Photo credits to; Lee Fisher Motorsport Photography
Aiden Moffat saw himself starting on pole position for the reverse draw in race 3 – with a fast but unlucky Tom Ingram alongside. Moffat on pole finds himself with an opportunity to win a 2nd time on Sunday at Silverstone – being helped with 14 laps of boost and an equalised field at a very wet Silverstone circuit.
Absolute chaos ensued on the race start with Moffat and Taylor Smith making contact and drifting, running wide at Copse, Taylor-Smith kept the lead until he was overtaken by Rowbottom for the lead at Luffield, while Moffat dropped to 3rd, Ingram dropped to 4th and put pressure onto Taylor-Smith after Moffat made his way by, with Ingram getting the move onto lap 3. Morgan and Rainford made door to door contact on lap 4 causing Rainford to run wide at Copse with a drift that some formula drift drivers would be jealous of! Sutton managed to get underneath Taylor-Smith at Luffield to move up to 4th. Onto lap 6 Moffat has caught Rowbottom in the lead, he ran wide at Copse but kept it under control and behind Rowbottom. Moffat sent it down the inside at Brooklands and got past Rowbottom! The lines varied at Luffield as Rowbottom took the late apex to try get a run into Copse but failed to get alongside giving Moffat the race lead at a soaking Silverstone!
Ingram went down the inside of Rowbottom at Brooklands while behind them Sutton went deep losing time, Ingram manged to hook it round the outside of Rowbottom at Copse, leaving Moffat 2 seconds ahead with 14 laps to hold the 2x champion off for a 2nd win of the day! Rowbottom and Sutton started battling on lap 8 with Sutton slotting underneath Rowbottom at the apex of Luffield, shortly later Taylor-Smith took 4th of Rowbottom’s hands. On lap 11 Ingram caught Moffat! Ingram slotted through at Luffield and the pair went side-by-side at Copse, with Moffat on the inside Ingram on the outside! Ingram held the line and managed to get by the Scotsman. A lap later the formidable Sutton caught Moffat and almost got by but couldn’t quite get the move done at Luffield. Sutton dived down the inside of Moffat at Luffield on lap 13 and managed to secure the place, leaving Moffat to defend from the MB Motorsport duo to try hold onto the podium!
On lap 17 Osbourne was half-spun but the special-liveried Rainford at Brooklands sliding far out of the corner and dropping places. Shedden went for a move on Moffat at Maggots and Beckets but lost it and slid wide and just kept it on the track but lost the chance he had for the podium! Shortly after Dexter Patterson went off into the gravel at Luffield and lost places, with damage on his rear bumper, unfortunately, there was no replay shown so we don’t know what caused the incident.. On the last lap Selby and Doble came together at Maggots and Beckets with Doble being smacked out onto the grass by the hotly arriving Gilbert!
Tom Ingram, after a long and hard season, managed to secure the win for round 27! Sutton came home in 2nd and it was a Scottish run to the line between Moffat and Shedden decided by just 0.309s, but beating that was Nicolas Hamilton and Lewis Selby for P20, with Hamilton coming out on top by just 0.067s!
It was a proper touring car race to finish another visit to the home of British Motorsport for the brilliant British Touring Car Championship, which brough absolutely everything, whether it be a record breaking 5th championship from Sutton, a feel-good win for Moffat alongside a PMR 1-2 or a rain-soaked finish and chaotic race 3. This weekend brought everything for the BTCC’s penultimate round, even though the title may be secured, there’s still tons to play for and it won’t be one to miss!