BRANDS HATCH GP REVIEW BTCC 2025

The last show of the 2025 season played out at the amphitheater of Brant's Hatch, and we

welcome a double touring car champion to the roll of honour.

This is the Brant's Hatch Grand Prix Circuit Review.

Hello, and welcome back to the British Touring Car Podcast.

163 days have now passed, and we have crowned yet another British Touring Car champion.

As Russ has already said, we're going to bring you up to date with all the action that happened

at Brant's Hatch this weekend.

Our thoughts go out to those people caught underneath that tree on Saturday morning,

and we wish you well.

Yeah, the first red flag I've ever seen based on foliage reasons.

It is interesting that foliage causes a red flag, and a fire does not, but obviously all

jokes aside, hope everybody involved is okay.

And of course, anybody that camped over the weekend, I hope the damages aren't too high.

Having camped at Brant's Hatch in October myself in wet conditions, one can only imagine

how difficult the breeze added to the situation.

Yeah, we're going to bring you up to date with all the action from this weekend.

All your opening thoughts of the weekend.

A little bit flat, if I'm being perfectly honest.

Tom Ingram came into the weekend with a three-point lead, which effectively meant, unless certain

one races two and three with Sutton, sorry, Bingham scoring, Zilch or next to Zilch.

Yep.

There wasn't much for contest there, and so it came to pass.

I think the Jack Sears was kind of ruined a little bit through bad luck to the main

two drives.

Obviously, Bocum had a non-finish, which made it difficult, particularly then in

race three, where you've got the hunter coming from the back of the grid.

It almost tried to equal itself out when there was a non-finishing in race two for the other

competitor, but it was a little bit too much to overcome.

Yeah.

Then in the independence, ultimately, Lloyd probably had enough of a lead in hindsight.

We thought it was going to be a lot closer, perhaps, on the preview than in hindsight

with the smaller class, we pretty much had that wrapped up by just finishing the

races as well.

I was a bit disappointed about what happened in race three, but we'll get to that

shortly.

I do think the teams and manufacturers was interesting because of what happened

towards the end of the day.

I do think there's some quite a few good stories up and down the

paddock.

Obviously, Josh Cook getting his first one of the season, center on the

podium, which I completely missed to run to the end of the year.

Toyota's ending the season really well, but I think in reality, there was a 33-point

gap.

The maximum you can score is 67.

Even if you took all 67, I tried to work out maths.

The best you could do next is take around 50 points because you could still take

the two for bleeding a lap, et cetera.

The task was very, very high for us.

What are your thoughts?

Yeah.

I thought it was a little lackluster, a little underwhelming in the end.

I would like a few more close battles on circuit between competitors and

especially competitors looking to take advantage at the top of each of those

championships.

The teams and the manufacturers one came to an interesting end, which we'll get

on to.

Let us know your thoughts and feelings of the weekend and of the season as a

whole.

We're going to bring you up to date with everything that's happened this

weekend.

We'll have an awards show for you.

We're going to have a grade show for you just to see how each driver

performed over the season.

Let us know any bits and pieces you'd like us to take a look at in

the off season because although the season is over, we're going to keep on

bringing your content all the way up until late December.

Yeah, should we start on Saturday then, which is qualifying day and sort of

the headlines because there's a lot to get through.

Tom Ingram won the Quentin Tarantino Award for the Wingfoot.

The most important award.

That was his weekend made after that was that he had a decent

qualifying session, struggled to get into the fast six, as you'd

imagine, but crucially got ahead of Sutton finishing 7th.

Sutton could only manage 12th in his forward and did sort of

intimate to the weeds in the interviews afterwards that they just

didn't get the set up right.

They didn't get the speed out of the car and they were struggling.

I would say that Napa seems to have struggled, especially in the

second half of the season for some pacing qualifying.

Yeah, I saw early on this is the season, Camish taking pole

positions and looking really quick, and even in the hands of

Robotom as well, but it just seems to have fallen off slightly.

In fairness to Camish, he would have thought he had pole made as

the session was coming to a close, only for Darryl De Leon to

pip him right at the last for his back to back poles.

Obviously took pole at the same time as well.

So a real strong ending to the season for De Leon.

To change to see a BMW actually set a really quick time towards

the end of the session as well.

Yeah, I mean, Jake Hill was in the last session as well.

So the BMWs had gone quite well, but just couldn't quite get

anything sort of hooked up in that final session.

We also saw some strife for Mikey Dable, who dropped it

at high speed, as did Dexter Patterson and Josh Cook

didn't get out of session one because he had power failure

and had to pull to the side of the road for him.

So interesting up and down.

If you look at the championship point of view, De Leon, obviously

Jack Sears contender was on pole and his rival Reignford could only

manage eighth, second in class, but lots of cars between him

and Reign De Leon.

Sorry, then Camish and Robotom, proving your theory

slightly wrong for his second and third, Chilton, fourth,

Adam Morgan, fifth and Jake Hill in sixth in the quick six,

then Ingram out qualifying Sutton, as I say, seven to

eleven. And then in the independence, we saw Chris Smiley top

that one ahead of Daniel Lloyd, 14th and 15th, and then

Mikey Dable, separated by Dexter Patterson.

