Adam Morgan kept up the rich vein of form for the ‘Team Formerly Known As Plato Racing’ with victory in Sunday’s British Touring Car Championship opener at Donington Park.
Morgan and his CPRL Mercedes A35 Saloon led from pole position to the chequered flag in a race interrupted by two safety-car interludes – the first triggered by a spectacular roll for BTCC newcomer Lewis Gilbert’s West Surrey Racing BMW on the downhill approach to the Melbourne hairpin.
Morgan was initially pursued by the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook. The West Countryman had fended off a between-safety-cars attack from runaway championship leader Ash Sutton. But Cook’s luck was out again, when a detached gear lever putting him out of the race with six laps remaining.
Sutton moved up to second place in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium. With just one lap of TOCA Turbo Boost usage to the 10 of Morgan, he had no chance of catching the leading Mercedes. And, with the exit of Cook, Sutton came under pressure from the second CPRL Mercedes of Dan Rowbottom and Gordon Shedden’s Speedworks-run Laser Tools Toyota, each with 10 laps of TTB.
Earlier in the race, Rowbottom had caught an unlucky break when his bid to pass Sutton into the Goddard hairpin was scuppered by the safety car warning lights appearing. The bearded Midlander moved in front, but then conceded the position back to the Ford while the race was under caution. Rowbottom then appeared to be struggling with tyres as the race wore on, allowing Sutton a clear run to second. With Morgan backing off on the last lap, the winning margin was 2.733 seconds.
“After years of doing this, you get used to having Tim Harvey’s [1992 champion and TV pundit] voice in your head saying you’re going to be panicking about every noise,” said Morgan.
Adam Morgan
Photo by: JEP
“There was a little vibration in the front right – I did back off a bit to protect it – but I have to say this car, we’ve found the sweet spot. I’ve never driven a car that handles so well. It’s just unbelievable at the minute.”
With Rowbottom struggling, Shedden scented blood and made his move to grab third at the Old Hairpin on the penultimate lap. That left the Mercedes vulnerable to the second Alliance Ford of Dan Cammish, who’d hitherto had a very quiet race.
On the final lap, Cammish chucked it down the inside of the Melbourne hairpin, with contact as Rowbottom attempted to move across. There was more contact on exit, Rowbottom running wide and cementing fourth position for Cammish.
Aron Taylor-Smith did a very solid job in his Laser Tools Toyota – the best car on hard-compound Goodyears behind the five soft-shod machines in front on his way to sixth.
Dexter Patterson, the last of the competitive runners on medium rubber, couldn’t clear Taylor-Smith and ended up seventh in his Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon, while right behind him were the hard-shod Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastbacks of Ricky Collard and Tom Ingram. Reigning champion Ingram’s ever-diminishing title hopes deteriorated further when Collard passed him around the outside – and via the gravel – at the esses.
Mikey Doble completed the top 10 in his PMR Audi, also on hard rubber.
Gilbert’s huge accident was triggered by contact from the Excelr8 Hyundai of Tom Chilton, which then caused the second safety car when it ground to a halt at McLeans. Scarcely had the caution been called when Chilton refired and got going again.
BTCC Donington Park – Race 1 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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