The British Touring Car Championship now heads to the final round of the championship with a number of drivers still in with a shot at the championship after three different drivers took wins at Silverstone.
Tordoff leads the championship, his lead now over ten points to second place runner Gordon Shedden.
Race One
Best Start
It was another mixed day for the championship contenders in qualifying, meaning that many strong drivers found themselves at the back of the grid for the first race of the weekend. Naturally, these were the drivers that made up the most places on the opening lap.
Rob Collard, who qualified twenty fourth, Michael Epps, twenty eighth, and Colin Turkington, twenty nine, all made up eighth places on the opening lap, making them the joint best starters.
The next biggest mover was James Cole, who made up five places from twenty second on the grid.
Highest rookie
Well, Ash Sutton was the first rookie to cross the finish line, but he’s not the best classified rookie, after both MG drivers were disqualified from the race due to technical infringements.
That makes Mark Howard the highest placed rookie, the BKR driver finishing sixteenth of twenty four finishers. The next highest rookie, Epps, finished over nine seconds behind Howard.
Best Climber
After his flying start and his poor qualifying, it’s unsurprising that Colin Turkington was the best climber in the first race of the weekend. After qualifying twenty ninth, the BMR driver made up twenty one places to finish eighth.
Rob Collard was the next best climber, making up an impressive seventeen places to finish seventh.
Most improved on last round
Surprisingly, the driver that improved the most on their first race finishing position at Rockingham didn’t retire from the Rockingham race. Rob Austin finished twentieth in the twenty second race of the weekend, and his third place at Silverstone meant he improved by seventeen places.
The next most improved drivers were Tom Ingram and Mark Howard. Both improved by fifteen places on their Rockingham classification, though Ingram’s improvement might be a tad more impressive, with Howard retiring from the Rockingham round.
Race Two
Best Start
After being excluded from the first race, Ashley Sutton would start race two from the back of the grid, giving him the best opportunity to make up places on the opening lap. The rookie crossed the line after lap one nine places higher than he had at the start of the race, starting his strong climb through the field.
Highest Rookie
Twelfth for Michael Epps meant the Team HARD driver was the highest classified rookie for the second race of the day. The next best placed rookie, Kelvin Fletcher, finished ten places lower in twenty second.
Best Climber
After a difficult race one, Gordon Shedden started twenty third for the second race of the weekend which, like Sutton, gave him the opportunity to make up a lot of places throughout the race. The Honda driver made up fifteen places over the twenty four laps.
The next best climber was Josh Cook, who started from the very back of the grid and made up fourteen places throughout the race to finish seventeenth overall.
Most improved on last round
A lot of the drivers who had difficult second races at Rockingham found their luck completely different at Silverstone, with the two drivers most improved on last round retiring from the Rockingham race.
Tom Ingram finished twenty six places higher than he was classified in race twenty three of the season. Ingram was the second retirement in the Rockingham race, but finished third at Silverstone. Jason Plato had a similar fate, retiring at Rockingham but finishing fifth at Silverstone.
Race Three
Best Start
Compared to other races, there were few drivers moving forwards on the opening lap of the final race of the weekend. Aron Smith got the best start, moving up six places from his twenty fourth place grid position. Behind him, Jeff Smith and Ashley Sutton both made up four places.
Highest Rookie
After a tough day so far, Ashley Sutton’s luck was finally turning around in race three, when he was the highest rookie. The MG driver finished tenth of twenty six drivers, his first points scoring finish of the day. He finished nearly eight seconds ahead of the nearest rookie, Epps.
Best Climber
Ashley Sutton also takes the award for the best climber during the race. Though there wasn’t much moving forwards on the opening lap, there was plenty throughout the race. Sutton made up sixteen places throughout the race.
The next best climber was Jake Hill, who started behind Sutton and made up fourteen places.
Most improved on last round
There were few drivers that improved on their Rockingham race three results. Jack Goff was the most improved. The West Surrey Racing driver didn’t finish a single lap of the Rockingham race, meaning his P11 finish at Silverstone was an improvement of twenty places.
The next most improved driver was Sam Tordoff, who did finish the Rockingham race, but only in sixteenth. The championship leader finished sixth in the final race at Silverstone, an improvement of ten places.
Feature image credit: Caroline Rhea