So all four independent drivers together.

And then Sam Osborne also who had an outside shot at the

Jack Sears finishing down in a team.

So the session really followed what we've seen all year as

the season goes on and the boost becomes more and more

important. There was a sprinkling of Ranger in the

session as well, wasn't there?

Not really, not really that the camera got is one of those

where the camera got a little bit wet.

But realistically, it makes no difference.

It's threatened to wet to rain, but didn't quite come free.

So yeah, it kind of followed what we've seen this year in

qualifying as the season has gone on.

You need boost again, got boost.

You're going to struggle when I unless you're in a home

by well, even then Ingram could only manage seven.

He's missed the top six a couple of times this season.

But you can just win it back on race day when your

teammates who qualify ahead of you that you threw.

We'll get into race one now and on the Sunday, much, much

drier, no rain at all, no weather, quite nice, clear skies

by by quite surprise for race one, Ingram and Sutton

would both be starting on the medium tire.

So I think you had to run two mediums and one soft this weekend.

There was an engine change overnight for Josh Cook.

It was found that he had low oil pressure, which

was called engine failure, which with the new M Sport

engine in that is a little surprising.

It is, but these things can go wrong.

They can just randomly, can't they?

Yeah. So the front two rows started on the soft tire as

well as Dover and a couple of other drivers further down

the field, drivers down the field trying to make the most

of those that early race to try and get through the field

and possibly get one up on their other championship

competitors. And then, unfortunately, Darryl De Leon's

bad luck from Paul hits again.

Yeah, from pole position, he felt something strange on the

formation lap, got on the radio to his engineers and said,

look, something's not right, and it didn't get any better.

So he had to come into the pits at the end of the formation

lap and therefore would not take pole position effectively

because you have to start from pole position to be given

a pole position because Dover got his strips.

Technically. Yeah, that's such a pity, isn't it?

At this point, Russ was quite happy.

Not. You're a little disappointed because he was your

jackseers hopeful and it was aging towards possibly.

It's been the story of my season.

So you won up in the predictions.

I've been through to ratify the predictions today.

And the amount of times that I might have points

I've lost through bad luck, a disqualification of somebody.

Yeah, I can't believe it like I've had this year in terms

of that. And that's just been the story of my season.

Yep. Yep. There was a very equal start at the front,

though. Camish got off to a pretty easy one, got clear

nice and early and looked fairly untouchable in race one.

We didn't actually see much coverage of him because no one

was really trying to battle him.

Children and Robo were switching and swapping around

and touching door mirrors and yeah, just getting themselves

into children and robot and things.

Yeah, basically what they've been doing all season.

Yeah. And then on the opening lap, coming down to Hawthorne's

hill had a puncture, front left puncture, which it looked like

a massive lock up, first of all, but then we saw him pull

into one side and him having to come into the pits at the end

of the lap lap. So it was a pretty poor start for WSR

as a team and it wasn't going to get much better.

Of course, Jake Hill saying goodbye to the series and anybody

had missed that. I can't believe you've been listening to this

and not knowing that. But if you are, obviously, Jake Hill

bowing out of the season and the series at the end of

this race by the end of lap one, obviously with De Leon

coming into the pits before the start of the race, Hill

coming in as well. Ingram was up to fifth and Sutton was up

tonight and Lloyd made up a massive seven places on

that opening lap on the soft tire. He just seemed to pick

the right gaps at the right time and made really good

progress. Yes, he was on that softer tire. But there

are a couple of other drivers down there that made no

win near the amount of progress. No, I agree. And I think

you say right, he picked his way through the field very

nicely. Yeah, he certainly did. Chilton was back to some

old Chilton antics. He was forcing the door open into Druids

on lap three on row bottom, those two having a bit of a battle

this weekend. And then shortly followed by Morgan also

following through. Robots seem to lack a little bit of

early pace in this race.

Yeah, surprising, particularly given that cameras have gone

ahead. I do wonder if part of it was manufacturer and

teams point view that obviously Camish and Sutton were the

elected title of the elect points scores this weekend

Proctor, interestingly, and Ingram were for Virtus and not

Chilton. So I do wonder if there's a little bit of a

discussion ahead of race one saying, right, that you're

not scoring points, the team this weekend, let Dan get

away and make sure we can try and put ourselves in the

best position for those two championships.

Yeah, Rainford managed to get up to third position

following contact between Morgan and row bottom. And

then we had House did come into the pits on lap four, which

unfortunately is a

reoccurring theme, a reoccurring theme and not what the way

that you want to do end this season and BTCC career by the

look of it. So I was having to defend quite stoutly from

Aaron Taylor Smith on to lap five, who was certainly put

in the cat amongst the pigeons.

Yes, again, Sutton just lacked the pace. I don't know.

Obviously, you might be able to explain row bottoms away

for the reasons I gave you. Sutton just had nothing in

this race at all. On the medium tire, he was on the

medium tire, but he was struggling to make the

progress that we've seen him do on a medium tire

previously.

