Turkington hit by penalty before title-deciding race
Four-time British Touring Car champion Colin Turkington’s bid to win a fifth crown has received a setback with a post-race time penalty following the second race at the Brands Hatch finale.
Turkington has been penalised two seconds for passing Dan Cammish under yellow flags on the penultimate lap of the race, dropping him one place to fourth behind Cammish in the results.
It means that West Surrey Racing BMW star Turkington drops 11 points – with 22 available – behind the Laser Tools Racing Infiniti of Ash Sutton, who is leading the championship going into the final race. The move came as both Turkington and Cammish avoided the Audi of Paul Rivett, which had spun at Paddock Hill Bend and come to rest broadside across the track.
At the time they were lapping the Vauxhall of Brad Philpot, and it appeared that this car meant Turkington was unsighted until the last minute. Turkington miraculously avoided Rivett, but in the process of doing that he passed Cammish under what transpired to be yellow flags.
“I’m just thankful I avoided him,” said Turkington in the immediate aftermath of the race. “That [a spun car broadside] is the biggest shock you can have as a driver.
“Paddock is blind, there were no yellow flags, and I dived right and I thought Dan was on my inside. Those are the bits of luck you need to win this championship.”
The results switch brings Cammish slightly closer to the points lead – the Team Dynamics Honda man is now 20 adrift of Sutton, but has only the slightest of mathematical chances.
It also lifts Turkington one place on the reversed grid – he will now start the finale from ninth – but under BTCC rules he has to keep the success ballast from his finishing position of third, so he will have 48kg aboard his BMW 330i M Sport.
Sutton will start from 12th, with 60kg on his Infiniti Q50, and Cammish will be 10th on the grid, with 42kg bolted into his Honda Civic Type R.
Previous article
Brands BTCC: Ash Sutton extends points lead with superb win
Next article
Brands BTCC: Ash Sutton is champion as Rory Butcher wins
About this article
| Series | BTCC |
| Event | Brands Hatch Indy |
| Author | Marcus Simmons |
BTCC: Brands Hatch Indy - Race 3 in 60 seconds
BTCC: Brands Hatch Indy - Race 2 in 60 seconds
BTCC: Brands Hatch Indy - Race 1 in 60 seconds
Introducing the new BTCC channel on Motorsport.tv!
The Top 10 BTCC drivers of 2020
The 2020 British Touring Car Championship will go down as a classic in which new winners graced the top step of the podium and an unloved chassis was resurrected into a champion. But who were the year's top performers?
The Villeneuve-esque 'engineer's dream' who lit up BTCC 2020
The Infiniti Q50 was completely redesigned, redeveloped and revamped by BMR and Laser Tools Racing for 2020. And the flamboyant brilliance of the driver behind the wheel was enough to snatch the title at the last gasp…
Why the BTCC social media trolls have got it wrong
A number of drivers on this year's British Touring Car Championship grid have been called out on social media for taking other people's seats, whether they are older or drivers who are deemed to have less talent. Matt James busts the myth
How the BTCC's class of 2018 ranked each other
The BTCC keeps getting more competitive - this season produced another new record number of winners. That made picking a final top 10 an unenviable task, so we enlisted the help of those who were in the heat of the action to decide the order.
Can a champion be worthy if he only won one race?
Titles should be won by the driver who claims more victories than anyone else, so convention goes. Does the unpredictable nature of the British Touring Car Championship render that notion obsolete?
BTCC's hybrid future faces urgent hurdles
The British Touring Car Championship recently announced it is investigating how to incorporate hybrid technology into its future machines. In doing so it's following the higher echelons of motorsport, while also revealing risks for its grassroots.
Why the BTCC's best villain can't stop playing the game
Jason Plato and the British Touring Car Championship are inextricably linked. The charismatic self-styled bad boy has done well out of the series, while it also benefits from his combative star-quality.
When an F1 champion ruled the BTCC
On his days off from starring on the world stage, double Formula 1 world champion Jim Clark was a spectacular home hero in tin-tops.
