Kwik Fit BTCC Croft 26th June 2022
LLOYD’S DREAM DOUBLE DELIGHT
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship made the journey up the A1 to Croft, near Darlington, over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of June for rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2022 season. The venue has traditionally favoured the rear-wheel-drive cars and that tradition was maintained as the WSR BMW of Colin Turkington sped to pole position by 0.027 seconds from the Team Dynamics Honda Civic of Daniel Rowbottom. Making up the second row were Excelr8 Hyundai i30 pairing of Daniel Lloyd and Tom Ingram as 0.076 seconds covered the top four, a remarkable turnaround for Turkington and Lloyd after their car-wrecking incident at Oulton Park just a couple of weeks before. Meanwhile, championship leader Josh Cook languished down in 20th position, bemoaning a lack of straightline speed. As expected, Turkington held the lead off the line of Race One, whilst a great getaway from Lloyd placed him second into the first corner. The BMW’s vulnerability on cold tyres showed as Lloyd pounced on Turkington at Tower for the first time, challenging around the outside before cutting inside to make the move stick on the run to the Jim Clark Esses. Lloyd survived two safety car restarts and withstood huge pressure from Turkington on the last lap to take a fairytale victory. Rowbottom completed the podium after resisting multiple attacks from Ingram on the second restart. Cook salvaged a point with 15th but Ingram cut his championship lead to just two points. The reduction of Hybrid usage for Lloyd made little difference to the Yorkshireman in race two as another peach of a start saw him lead the pack away. Lloyd’s dream day continued as he held the lead throughout to grab the win despite intense scrutiny from teammate Ingram and Turkington. Ingram, having jumped Rowbottom at the start, passed the BMW on the opening lap through the Jim Clark Esses, striking before Turkington’s tyres came up to temperature. Cook gained four spots from his grid position to come home in 11th but lost the championship lead to Ingram. The draw for race three saw ball number 12 pulled out of the bag so Gordon Shedden was handed pole position for the last race of the day with Cook completing the front row, Stephen Jelley and Tom Chilton making up row two. The front-row starting Hondas held off the BMW of Jelley into Clervaux with Shedden ahead, the Team Dynamics man gapping the field to win his 52nd BTCC race by 2.5 seconds and cap his recovery from a Race One DNF. Cook saw off a train of cars for second ahead of Rory Butcher, Jelley, Jake Hill, Turkington and Ingram. Ingram leads the championship by 3 points from Cook heading to Knockhill after the championship's summer break on the 30th/31st July.
Report written for EDP Photo News.
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship made the journey up the A1 to Croft, near Darlington, over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of June for rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the 2022 season. The venue has traditionally favoured the rear-wheel-drive cars and that tradition was maintained as the WSR BMW of Colin Turkington sped to pole position by 0.027 seconds from the Team Dynamics Honda Civic of Daniel Rowbottom. Making up the second row were Excelr8 Hyundai i30 pairing of Daniel Lloyd and Tom Ingram as 0.076 seconds covered the top four, a remarkable turnaround for Turkington and Lloyd after their car-wrecking incident at Oulton Park just a couple of weeks before. Meanwhile, championship leader Josh Cook languished down in 20th position, bemoaning a lack of straightline speed. As expected, Turkington held the lead off the line of Race One, whilst a great getaway from Lloyd placed him second into the first corner. The BMW’s vulnerability on cold tyres showed as Lloyd pounced on Turkington at Tower for the first time, challenging around the outside before cutting inside to make the move stick on the run to the Jim Clark Esses. Lloyd survived two safety car restarts and withstood huge pressure from Turkington on the last lap to take a fairytale victory. Rowbottom completed the podium after resisting multiple attacks from Ingram on the second restart. Cook salvaged a point with 15th but Ingram cut his championship lead to just two points. The reduction of Hybrid usage for Lloyd made little difference to the Yorkshireman in race two as another peach of a start saw him lead the pack away. Lloyd’s dream day continued as he held the lead throughout to grab the win despite intense scrutiny from teammate Ingram and Turkington. Ingram, having jumped Rowbottom at the start, passed the BMW on the opening lap through the Jim Clark Esses, striking before Turkington’s tyres came up to temperature. Cook gained four spots from his grid position to come home in 11th but lost the championship lead to Ingram. The draw for race three saw ball number 12 pulled out of the bag so Gordon Shedden was handed pole position for the last race of the day with Cook completing the front row, Stephen Jelley and Tom Chilton making up row two. The front-row starting Hondas held off the BMW of Jelley into Clervaux with Shedden ahead, the Team Dynamics man gapping the field to win his 52nd BTCC race by 2.5 seconds and cap his recovery from a Race One DNF. Cook saw off a train of cars for second ahead of Rory Butcher, Jelley, Jake Hill, Turkington and Ingram. Ingram leads the championship by 3 points from Cook heading to Knockhill after the championship's summer break on the 30th/31st July.
Report written for EDP Photo News.
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