He went medium race to almost very good. Yeah. So it

almost felt like maybe there was a little bit of a set up

issue or that set of tires just didn't agree with how the

car was set up.

Camish was fairly unchallenged out front, as

I've said, and then we had the third bit of bad luck for

WSR with Moffat getting a meatball flag, having to be

called into the pits and then compounding that issue by

speeding in the pit lane to then get a drive through

penalty, which if you top up Moffat season, it doesn't

look brilliant on that side of things, does it?

The problem is I still don't know what the meatball

flag was for. Because we never actually saw the

incident or the bodywork that was allegedly

flapping. So I can't comment on whether it was

a harsh or fair cop meatball flag because the

only thing I can say is that he apparently had a

spin again, which we didn't see. That may have

involved contact, we don't know.

We saw in the minis that what the camera shows and

what actually happened might not be the same

thing, shall we say?

Have you seen the statement from him today?

I have indeed. Yes.

Very happy.

No. Then we had a Shedden dive bomb on Lloyd onto

Lap 8. It was a really, really, really late.

One of those classic, almost like Matt Neal

Plato dive bombs into Paddock, kind of caught

Lloyd unaware and was just really, really good

on the brakes.

Yeah, I just think Lloyd took his usual racing

line. I thought there's no way he's going to come

from here. And he did. I said it to you yesterday

and I've said it a couple of times. Where would

Toyota be if they just start the season of that

engine? Because Shedden and Cook in particular, a

little bit, Aaron Taylor Smith as well, post

that engine change are different drivers. Absolutely

different drivers.

I don't think Aaron Taylor Smith has had the

best of luck since that change to the M Sport engine.

He's not helped himself at times, has he?

No, certainly not. But yeah, we do seem to be

seeing a different Shedden and a different Cook

since that has happened.

Let's see if either of them stay there for next

season, of course. It'll be interesting.

There are certainly going to be places to

play for with drivers leaving the grid and

also positionings opening up with new teams.

Ingram still sitting comfortably in fifth.

Seem fairly happy. Once he knew he was

comfortably ahead of Sutton, he could just sit

there and almost take the race in. And if

he needed to make a move, he almost felt like

he still had a little bit more in the tank to

give. Agreed. Whereas Sutton was sort of

struggling in ninth. Yeah, he just couldn't

make any forward progress whatsoever, as I

said. Just had no pace in the car.

Rainford then got a little roughed up by

Morgan. A little. On lap 11. Going on to

the GP circuit, he was pushed wide,

shall we say, in a diplomatic sense.

Yeah, we've discussed these sort of moves in

the past. You've got to leave a carswift

on the outside. Morgan did not leave a

carswift from the outside. And in that

particular corner, you can't really back

out of it if you're already on that line.

So I'm surprised that they didn't give

the position back on the road and they

were willing to fight it in the steward's

bus, particularly given that the teams

and manufacturers wasn't on the line

for morbing, per se. But on the flip

side, I guess it ultimately didn't

matter to his race regardless.

A child for a little bit disappointed.

It could have mattered quite a lot to

Charles's race if he'd have been

left in a barrier. I completely agree.

I completely agree.

But yeah, we'll see. There were

reoccurrence or

recompense for those issues.

Yeah, I'll get on to the penalties at the

end of the race.

Smiley then managed to power pass

Sutton down to Hawthorne. So on to

the back straight, obviously, where

Karrish had his massive accident with

the brake failure. It was a boost

pass. But it was set up really nicely

coming out onto the GP circuit and

Smiley eased past.

But big moment from Smiley would then

cause Sutton to get back through. This

was down at Graham Hill Bend, almost

like lost the back end, maybe locked

the rears and slid wide.

Yeah, yeah, there's well to keep it

out of the gravel. But yeah, it's

very easy to let Sutton through there,

isn't it?

Yeah, getting towards the end of the

race now and Chilton and Morgan

were having a little tete-a-tete,

weren't they, and battling between each

other. It didn't come to anything

important. No, just nipping tuck, both

free to race, the spirals.

Definitely. But neither of them were

really getting that much closer to

challenge Karrish. No, console. And every

time Chilton sort of looked like he

might be catching Karrish and then

extend the gap, he was very much

controlling the gap, controlling the

pace. So Karrish would go on to

take the win his third of the

season, which would go some way,

especially with the issues that he'll

had to helping him secure third in

the championship.

So the final running order for race

one then, it was Karrish from Chilton

from Morgan, Rainford in fourth,

Jack Sears win, obviously those

positions not being switched back

from that overtake with Morgan,

Ingram in fifth from Robot on sixth,

Shedon seventh, Lloyd independent

winner in eighth, a head of Sutton,

who as we said got ahead of Smiley

in tenth, from Cook, Aaron Taylor

Smith, Proctor, Doble and Osborne.

So in penalty corner, and this might

clear a few things up, so before the

week, before the race, Josh Cook

was deducted 15 points from the

driver's championship and IAA

were deducted 30 points from either

manufacturers, constructors and or

teams. Not that it really matters.

