Daryl Deleon scores maiden BTCC victory in race two
Daryl Deleon produced a sensational drive on soft tyres to claim a maiden British Touring Car Championship victory in race two at Brands Hatch.
In what was a frenetic second contest around the Indy circuit, the West Surrey Racing driver carved his way up the order to triumph ahead of Adam Morgan and four-time champion Ash Sutton.
The race started with Jake Hill, Charles Rainford and Tom Ingram – all running the hard compound tyre at the front of the field – hold position as the lights went out however those on softs soon began to make significant moves, with Dan Cammish leading the line.
Lap seven saw contact between the Un-Limited Motorsport team-mates Max Hall and Dexter Patterson which resulted in both cars ending up in the Paddock Hill Bend gravel trap; that in-turn triggered a safety car to recover both Cupra machines.
After several laps behind the safety car there was drama on the restart as Cammish ground to a halt on the back straight, causing a concertina effect that saw both Mikey Doble and Aiden Moffat make contact with the Ford Focus ST – bringing the safety car back out once again.
When the action finally resumed, Deleon wasted no time in scything past Hill at the first corner and with Hill coming under threat from a hoard of drivers, the 19-year-old utilised the amount of boost at his disposal to streak clear and take the chequered flag.
Both Hill and Rainford provided a resolute defence for a number of laps but Morgan finally found a way past around the outside of Paddock Hill and then in the closing laps Sutton fought his way into third to secure his 100th podium in the series.
Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley was an impressive fourth ahead of Aiden Moffat, who was one of the stars of the race as he came from the back of the grid to finish fifth, narrowly ahead of Josh Cook in the One Motorsport Honda.
Rainford and Hill managed to fight their way to seventh and eighth while Dan Rowbottom and Ronan Pearson completed the top ten.
The weekend’s third and final race is scheduled to take place at 17:10.
