Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport's Adam Morgan rounded off a memorable day by claiming victory in Round 9 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.
The BMW driver had already reached a huge milestone in the UK's premier motorsport series, having contested his 300th race in the second bout earlier in the day.
Jason Plato's Rich Energy BTC Racing Honda bogged down from pole position and Morgan immediately blasted past, taking Team BMW's Colin Turkington and NAPA Racing UK's Ash Sutton with him.
Plato was back in the hunt for a podium – or even victory – by mid-distance as the lead quartet pulled away from the chasing pack. A slight scrape with Sutton going into the final chicane hampered Plato's chances of scoring a 98th career win, and a few laps later his hopes were completely gone when he ran off-track on the exit of Church – the fastest corner in the country.
The top three remained inseparable until the finish with Sutton even showing his nose alongside the #50 BMW of Turkington going into the final chicane, but the positions remained unchanged as Morgan sped home for a hugely popular victory.
Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Dan Rowbottom was fourth, whilst Josh Cook completed one of the best days of his career so far – following his earlier double triumph – as he secured a top-five finish in the finale.
The Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com duo of Tom Ingram and Dan Lloyd ended a battling afternoon in sixth and seventh respectively, whilst CarStore Power Maxed Racing also completed its most competitive day of the season as Michael Crees and Ash Hand took eighth and ninth.
Toyota GAZOO Racing UK's Rory Butcher rounded out the top ten.
Adam Morgan said: "We really struggled yesterday, we just didn’t have the pace in the car for qualifying, but we turned it around and we’re at the top spot. It’s a mega day for everyone; everyone at Car Gods, everyone at Ciceley Motorsport and Mac Tools. We’re here on the podium, we’re still ticking points off, and we’re still in the Championship hunt. What more can you ask for?
"This is one that I won’t forget, last night me, my engineers and George [Gamble] sat in the truck until 2230, we had a shocker yesterday, but we really worked at it, threw something at the car today, got in the car for race one and it was like a different car, altogether. That’s what we need, just working through it, the car is fast and we can do it. It was a bit of a carbon copy with Colin from last year, but I was not cutting the chicane this time. In fact, I was probably braking ten metres early, just to make sure I didn’t. Can I also say, Kev who’s at home not very well, he’s normally here with us every weekend, get well soon.
"We’ve come to all sorts of different tracks so far. We’ve got Thruxton which is incredibly high speed, Brands which is one of the slower tracks on the calendar and we’ve shown pace at both. There’s no reason this car can’t keep up with everybody else and be at the front. I say it every year but I’ve got a really positive feeling about this year and having George on board has really helped that as well. So we’re looking forward to it, we’re looking forward to the fight."
Colin Turkington said: "It’s been a really good day at Thruxton. Solid points and nice to get on the podium. I maybe just didn’t have the ultimate pace to win a race, but I had good enough for three top-fives and that’s what’s important at this stage of the championship. Just to keep scoring strongly.
"I know my day will come, when we go to Oulton, Croft, Knockhill, all good territory for the BMW 330e. But I’m happy with today. I’m always a bit anxious coming into Thruxton because it’s tough for us to get a result, but it’s been a really good day for BMW I’d say."
Ash Sutton said: "I enjoyed that one, I felt at one with the car. The car was really good, so yeah another podium! I didn’t know what to expect, we made a couple of changes and it was the right way for sure.
"I thought about trying the move [on Colin] a bit earlier, but I thought I’d save it to the last lap. I was three-quarters of the way out the door and I knew he was turning in so I had to bail out, you can see a little witness mark on the front bumper and I just thought of points then.
"If we can roll over what we’ve been learning this weekend, and coming into this weekend, and maybe do a bit more of that then we are going in the right direction. So, I’m looking forward to Oulton Park, it’s attacking, it’s my style so hopefully we can get the car dialled in."
2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Thruxton
1. Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport 17 laps
2. Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.599s
3. Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +1.003s
4. Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +3.787s
5. Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +4.535s
6. Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +4.744s
7. Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +7.884s
8. Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +8.168s
9. Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +8.638s
10. Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +15.793s
11. Tom CHILTON (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +16.611s
12. Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +19.307s
13. Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +21.837s
14. George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +22.151s
15. Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +24.587s
16. Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +28.632s
17. Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +29.028s
18. Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +30.580s
19. Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +31.087s
20. Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +37.286s
21. Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +37.541s
22. Rick PARFITT (GBR) Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing +1:05.089s
23. Jack BUTEL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +1 lap
24. Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +1 lap
25. Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean + 2 laps
26. Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +3 laps
27. Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +5 laps
28. Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +10 laps
29. Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +12 laps