No, if having an engine above

the permitted number changed. Okay,

race one, there are four penalties

to get through, so just bear with

me quickly. Adam Morgan received

an official reprimand and two penalty

points on his license for

failing to leave space on the edge of

the track in an incident involving

Charles Rainford, as we discussed,

fairly cut and dry. I didn't actually

see this one. Senator Proctor received

a verbal warning for causing a

collision in an incident involving

Ada Moffat, maybe might have been

what caused his damage or his spin.

That sounds likely, they were in

the same sort of area when they

started the race. Although Chris

Smiley also received an official

reprimand, two penalty points on

his license for causing a collision

and gaining an advantage in an

incident involving Ada Moffat.

So, which one was which? I don't

know. And then Aaron Taylor Smith

received an official reprimand and

two penalty points for causing an

incident and gaining an advantage

in an incident involving Ada Moffat.

They had a busy race then.

Moffat, bless him, was quadring

three different people's

incidents and we saw none of them.

And he wasn't at full for any by

the sound of it. No, and we saw

none of them. So, usual TV

direction there. Yeah, happy days.

Please make it better next year on

ITV. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see.

Right, race number two then,

and Ingram opted for the soft

tire, as did Gordon Sheddon,

of Sutton opted for the medium.

I wasn't sure. I've seen two

ways of looking at this. One was

is that an admission that is

basically done? Or do you win

the race on mediums or get as

high as you can and then save

yourself a pair of softs hoping

something goes wrong for Ingram

who would have to run medium

from the back of the grid?

Problem is if Ingram did run

medium from the back of the

grid, he'd probably still get

a podium. I think he'll still

get well inside the top 10.

But I suppose it probably was

just about the right decision.

To a degree, I always bring

an F1 analogy in. If he stays

out, you come in vice-versa

and you sort of go opposite of

what your competitor is going

to do to try and create

something. I kind of get it.

At that point, Sutton needed

the miracle anyway to be fair.

It was basically done.

Chilton swept in, was swept off,

hang on, let me try that side

again.

Writing and reading my own

writing was the problem.

Chilton swept into first and

paddock off the line, a really

nice sort of stuff and

Camish bit bogged down maybe.

You thought maybe he moved

at the start? Obviously he

hadn't done, but he made an

eye.

When we saw the replay, I

thought has he crept slightly

there? But I think I just

blinked at the wrong time.

Fair enough. Morgan was then

tapped wide by a robotom

which wouldn't be his last

discretion of the weekend.

He certainly had some incidents

this weekend.

And then, as I was running down

the back straight on lap one,

Camish seemed to forget what

team he was driving for

because Ash Sutton was trying

to come through.

And Camish very violently,

in my opinion, chops across.

Yes, that door was firmly

shut in Ash's face.

Which I'm stunned about.

Yeah, so am I.

I thought you just leave

yourself wide and just accept

you're going to move.

The earliest opportunity

you've got to start on a medium

tire, you need to move in through

the field.

Particularly as Ingram had already

come through at this point as well

on the soft and was going up the

field. And let's be honest, was

guaranteed to win race two.

So you had to get something

through the earth's opportunity

to give him any chance of getting

in Ingram's mirrors.

By the end of the race, it

didn't actually matter because

it didn't make his way through.

But to give him the best

opportunity, he could have

possibly gone and fought Ingram

and made it make a mistake

or something like that.

Yeah, but yeah.

Yeah.

It's been a couple of times this

season.

There have been questionable

decisions by drivers in the same

team.

Yes, that's about to say

there's been a couple of times

this season where I felt that

Sutton's had it harder than

Ingram and getting past his

teammates, which is probably not

a good place to be.

No.

However, talking of Ingram, he

was able to take the lead

on Rainford of a 10 out of 10

move usual Ingram stuff just.

As I said earlier, I was

ratifying the results and

our predictions and obviously

I had to listen to snippets

of the podcast to get

to the predictions.

And I did say earlier on, do you

think we'll see a more robust

Ingram at any point in the

season?

And we did because he didn't

have to make this sort of move.

Could go wrong.

He didn't.

But I think he was very aware

and coming into this weekend

being the first time that

he's actually led a championship

going into the final weekend

as well.

He's very much attacked this

season with a different mindset

and it's been

not all that attack, but

very much on the front foot,

shall we say.

Agreed.

And not just sitting back and

waiting for things to happen

like that classic

Turkington way of winning things.

He's gone out, he's grasped it

with both hands

and gone, right, I'm going to

win this myself.

I'm not going to allow it to be

down to anyone else.

Agreed.

Sutton was still stuck behind

Camish at this point

and the move to get past him

wasn't an indicator on it.

It was kind of because we

discussed on your predictions

was that both cars would let

him buy

and we don't really feel it

was a let by had to sort of

set it up and he definitely

had to work for it.

Yes, Camish didn't make it

difficult, difficult.

Not like they were racing earlier

on in the season,

but it certainly could have

been easier.

It could have been a let by on

a straight or a missed gear,

shall we say.

Absolutely.

