Race 1: Cammish’s Tactical Triumph

Cammish commanded the opening race of the weekend, leading from start to finish. His victory was briefly overshadowed by an investigation into a potential jump start, due to the fact that he moved just ever so slightly before the lights went out. The officials concluded the lights had already extinguished after the Ford Focus moved, then stopped, clearing Cammish who in all likelihood would have not gained, but lost a miniscule amount of driver reaction time. Across the race the Yorkshireman managed his TOCA Turbo Boost (TTB) wisely, using it strategically to maintain a lead over Tom Ingram (Hyundai i30N) and teammate Ash Sutton. Ingram challenged the leader early in the proceedings, but couldn’t quite close the gap, finishing just over four seconds behind Cammish. After conceding the chance of taking the win Ingram settled for second. Sutton – starting from sixth due to an alternator issue in qualifying which left him stranded on the Bentley Straight, swiftly climbed to third, briefly making contact with Ingram at Agostini in a move for second late on, but the four-time champ backed off to avoid a penalty. The pair rubbed panels again at Bomb Hole on the final tour, with Ingram securing second. Cammish’s race was meticulous and clean and his race as he ensured his TTB advantage would not open a hole for Ingram and Sutton. The result was the fillip he needed after a disastrous Brands Hatch.

Behind the podium, Dan Rowbottom (Ford) took Adam Morgan (Hyundai) for fourth, while Dan Lloyd (Restart Racing) claimed fifth, and the independent win – reversing what has been a ballache start to the season. Tom Chilton and Chris Smiley (Hyundai) followed in seventh and eighth. Mikey Doble (Vauxhall) took a calculated risk in running the hard tyre, eyeing up race three glory and solid top 10 points finishes. Like a stone dropped from a skyscraper he plummeted – from fourth to ninth – ensuring that part one of his three part plan was completed. Daryl DeLeon (WSR BMW) rounded out the top 10. Reigning champion Jake Hill’s race was marred by a first-lap incident at Agostini, where contact with two Toyotas spun him out. The resulting damage sent him pitward, before he returned to the circuit laps down to ensure his BMW 330 was in working order for race three/

Race 2: Rowbottom’s Forceful Victory

Rowbottom secured his first win of the season in the second race, fending off Adam Morgan by just 0.355s. Starting fourth on softs, Rowbottom capitalised on the rule that forced the ftont three on the grid to start on hards, with the delta between the compounds being significant. Sutton, from third, briefly took the lead by passing Cammish at the Wilson hairpin, with Ingram also overtaking Cammish at Agostini for second. From there the race one winner dropped down the order and out of the points while Sutton and Ingram tried to keep the slow tyred machines in points scoring places.

Rowbottom passed Ingram into turn one with the 2022 champ finding himself sideways before setting off after Sutton, who he passed with cooperation at The Esses. Ingram’s mistake was his own undoing as he wrestled with the i30 to correct, but the machine slewed across the track into the barriers causing right side damage that forced a retirement. Lloyd appeared to be on a real charge having gone with softs again. He overtook Sutton and challenged Rowbottom, which led to briefly taking the lead at Riches. Rowbottom came right back, reclaiming first at Hamilton. Morgan, keeping some TTB in his pocket closed in late, but a mistake at Hamilton allowed Rowbottom pull away and take a first win since 2023. Tom Chilton raced quite quietly to third, with Lloyd edging out teammate Smiley for fourth, making the afternoon a great one for Restart with their new Hyundai machines. Mikey Doble – still looking at race three – finished sixth after surviving a bit of a rub with Sam Osborne. Thanks to the finger work from Rowbottom in drawing the reverse grid for race three, the Power Maxed driver would head to the last race of the day on pole – with soft tyres, his plan clearly was not born from the mind of Baldrick. Josh Cook (Honda) took seventh, followed by Osborne (Ford,) Charles Rainford (BMW,) and Sutton, who had rescued some useful points on the red walled tyres as. With Hill and Ingram reduced to a non-score each Sutton was making the proverbial hay, but Hill, on softs, had recovered to 11th.

Race 3: Doble’s Maiden Win

Doble and Power Maxed came away from Snetterton with a genius label tagged to them. After virtually being cast out of the BTCC earlier this year after being crapped on by a boardroom decision to withdraw a commercial partner, the team, with their ageing Vauxhall put on a display that proved that any car well developed and setup under NGTC rules does have the ability to win a race – and after a couple of seasons of being so lose the squad exploded with tears of joy when he took the flag first.

An early safety car period triggered by Stephen Jelley crashing out after contact with back of the grid starter Ingram, was the main threat to Doble’s tyre advantage. But the Pwer Maxed driver aced the restart, to hold position. Cook climbed to fourth early, overtaking Adam Morgan and battling Dan Lloyd for second – Lloyd’s teammate Chris Smiley, due to start on the front row found himself in the garage as the lights went out, robbing Restart of further decent results on the best day of their short BTCC tenure. Sutton however drove through the pack up to second to chase down Doble. The leader defended valiantly – obviously with memories of losing out to Jake Hill on the last lap at Oulton Park last season. A lock-up at the hairpin on the penultimate lap for Sutton in reality ended his chance of bagging the win. Doble would win by 0.770 s, marking the first top of the podium result for Power Maxed since Jason Plato at Brands Hatch in 2019. Cook took third, while Ingram stormed from the back to fourth, with Osborne fifth. Cammish recovered to sixth, and a late battle saw Jake Hill penalised for contact with Ronan Pearson (Toyota) dropping him to ninth behind Rainford and Pearson. Aiden Moffat (BMW) rounded out the top 10.