Monday 8th September 2014

BTCC 2014: Rockingham

Our reporter for the BTCC Rockingham races was Paul Playle. Read everything here!

---

There are now just two rounds of the 2014 BTCC remaining, with the various titles to be settled at Brands Hatch on October 12. Rockingham hosted rounds 22, 23 and 24 over the weekend. The PH roving reporter for these races was Paul Playle, whose report you can read below. Big thanks to Paul for that, plus all at Dunlop and the BTCC.

Catch up with the rest of the season (bar the first Brands Hatch round) via the links below.
Donington Park - Andy Swift
Thruxton - Jon Spriggs
Oulton Park - Alan Taylor
Croft - Mark Benson
Snetterton - Alexey Underwood
Knockhill - Iain Cameron

---

After last month's action packed weekend at Knockhill, the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship headed south to the Northamptonshire town of Corby for rounds 22, 23 and 24 at the Rockingham Motor Speedway.

Misty conditions hampered practice

As the weekend kicked off, familiar faces adorned the top of the time sheet. In free practice one at a rather misty and autumnal Rockingham, Sam Tordoff claimed the best time in his MG with a time of 1:23.357, just 0.001s ahead of Andrew Jordan in the Pirtek Racing Honda! The top five times went to Tordoff, Jordan, Morgan, Turkington and Shedden, all covered by just 0.481s.

It was a clear, dry track for qualifying. Halfway through the session, the top three places were occupied by Tordoff, Plato and Turkington. With a minute to go, Turkington put in a 1:22.955s to split the two KX Clubcard Fuel Save MGs of Tordoff and Plato. The top five starters for round 22 were Sam Tordoff, 1:22.471, Colin Turkington, Jason Plato, Gordon Shedden and Andrew Jordan.

As race day dawned it was as though summer had returned! Gone were the misty conditions of qualifying, replaced by blue skies and glorious sunshine.

Careful now boys...

Round 22 saw the traction advantage of Turkington's rear-drive BMW pay dividends off the line as he launched past pole sitter Tordoff to take the lead. Both MGs would close up to the BMW under braking at Deene but they could not match Turkington's outright pace. On lap six, the the safety car was deployed after Lee Wood's Toyota collided heavily with Warren Scott at Deene. Scott, winded by the incident and with heavy damage to his VW CC, would sit out the next race.

After the restart Tordoff and Plato closed in to Turkington but, once again, could not find a way past. Giovanardi found himself getting out of shape allowing a fired up Alain Menu to make a pass on the Airwaves Fords of both Giovanardi and Jackson. Menu next closed in on reining champion Andrew Jordan, the pass was made and it wasn't long before Adam Morgan was next in line to surrender his track position to the Chrome Edition Restart Racing VW.

Hunter Abbott showed an outstanding drive in his Alcosense Breathalysers Racing Audi A4 finishing 14th after starting 31st. A promising fourth position on the starting grid did not come good however for championship contender Gordon Shedden who ended up in eighth. Turkington, Tordoff, Plato, Menu and Morgan took the top five positions in the first race.

And you thought Rosberg v Hamilton was bad

Turkington sprinted off into the lead for round 23 also. The two MG drivers followed next (this time Plato ahead of his team mate) until they were split by Menu's VW. Tordoff would come back at Menu two laps later to reclaim third. It was then Giovanardi who was looking to pass Menu until contact from team mate Mat Jackson caused a loss of ground. While Turkington stretched out his lead once again, Rob Austin moved 'Sherman' up in to seventh. Mid race, Jordan's recovery saw him pass Austin's A4 and in the latter stages he took fourth from Menu as well. Austin made a pass on both Jackson and Menu to climb to fifth and as they finished. Turkington took his second win of the day with Plato behind him in second, and Tordoff also on the podium.

Before round 24, I had the opportunity to see the Dunlop Engineers in action. Dunlop has supplied tyres to the BTCC for 12 years, its first win in the championship dating back to 1958! Mickey Butler - Dunlop Motorsport's Sales and Product Manager explained that each BTCC team is allocated a dedicated Engineer from Dunlop to look after tyres over the weekend. The rules state that each BTCC team must use the soft compound tyre in one of the three rounds.

Turkington is leader with two rounds left

Each tyre is made up from 40 different components including nylon and silica. Pressure tends to be two bar but will be higher at more abrasive circuits such as Thruxton. The typical load on a tyres in extreme cornering situations is 15,000 Newton metres. Depending on how well the car is set up or how kind the driver is on the tyres, a dramatic gain or accelerated loss in performance is seen. With that said, it was a surprise to learn that Rockingham is the second most abrasive circuit on the calendar as both the soft and medium tyres fared well over the weekend. Over 9,000 tyres are taken to every season with 900 going to each race weekend!

When it was time for round 24 and the final round of the weekend, Rob Austin (a race winner at the Corby track in 2013) launched the rear-drive Exocet Racing Audi A4 past the VW of Menu on pole into Turn 1 with Tordoff, Turkington and Mat Jackson charging on behind. Matt Neal was made good progress in his Honda Civic on the soft tyre. On lap five, the eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington was closing in on Jordan's Honda. 2008 Champion Giovanardi made a pass on Tordoff at Tarzan while previous 2014 race winner Aron Smith was running in 11th place.

Last chicane bedlam!

A kerb hopping Jason Plato was showing determination through Brook and Matt Neal got a pass on Goff at Pif Paf for 10th. With the final race of the day in its closing stages, Austin led Menu by 1.9 seconds and Jordan followed three seconds behind the Swiss, the Volkswagen giving an equally impressive performance on the harder tyre. Menu claimed second behind Austin with Jordan third, Turkington fourth and Mat Jackson fifth.

As always, the BTCC gave a great weekend of entertainment and with a lot still to play for, the Championship is far from over. Silverstone will play host to this ever popular series on the September 27-28 for Rounds 25, 26 and 27.

[Images: LAT]

 

[Frentzen]

Just like Oulton Park and to a lesser extent Snetterton it was a pretty boring day with a lack of action in the touring cars and the support races were dreadful!