Up front,

Rainford started to have a

little bit of a slide

which allowed Sutton through

and then Rainford really

dropped back at this point.

Just sort of unsettled himself

threw the out for the

what do you call it,

the forest part of the circuit.

Yeah, back of the circuit.

It was really weird

because I thought he'd

properly run wide

and got some dirt on his tires

or had some pickup

and lost a lot of momentum.

And then I thought, hang on,

no, he's got an issue here,

isn't he?

Yeah, because he sort of

slid wide on the curb,

bit of a power slide

and then you think,

I think maybe

in his mine hill puncture race

one, you just

slow off,

check all the tires are okay.

We've seen punctures in that

part of the circuit

quite a lot in the past.

It's a tough part of the

circuit.

It doesn't often get raced

on, don't forget.

It certainly wasn't as big a

issue as he then had.

No, we'll get to that in a

moment.

Sutton was able to get past

Rainford with no dramas,

Camish fired through

at the road bottom

and Hill was closing in behind.

Rainford was then off at Paddock.

Quite heavily, I would say,

as well.

To call the safety car.

Now, on initial viewing,

I thought he's lost it,

he's dropped it again,

because we hadn't seen

what happened at this point.

All we saw was cut to

Rainford in the

in the barrier.

It's not in sideways.

I'm unable to get the car

door open because of how much

it dug into the gravel.

And I thought,

I must admit that point,

I thought,

well, he just dropped it

on the outer part of the circuit.

It would correlate

with the suspension damage

or a toning force.

Actually, I think you said

toning, didn't you?

You said toning.

Replays didn't really

fulfill our theory somewhat.

No, they certainly

put someone at fault.

Because Aaron Taylor Smith

seemed to forget

how to break into a corner.

The only snippet of

I know you're going to say

it bounces a bit.

It is.

As soon as he like

lurches onto those brakes,

he hits a bump.

But a bump's been there

all race or weekend.

It has, but that will

push the pads back away

from the disc.

You lose the ability

to slow down as quick

as you want to slow down.

And he used

brain fit as a break.

Agreed, but I think

that bump's been there

for the last 10 years.

I mean, it's not exactly

a bump that's

surprised.

No, I know.

But I'm saying

this is a very clumsy move.

And I'm saying

it's a little bit

aren't tell us.

Yeah, I'm not.

I'm not completely

dismissing it.

It was certainly

Aaron Taylor Smith's fault.

And

misjudged,

mistimed,

whatever

had consequences.

Yeah, and

you have to feel for

Rainford at this point

because obviously

the way the Jack Sears

have gone to race one,

he was leading Jack Sears

at this point in race two

and would have really

put down a marker for race three.

I think that would have

basically knocked down

the Jack Sears for him

if he managed to finish

and so on top five.

I don't disagree.

So unfortunate.

Unfortunate for him.

So Chica was called,

car recovered,

and then Cook decided

that he was team Rainford

and wanted to give Aaron Taylor Smith

a taste of his own medicine.

Because Aaron Taylor Smith

would then be offered druids.

I was very excited

because I did have a prediction

this weekend that a car

would need to be recovered

with outside assistance

from druids.

It was a decent accident.

Something was being replicated

in race three.

It was a remarkable accident.

I will say,

similar to what

we were discussing

in race three,

Cook does hold his line.

Yeah.

But I also think

he's a teammate.

Yeah, just back out of it.

Yeah, just come off,

just close to him.

Just roll out of this one.

It was that kind of end of season

feeling again.

I haven't got a fixed car after this.

Yeah.

So basically Cook's on the outside.

Well, the outside as you come,

inside a panic actually.

Inside.

So you'd have the inside for druids.

That's the inside.

Yeah.

There's a little bit maybe

Aaron Taylor Smith

chopping across him.

Leaves his nose in there.

Yeah.

I think both drivers

could avoid it.

But I think you would put

more blame on Cook

than Aaron Taylor Smith personally.

Yes, agreed.

That caused another safety car.

And then during the safety car,

Chilton randomly decided

he was fancy seeing

what all the fuss was about

with druids and he was off there

as well, which was kind of weird.

Yeah.

I think it's certainly called

Sutton by surprise

because Chilton was slowing down

on the right-hand side

coming out of that dipper paddock

going up to druids.

Well, don't forget Sutton's been

done for passing at the Yellows

already this season.

Sutton didn't want to go past him.

And then as he sort of like

straight-lined across the track

in front of Sutton,

pulled off to the left,

Sutton had no other choice but

to go past him at this point,

which I think

you can just see in the replay

that Chilton's got his indicator on.

There is some sort of problem.

It's clear.

Before anybody in the Tom Ingram

fan club started shouting

that Sutton's made a safety car

in front of him, he hasn't.

You are allowed to pass a car

that's got a problem

and it's got a clear problem

and that is a clear problem.

Yeah.

And I believe it was an

automatic issue.

It was an automatic issue.

It was charging no power,

no electrics.

He was able to get back on

to the circuit

and sort of limp it around

back to the official pit lane

but the link

Yeah, the bottom of Graham Hill bend

which is able to sort of

at least get him to a safer position

and speed up the

recovery process

of a stricken Aaron Taylor Smith.

