BMW driver Colin Turkington secured his third British Touring Car Championship title in the 2018 season finale at Brands Hatch - despite failing to score points in two of the three races.
Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton also left the Kent track celebrating: Honda Civic Type R racer Cammish scored his first two career BTCC wins, while 2017 champ Sutton claimed his sixth victory of the season in the final race.
Northern Irish racer Turkington entered the season finale 34 points clear of title rival Tom Ingram, and extended his advantage with a 12th place finish in the opener, when both drivers were hampered by success ballast. Ingram could only muster 14th in his Toyota Avensis.
Inside the 2018 Honda Civic Type R BTCC racer
Meanwhile, Cammish became the 17th different winner of the season, after battling past pole-sitter Brett Smith, who was driving an older-spec Type R. Cammish’s Honda team-mate Matt Neal also fought his way past Smith to take second.
BTCC VIDEO | EXCLUSIVE: R28 in 120 secs - Live on ITV4 now #BTCC pic.twitter.com/qDzKUjkiL4
— BTCC (@DunlopBTCC) September 30, 2018
Cammish and Neal put on a show in the second race, running one-two throughout, despite the best efforts of third-placed Andrew Jordan (BMW). But the attention was on the title rivals behind them, who were both storming through the order.
Ingram led the way, fighting his way up to fourth place. Turkington wasn’t too far behind until he made contact with Dan Lloyd (Civic) at Paddock Hill, going off and dropping to 22nd. But Ingram needed third place to keep his title hopes alive, and couldn’t find a way past Jordan.
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“That was the most difficult race of the year,” said Turkington, who dedicated his title to his mum, who died earlier this year. “I was trying so hard. We didn’t have the car to go forward and I was getting shuffled back so quickly.”
Ingram said: “I gave it everything I had. We had no tyres left at the end, no brakes left. There was nothing more I could do.”
BTCC VIDEO | EXCLUSIVE: R29 in 120 secs - Live on ITV4 now #BTCC #BTCCFinale pic.twitter.com/f7r5TLpbEC
— BTCC (@DunlopBTCC) September 30, 2018
While the title was settled, Josh Cook (Vauxhall Astra) and Sutton (Subaru Levorg) still put on an incredible show in race three. Cook had started from pole, but found himself defending from Sutton late in the race.
It didn’t look like 2017 champion Sutton could find a way past, but he got a run on Cook exiting the final corner, and pulled alongside him on the run to the line, taking the win by 0.032secs.
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