A new era dawned on the British Touring Car Championship. Out with the old aspirated engine and in came turbo hybrid power. Hybrid lap penalties would replace of old success-ballast regulations paving a way in reshaping the grid.
This season was also notable for the retirement of BTCC’s legend Jason Plato as he announced last year that 2022 would be his final season in the Championship.
What didn’t change however was the regular title challengers battling to claim the 2022 Title. Turkington, Ingram, Sutton to name a few but who would be victorious at the Season Finale at Brands Hatch?
Round 1 – Donnington
It all started at Donington Park, as Tom Ingram benefited from the battling West Surrey Racing BMW duo of Colin Turkington and Jake Hill to take the opening win of the season, backing it up with a second placed spot in race two with Gordon Shedden being the victor. Hill having recovered to ninth after making a mistake on Race 2 converted that position into a race three victory at the end of the day’s session.
Round 2 – Brands Hatch (Indy Layout)
Wet conditions greeted the drivers on Race 1 Josh Cook fought through to the lead and win the race, with Tom Ingram second and Dan Cammish third. Race 2 Josh Cook with a hard-fought win against Jake Hill, the BMW driver ultimately spinning and gifting Cammish and Butcher the final two spots on the podium.
Race 3 saw Tom Chilton on pole for the reversed-grid race but seemed to have an issue and went backwards, with Turkington and Hill coming through for first and second and Bobby Thompson driving exceptionally well to take a podium for Team HARD.
Round 3 – Thruxton
Josh Cook continued his great form with a race double reasserting his position as the proverbial ‘King of Thruxton’. Jason Plato was on pole for race three. Could he end his BTCC career with a victory to his name?
Sadly not, a poor start allowed Morgan through to lead from Turkington and Sutton, and that was how it remained to the end with Plato finishing 4th.
Round 4 – Oulton Park
Ingram claimed pole ahead of Butcher and won the first and second races. Jelley won the final race. His first race win in three years from Moffat, who had been having a poor season in the struggling Infiniti.
Round 5 – Croft
Marred by the Oulton Park accident, Dan Lloyd was just about able to race in Croft and had a fairy-tale weekend with a win in race one after a great first lap that saw him pass Rowbottom and Turkington. Which was then followed with another race win in race 2 with Shedden taking Race 3.
Round 6 – Knockhill
Jake Hill took a very dominant Race 1 win which was then followed by Sutton taking race 2 and George Gamble taking a well-deserved final race victory in a topsy tervy event.
Round 7 – Snetterton
A very commanding day for the BMW’s as Turkington held off Hill to win race one, with Ingram third. The result was repeated in the second race, Sutton held on to win in the third race, but with second, Plato had his best weekend of the season.
Round 8 – Thruxton (2nd Time)
The series returned to Thruxton for a second time Dan Cammish took pole position and the first race victory after contact between Cook and Sutton ruined the Honda driver’s race. Sutton got back ahead of Shedden in the second race and then was allowed through to victory by teammate Cammish.
Cook continued his incredible victory record at the circuit where he took race 3 but marred with performance and reliability issues with the car, it seemed his title chances were slipping away.
Round 9 – Silverstone
The championship battle now clearly looked to be between Ingram, Sutton, Hill and Turkington. However, for Colin this would be a day he would want to forget.
An incident for championship leader Colin Turkington seemed to derail his title hopes in race 1 which affected his position in race 2 where as he could only finish 13th and 12th in race 3.
His title hopes vanish in one event. The new championship leader was Ash Sutton.
Round 10 – Brands Hatch (Grand Prix Circuit)
In the first race, Ingram converted pole into victory ahead of Rory Butcher, while Ash Sutton ran third in a turbo-less car and held off a long train of cars with some outstanding driving, ultimately being overpowered by Hill. Ingram won again in the second race as Hill and Turkington in the BMWs moved forward to second and third.
Going into the final race it was between Ingram and Hill for the title. Ingram had an eleven-point lead going into race three and got ahead of Hill on lap one.
After surviving an incident ahead between Morgan and Cammish, Ingram was repassed by Hill. Dan Lloyd won the race from pole ahead of Cook and Butcher but it was all about Ingram as Ingram passed Hill at Paddock Hill Bend on the final lap, but would comfortably have taken a deserved championship anyway, although the move cost Jake Hill second to Sutton.