Sutton, of course,

was able to elevate himself

to second with this

and maybe give himself half a chance

to go after Ingram.

I will say, obviously,

I was a little bit

down on Camish earlier

for not letting Sutton through.

I thought the restart,

he did a really good job

of blocking the field back

so it felt like Camish

had a deliberately slow

getaway to safety car

to give Sutton a few lengths

to go after Ingram

without being any pressure

when he'll be behind.

It was going to be Sutton's

only real chance

to try and make anything happen

if he could.

Yes, there was a massive tire

discrepancy

between the two of them

and it was likely

that Ingram was just going to

then scarf off into distance

which he did

but that was the best

opportunity that Sutton had.

And there was, of course,

a tyre crossover point

where the softs go off

and the mediums sort of stay on

and if Sutton could have

got past him in those corners

and then the tyre crossover

came, who knows.

But as I say,

I will give Camish a little bit of credit

because he did sort of hold back

and block the rest of the field

off and making any problems.

Shedden then had a little bit

of a nibble on the back of Procter.

Nice to see two

stalwarts of the series

having a little race of each other.

Then Camish sort of fell back

a little bit.

Procter came through on him.

Cook was through on a hill

behind that.

And then he'd run out of

TTB fairly early on in the race

and just had nothing to depend with

especially with those cars

coming from behind

with more boost available.

You didn't even notice the Procter

who got past him, did you?

No.

I did notice that Shedden

got past him

so he went past with a bit of a

really big

insert of a B here.

Move on, Camish,

which is, as I say,

the confidence that he's now got

in that car

with an engine that actually

isn't powered by a hamster

and a wheel is remarkable.

However, Ingram would come through

to win the race

and in doing so would win

the 2025 season.

He had to affect the finish.

Spoiler alert.

Yeah, spoiler.

Sorry, guys.

He had to finish in front of Sutton

which he did

and Sam will give you

the finishing order now.

Yeah, so Ingram from Sutton

from Procter.

Yeah, Procter's podium

going completely unnoticed

because of a certain championship win.

And then Gordon Shedden

in fourth from Camish,

row bottom, hill,

cook, Moffitt Morgan.

Smiley all the way up to 11th

followed by Osborne,

De Leon,

Doble and Lloyd.

If I may now bring Penner to

corner

because there is something

interesting here as well.

Okay.

Quite interesting.

So Aaron Taylor Smith

who

has already been,

got a bit of a loyalty card

at the stewards bus this weekend

received an official reprimand

and two penalty points.

Have you heard this one before?

For causing collision

and gaining an advantage.

That's one way of putting it

for an incident involving

Charles Rainford.

Last thing advantage.

Senator Procter received a written

reprimand in round 29

for gaining a position

as a result of contact

and not allowing a car's whip

to the edge of the circuit.

Not sure who that was on.

No.

Could have been anybody in the pack.

You'll notice that

that's the end of the

competition for race two.

So Josh Cook.

Got away scot-free.

Which considering what happened

in race three

is interesting.

That is quite interesting.

Shall we get to race three then?

Yes.

So race three.

Born of a nine.

Didn't really mean anything

in terms of the championship anyway.

Well it did.

We certainly had

independent stills.

Let's go say that.

We had Jackson stills play for.

Teams and

manufacturers.

And team of manufacturers.

Which Gal was keen to

point out on the grid.

Yeah.

I think he'll be slightly disappointed

that we've had a bit of a

lackluster season finale

overall.

It's certainly not

one of the classics.

But ball number nine

was pulled.

It was.

From the pots.

Which is a good number

to reverse the grid.

I like that.

That's a good one.

Yeah.

It put Moffitt on to pole position

from Cook.

Both on soft tyres for the start.

As well as Hill and Sutton.

Hill managed to jump Cook

off the line.

Typical rear wheel drive start.

And was up there challenging

with Moffitt.

Sort of trying to run off into

the distance.

At which point Moffitt was under

investigation once again.

For the start procedure.

Didn't find him guilty for

anything.

And we saw the replays and I

didn't see him ahead of his

grid box.

So he jumped the start.

No.

I'm not quite sure what was.

It's really weird.

I found.

I'm wondering if it was maybe

personnel on the grid.

They might have thought it was

too late or wasn't prepared

for take the green flag

lap or went too slow on the

green flag.

Because the start as far as I'm

concerned is absolutely

impeccable.

I couldn't see any problem

about at all.

No.

Sutton had made good progress

early on.

He was fourth by the end of

lap one.

He seems to cut through the

field quite nicely.

Soft tire.

On that soft tire it really

did help.

And then on to lap two

managed to pass Hill quite

easily.

House did have a spin at

Graham Hill on lap three.

Row bottom and Camish had

contact to say the least.

Contact.

A contact I've put.

Camish significantly out.

Broke the front near side.

Wheel.

Suspension probably.

Some form.

But to get a Mars bar.

Which you know.

Suspension versus a Mars bar.

He was surprisingly quite

willing to take his helmet off.

