Photo: PSP Images

Stat Attack: BTCC Rounds 1-3, Brands Hatch Indy

The new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season burst into life at Brands Hatch, with three winners from the opening three rounds of the year and the promise of a fascinating championship battle through the rest of the campaign.

Whilst the season is still young, there were a number of interesting statistics thrown up by the Brands Hatch action, including a few that Subaru Team BMR’s two championship winners will be keen to avoid repeating as they start the job of unlocking the potential of the all new Levorg.

QUALIFYING:

Having topped the times in qualifying on Saturday, Tom Ingram secured his first pole position in the BTCC – the twelfth person to do so in the NGTC era and the tenth driver of the current field.

Ingram’s pole position was also the first for his Speedworks Motorsport team.

MG driver Josh Cook meanwhile matched his best qualifying performance in sixth place.

At the other end of the scale, Subaru Team BMR driver Colin Turkington may have produced an impressive performance in the new car to qualify eleventh but that still marked the first time he hasn’t qualified inside the top ten since Thruxton 2014.

For team-mate Jason Plato, Brands Hatch marked the lowest qualifying performance of his BTCC career – one behind the 22nd place he secured at Knockhill in 2015; the only other time he has qualified outside the top 20.

RACE DAY:

Tom Ingram secured the first win of his BTCC career in the opening race of the weekend, making him the 15th driver to take victory in an NGTC-spec car.

Ingram also becomes the 13th driver of those currently active in the series to taste victory, whilst in the bigger scheme of things, he becomes the 86th race winner in British Touring Car Championship history.

Ingram’s win was also the first for his Speedworks team, and the first for a Toyota since Frank Wrathall won the final race of 2012 on the Brands Hatch GP circuit.

Ashley Sutton’s 29 points were the most scored by a rookie on their debut under the current scoring system. He became the 49th driver to finish inside the points in the NGTC era.

Fellow rookie Matt Simpson became the 50th driver to finish in the points in an NGTC-spec car, although one of those – Derek Palmer – actually holds a career score of -2 due to penalties he incurred during the 2015 season.

Gordon Shedden’s podium finish in race one saw him become the first driver to pass 1,500 points in an NGTC-spec car; a feat achieved later in the day by Subaru Team BMR man Jason Plato.

Shedden is now the top scoring driver in points terms in the NGTC era.

Honda team-mate Matt Neal meanwhile continued an impressive record that now seen him come away from the opening round with a podium finish for 13 successive seasons.

It was also a good start to the season for Goodstone Racing’s Dan Welch – a double score for the Proton driver was the first time he has achieved two points finish in a weekend since Silverstone 2013.

Handy Motorsport meanwhile secured its best result in the BTCC thanks to Rob Austin’s eleventh place finish in race two.

As in qualifying, the stats reveal how tough the season opener was for Subaru pair Plato and Colin Turkington. For Plato, Brands Hatch was the first time he has come away from a weekend without a top ten finish for the first time since the second meeting of the 2004 season (also held at Brands Hatch).

It was the first time Turkington hasn’t taken at least one top ten finish since Rockingham 2003, albeit with a short career break following his maiden title win in 2009.