Rainford wins finale to complete successful day for WSR

British Touring Car Championship rookie Charles Rainford became the West Surrey Racing BMW team’s third winner of the day with victory in the finale at Brands Hatch.

From third on the grid, Rainford worked his way past the front-row-sitting team-mate Jake Hill and reversed-grid poleman Dan Rowbottom within just over a lap of the start, and held on throughout.

Rowbottom did a good job to keep his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST ahead of the rear-wheel-drive BMWs off the start, and Hill’s attempts to get past him allowed Rainford to draw alongside on Cooper Straight and swoop around the outside of Surtees into second.

Rainford then sliced his way down the inside of Rowbottom at Paddock Hill Bend, and immediately began to extend an advantage.

Hill took until the ninth lap to get past Rowbottom into second, but soon hacked into the gap to Rainford.

Going into the second half of the race, Hill was feinting for the lead at Clearways and then Paddock, but had a deficit of TOCA Turbo Boost compared to Rainford, and with five laps remaining had run out completely.

Charles Rainford, WSR BMW 330i M Sport

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Then he encountered Max Hall’s Cupra at Clark Curve, and the time lost dropped Hill into the clutches of Tom Ingram, whose Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback had gradually worked up to third and set the fastest lap as the 2022 champion gained on the BMWs in front.

Over the final three laps, it appeared a formality that Ingram – with TTB on each of those laps – would get past Hill, but somehow the reigning champion held on, via contact on the final lap, to complete another WSR 1-2, 1.983 seconds adrift of the victorious Rainford.

Ash Sutton had to survive brusque early attacks from Aiden Moffat before his Alliance Ford closed up on the Restart Racing Hyundai of Chris Smiley, who was continuing his excellent weekend.

A dive from Sutton into Paddock with four laps to go gave him fourth, with Smiley holding off Josh Cook’s One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R for fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai), Moffat (WSR BMW), Rowbottom and Gordon Shedden (Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla), with Morgan’s Excelr8 Hyundai the best of the hard-tyred runners in 12th.