Some drivers when they're

out of a race

and it's all done and dusted

they go okay I'll keep the

helmet on and trudge my way

back to the pits.

I think being the last

race of the season

he was just like

I think to a degree

over now.

I think that also to a degree

just sums up the season

doesn't it that

it does you know

I think he's kind of

at the point of

yeah I have to say

I don't think Robots come

himself in glory of this

move.

Let's not forget

he has taken something out

in Donnington.

He does.

I know he's taken

Camish out.

If you're Sam Osborne

you're worried

on the way home

as you're driving down the

motorway thinking

is that robot behind me

if so I'm going to go

into the services I think.

We did say that

Robots going to hop it

sharpish out of the paddock.

After the events that happened.

But yes this would cause

possible issues for the

manufacturers and teams

of championships.

Yeah I mean look

the robot is

is very similar to the

Cook one

as far as he

did feel quite similar.

He's on the outside.

I do think he's got

way more time than Cook

to back out of it.

I do think that

maybe the Cook one

they've taken the view

that Arita is going to

chops over more than Cook

drives into him

whereas on this one

it just felt like

because

this is

I'm not saying it's what happened

but watching it

it just felt like

cameras was getting past

the robot just threw

the car into him.

That's

that's

watching is how it looked.

I'm not saying that's what

happened

but that's how it looked.

The replay from

sort of like the reverse

angle looking back

from the jury down to paddock

it didn't look like

Robots and moved

from his line on that

inside

and Kamish was trying to

close him out a little bit

and they've come together.

Yes it's had

decent consequences.

Decent consequences.

Which put the car off

into the gravel

safe car called

but it didn't feel

that much different

to the Arantailer's one.

Yeah I agree it doesn't feel

much different.

There must be a nuance to why

there must be.

Well and that's of course

that

Toyota didn't put any form

of appeal in anyway.

Possibly or

there is

data between the two cars

that suggests

maybe Cook was on the brakes

and Robots didn't let out

a bit at all

or something like that.

We'll get to the penalty

applied for that

at the end.

But yeah.

Yeah based on

the penalty we'll get

we might as well discuss it now

because it's only a penalty

it's only a penalty for that race.

How is it?

Yeah.

It feels that there must be

a high level of fault

because Robots was

disqualified from this race

but he completely struck off

that I think it was at

four penalty points

as well he was giving bear with me.

Four penalty points

for causing a collision

of the appearance

of a lack of control over the car.

That's an interesting one

because I would argue

the Arantailer Smith

since with Rainford

he had less control of the car

than Robots had for this.

But is that because

as you say

there's a mitigating factor

if we hit a bump

whereas there's no

mitigating factor for Robots

he should have control

of the car at that point

whereas if your brakes failed

you can't control the car

but there's a mitigating factor

to why you haven't got

control of the car.

Whereas in this one

as I say

it looked very much like

it just looked like a completely

mad move.

It feels like a very heavy penalty

considering and as you say

there may have been no appeal

from Toyota

to the incident that happened in race two

but when you compare the two

they don't feel that different.

I agree.

The last time I remember

a driver being disqualified

for an incident like that

and I could be wrong

but I think it was Andy Neat

at Thruxton with Jade Edwards.

I can't remember too many of these

so they must have really

have some data

that has suggested even

that there's a lot of fault

on the party of Robots here

because that's a massive penalty.

It would be interesting to see

you know when earlier in the season

they released the footage

of who took fault for a certain incident.

Oh that was good.

I like that.

More of that please.

I'm interested to see

what the throttle traces

and stuff would be like

for this one specifically.

I'm also slightly surprised

and perhaps not surprised

at the same time

that Napa haven't put

our any common statement today

about it.

Given

how we see in other sports

that the McLaren boys raced

yesterday

and how Zach Brown was

speaking about that afterwards

I'm surprised it hasn't been

either to say

yeah and we're not happy

or what we'll do

but internally

or these things happen in racing

I'm surprised there's been

nothing either way.

Yeah yeah yeah.

As the safety car was called

Cook managed to make a pass

on Moffitt to get to the lead

of the race.

Again I'm not

No.

I thought the whole point

of the

new digital dashboard

was that the second

the safety car was called

you get the light on

they raced

they raced a couple of corners.

I think it took a little while

for the safety car

to be called on this one.

Maybe.

It certainly did

for the Aaron Taylor Smith one

as well.

I do think

that those called

could have been a little sooner

because you knew the car

was off into the gravel

at Druidge.

You knew it was going to need.

Countess out

Countess out getting them

asked by mate

it's fairly obvious that

you knew it needed

to be recovered.

He ain't driving it back.

So yeah

there from

what I saw on screen

when obviously you see

that safety car sign go up

at the top of the screen

next to the lap counter

Cook had already made that

pass.

We don't know how quickly

the graphic changes

to where the safety car

is actually called.

But I believe it's done

the same time

at the timing

because the timing

clicks over at the same time

when they go over.

But yeah

so Cook managed to get

get to the lead

before the safety car.

The safety car was out

for a little

I think three laps.

