round. Rainford would ultimately lose the place once more to Ingram. The fight for the front positions would continue non-stop with Collard going wide at Clark Curve but would use the better exit to keep the lead while Cammish would go off the road and into the gravel at turn one, he would lose some time but keep it going to come into the pits and attempt to use the wet weather tyre.

As this was happening, Taylor-Smith, who was charging through the pack, made his move passed Rainford, Osborne and Cammish to move up to fourth gaining nine positions since the start of the race.

Contact on lap fourteen between Ingram and Sutton at Clearways would force the Ford to slide before managing to recover it to keep hold of second place causing the pack to be held up behind. This would give Taylor-Smith the opportunity to make his way passed both the Hyundai and Ford to take second place on lap fifthteen. He would continue his charge to make a late braking-manoeuvre on Collard for the race lead before pulling away. Sutton would find his way back into second place ahead of Collard on the Cooper Straight trying to maximise but losing time to Taylor-Smith who has much more confidence in these conditions.

A massive slide on lap twenty-one for Ingram put him out of sync with the cars behind who were immediately trying to find a way passed down the Brabham straight with Aiden Moffat becoming the biggest benefactor moving into fourth place before contact between Ingram and Rainford sent the BMW off into the gravel and out of the race. He would be followed by Osborne who got hit off by Daniel Rowbottom moments later causing a red flag and the race to be ended early.

After rolling the results back to lap twenty plus the removal of Rainford and Osborne, it would mean Taylor-Smith would take victory in race two at Brands Hatch and his first win in a decade in the BTCC in an excellent result for the Irishman. Sutton would finish second ahead of Collard and Ingram while Moffat completed the top five. Mikey Doble would finish sixth ahead of Josh Cook and James Dorlin. Dexter Patterson and Daryl DeLeon would complete the top ten.

The race three reverse grid draw would see ball eight pulled out meaning Dorlin will start on pole from Cook, Doble and Moffat.