Today's Weekend Wrap-Up takes us back to Brands Hatch, as the Grand Prix circuit drew the curtain on the 2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship back in October...
Ash Sutton claimed his third Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship title at Brands Hatch on 24 October, securing the coveted prize before winning the final race of the season in style.
The Laser Tools Racing star led the standings from the second event of the 30-race campaign, managing the gap back to the chasing pack to the conclusion of the season.
A top six finish in each of the first two contests around the legendary 2.43-mile Grand Prix circuit was enough to move Sutton into an unassailable points lead, and with the pressure now off, the 27-year-old blasted from fourth on the grid to take an impressive victory in the finale.
Sutton’s race-winning triumph was his fifth of the season and his 50th career podium in Britain’s premier motorsport series. It was a largely dominant display throughout the year from Sutton, as the Hertfordshire racer scored a total of 27 top ten finishes and recorded only one non-finish along the way.
Sutton’s title triple moves him to within one of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington, who himself ended the 2021 season as runner-up in the Drivers’ Standings.
The final race podium of the year was completed by Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Dan Rowbottom – who also claimed the Jack Sears Trophy during a breakthrough season – and Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com’s Tom Ingram, as he notched up a half century of BTCC rostrums.
BTC Racing’s Josh Cook took a memorable double in the first two races at the famous Kent venue, as he secured third in the overall Drivers’ standings.
Coming into the season finale needing wins and arguably a mathematical miracle, Cook did everything he could by slicing past team-mate Senna Proctor on the run-up to Druids for the first time before comfortably cruising to his fourth win of the season.
He quickly followed that with his fifth victory – a feat only matched by Sutton – as Cook completed a commanding lights-to-flag performance.
Proctor and Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Gordon Shedden scored a podium in the opener, before the latter repeated the trick in race two alongside Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing’s Daniel Lloyd.
The other silverware of significance went to BMW, as the Bavarian marque claimed its sixth successive Manufacturers’/Constructors’ Championship, whilst Sutton and Laser Tools Racing took the Teams’, Independent Drivers’ and Independent Teams’ titles.
The 2022 British Touring Car Championship will once again comprise 30 races across eight iconic UK venues, with the action kicking off at Donington Park on 23/24 April.
