BTCC Donington Park GP - Morgan dominates, Sutton extends title lead as Gilbert flips over in shock crash
- Owen Bradley
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Adam Morgan dominated the British Touring Car Championship's (BTCC) proceedings at Donington Park over the weekend. Ashley Sutton crucially extended his championship lead to over 100 points over Tom Ingram, as Lewis Gilbert was involved in a shocking crash during the first race, which saw his BMW flip over at the penultimate corner.
Morgan took two victories across the BTCC's Donington Park GP weekend, representing CPRL Racing in their first race weekend, formally known as Cataclean Plato Racing. Morgan also recorded an impressive weekend at Knockhill just two weeks ago, and has now risen in the championship standings from eighth to fourth place.
Race 1, Round 19
The opening race of the weekend saw the pair of CPRL Mercedes cars lock out the front row, with Morgan leading the way going into the opening corner from Josh Cook, who overtook Dan Rowbottom into the opening corner after diving to the inside of Rowbottom.
With Rowbottom pushed wide by Cook, Ash Sutton was able to muscle his way into a gap, drawing alongside Rowbottom before eventually going around the outside of the No.32 CRPL Mercedes at Turn 4.
Once Rowbottom managed to settle into the race, he struck back against Sutton, diving to the inside of the No.116 NAPA Racing Ford into the penultimate corner, the Melbourne hairpin. Rowbottom managed to get the move done before a Safety Car was deployed, for an incident with Lewis Gilbert just behind.
Gilbert had contact with Tom Chilton, with the pair running in 16th and 17th. Gilbert smashed into the inside barrier at the penultimate corner, coming back across the grass and almost back onto the race track, doing a barrel roll after going through the grass sideways. The top of the car never hit the floor, with the BMW doing a perfect flip.
At the restart, Cook had a technical issue, ceasing position to Sutton and Rowbottom behind. The running order was Morgan, who led Sutton from Rowbottom at the start of the restart. A charging Gordon Shedden eventually managed to muscle his way through to third place after overtaking Rowbottom.
The issues were not fully over for Rowbottom, though, as Dan Cammish managed to dive down the inside of the Mercedes into the Melbourne hairpin at the penultimate corner on the final lap, stealing fourth place from Rowbottom at the last moment.
Morgan came through to take a dominant victory from Sutton and Shedden, with Cammish and Rowbottom rounding out the top five. Meanwhile, main championship contender, Tom Ingram, dropped one place at the start of the race and was unsuccessful in his fight back through to the front of the field, finishing in a disappointing ninth place.
The results of the first race also set the grid order for the second race of the day, with Morgan subsequently on pole position ahead of Sutton and Shedden.
Race 2, Round 20
The second race of the day saw Sutton drive around the outside of Adam Morgan into the first corner, with the pair going side-by-side heading into the following few corners. Sutton managed to get through on Morgan into Turn 4, after an impressive and committed dive to the inside.
Just behind the leaders, Dan Cammish managed to slip past Gordon Shedden and Dan Rowbottom for third place, with Shedden and Rowbottom fighting each other over fourth place. Rowbottom held the inside line into the flat-out sixth corner, sending Shedden out wide and onto the grass.
A charging Rowbottom then went on to overtake teammate Morgan and Cammish, chasing Ash Sutton for the lead of the race. Rowbottom eventually managed to get through to the lead of the race, overtaking Sutton on the exit of Turn 10 and into the chicane. The CPRL Mercedes was evidently working optimally around the Donington Park GP layout.
Cammish eventually managed to get through on Sutton for second place on Lap 4 going into the final corner, with Sutton attempting to run a wider outside line, and Cammish putting his NAPA Racing Valvoline Ford into the gap, overtaking Sutton.
Cammish then chased after Rowbottom for the lead of the race, overtaking the No.32 CRPL Mercedes into the final corner, in a thoroughly impressive move. Cammish moved to the outside going into the final corner, a slow, winding left hander. Cammish positioned his Ford Focus on the outside of Rowbottom's Mercedes, before Cammish broke hard and then attempted to get underneath Rowbottom's Mercedes at the apex of the corner.
The No.27 Ford of Cammish, after contact with the rear of the Mercedes, managed to slip underneath Rowbottom and snatch the lead of the race.
Cammish went on to take victory in race two, with Sutton going past Dan Rowbottom for second place on lap 10 after the Mercedes slowed down with a technical issue on the exit of the esses chicane. Tom Ingram also managed to make it through on Rowbottom into the esses on the penultimate lap to claim the final spot on the podium, with Ingram coming back through the field from ninth place to finish in an impressive third.
Race 3, Round 21
Chris Smiley and Adam Morgan started on the front row for the final race of the day, after the reversal of the top 10 in race two, making up the grid for the leading ten places for race three.
Morgan immediately attempted to overtake Chris Smiley on the opening corner, but Smiley held Morgan behind at the beginning of the race. The No.22 Restart Racing Hyundai of Smiley was eventually overtaken by the No.33 CPRL Mercedes of Morgan at Turn 7, with Morgan finding grip around the outside of Smiley.
Just a couple of corners later, Aiden Moffat went through on Smiley into the medium-speed, right-hander of Turn 9. Meanwhile, the two championship leaders were further behind in fifth and sixth, with Ingram leading Sutton.
Sutton dived to the inside of Ingram at Turn 5, sending his championship rival off the road and onto the grass. Ingram went from 5th place to 9th, with Sutton, Smiley, Ricky Collard, Daryl DeLeon and Shedden making their way through on the VERTU Hyundai. Sutton would be given a penalty for the incident.
Shedden carried significant momentum throughout the race, coming through on the field, sitting in fifth at the start of the final lap, battling against Sutton. The No.116 NAPA Racing Ford of Sutton dived to the inside of Shedden's Toyota Corolla and sent the Scot wide, with Sutton coming back through for fifth position.
A charging Charles Rainford then managed to make a last-gasp pass on Gordon Shedden on the final lap, coming out of the final corner and on the run to the chequered flag. The BMW of Rainford managed to out-drag the Toyota of Shedden to take sixth on the road, and fifth in the results after Sutton's penalty, with Rainford and Shedden separated by just 0.038s.
Adam Morgan dominated the final race, opening a strong lead over Aiden Moffat and Daryl DeLeon, who completed the podium. Aaron Taylor-Smith ended up in fourth, with Rainford closing out the leading five places. Championship leader, Ash Sutton, finished in eighth place, with Ingram only managing another disappointing ninth place finish.
Going into Rounds 22, 23 and 24 - Sutton now leads by 101 points, sitting on 380 points overall. Tom Ingram sits in second with 279 points, with a close battle behind him. Cammish now sits on 274 points, just five behind Ingram, and after two successful race meetings, Adam Morgan has now charged through the championship order, from eighth at the start of the weekend to fourth place, now sitting on 222 points.
With 228 points still on the table, mathematically the title race is still on, although it would now require Sutton to run into severe bad luck. However, the momentum does currently seem to be with Adam Morgan and the CPRL Mercedes squad, who have been incredibly successful over the last two weeks.
The next three rounds of the BTCC will be held at Croft across the 5th and 6th of September, where the title race gets to match point for Ash Sutton and NAPA Racing Ford.
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