I do think

sorry we should go back

to the old rules

on this

that you raced to the boards

and then

I don't like that.

The board is after the instant.

Yes but the board's

also go out

both ways around the track.

True.

But then

whereas the lights

are instantaneous.

But then these were racing

a fair few corners

which is

I think it's when the call

comes from the stewards

or from race control

should I say.

I'm not overly convinced

Cook was ahead at the point

of the safety car

being called either

but they were so close

to each other

I'm not

and again

what point you take it.

Yeah that's true.

Children deciding

this needed to be

a time for him to also

depart the race once again

during a safety car

period.

He'd had a good season.

He'd done what he needed to do.

He worked scoring points

this weekend.

He parked up at the bottom

of Paddock

just to watch the rest

of the race go by.

We had a safety car restart

on lap eight.

Ash managed to get

past Aiden

fairly sharpish

after that.

And then De Leon

and Rainford

managed to fall through the order.

Coming together

at the restart somehow.

Yeah again.

We just saw them fall

down the timing tower.

Harvey I think mentioned it

but we didn't actually

see anything

that caused that to happen.

That's allowed to see.

And then Hill and Moffitt

had a decent side by side at all.

Yeah respectful

between the two teammates

I have to say

and particularly given

they've both got

should we say a

a racy side

should we say?

Yeah yeah yeah.

No stranger to contact.

It was good to see

both of those two racing

and obviously Hill

in his final BCCC race

for now

he has intimated

that he could possibly

come back in the future

depending how

his international racing

goes.

Then we had another

BMW

make a lovely dive bomb

on Arantailer Smith

into Paddock.

De Leon just sent it basically.

Yeah.

So as we've said

of a problem.

Yes.

But De Leon didn't know that

and the move was excellent.

I'm not sure whether

he clearly had the problem

at that point.

It did feel like

very much the move

that like Shedham

made in race two.

Yeah I agree.

A lovely dive bomb

but then we did see

Arantailer Smith

slowing down

with some sort of problem

although we never got

to find out what that was.

I don't think everybody cared

for that point.

At which point

we had a little bit of action

at the back of the field

this race

which was amazing to see

and we had some focus on it.

Yeah and this is where

I said earlier

I was a little bit disappointed

with some of the stuff

happened in race three.

Because of the way

the scoring works

with independence

and it's worked all season

I'm going to go at that.

Lloyd knew by finishing

he'd win the championship

so basically

when the going got a bit rough

in here he just went

oh I see you lad.

I'm out.

First of all we had

Halton make a lovely

really good move.

Round the outside of Buxton

going on to the GP loop

just seemed to hold it

round the outside.

Yes he was on the soft tyre

so he had that little bit

more grip

but yeah

a really nice clean move

and quite progressive from him.

Yeah Smiley

headed sort of back to

putting up

seemingly of a problem

and then

had a problem no more.

It was really weird

he felt back

probably three four seconds

and managed to bunch them

back up

and then just went

how I'm fine now.

And then buggered off into

the distance.

Maybe tactical to see if

Lloyd's could get

sort of roughed up in the pack

maybe maybe.

And then we had Lloyd

looking for a pass

on Mikey Doble.

Didn't really need to

and I felt like

some of the places

that he was trying to put the

car was

more risky than it needed to be.

And then I think

he came to his senses

and realized

that he did only need

to finish the race.

Yeah just sort of fall back

but he did say

after that

he's not used to racing

that way.

No.

But he just had to get the

really alien

for a driver's go.

I've just got to finish.

I've just got to keep out of

trouble and it will be fine.

Morgan had a late move

on Robotton into Hawthorne's.

It was a nice pass down

the inside.

Yeah good pass.

And then I think

with Ingram

having just passed him

as well.

The usual defense

put up by Robotton

as Ingram came through.

And then we had

Hamilton passing Lloyd

as well.

He was looking

competitive

looking racy

and yes

I know Lloyd

wasn't looking for

any sort of race

in this race.

But he did it with

quite

quite easily.

And he's on the pace.

He's on the pace.

You know.

I know House has been

for the pits

but House was some

miles behind.

Let's be honest.

So yeah.

And then we had

very late on

Sheddon passing Moffit

just missing out

on the podium

but getting up to four.

Yeah really good.

And another good finish

from him.

Really good day for Sheddon.

Yeah really good day.

So the final race order

finished as follows.

Cook winning the race

from Sutton from Hill.

Sheddon in fourth

Moffit fifth

Ingram sixth

from Morgan Robotton

Proctor.

Osborne won the

Jack Sears in this race.

And I think for the weekend

as well.

Correct.

Followed by Patterson

who won the

independence for this race.

And then Rainford,

Smiley, De Leon and Doble.

Right.

We should bring you up to

date with the final

standings.

The driver awards

and our predictions

after this short break.

The 20-25

champion may have been crowned

but there's still so much

BRANDS HATCH GP REVIEW BTCC 2025

BMW

Ford Ranger

medium tire

soft tire

engine failure

M Sport

Ford Edge

brakes

brake disc

brake pads

tyre crossover point

About this episode

Original notes