WSR and BMW claimed three impressive British Touring Car Championship podium finishes as they maintained the lead of the Manufacturers’ title race on a frenetic day of action at Donington Park.
Second and third-place finishes for Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill and another rostrum result for Team BMW’s Adam Morgan mean WSR cars have scored 21 podiums in 2023 – a total the team have only surpassed three times in the BTCC.
Jake’s drive from ninth on the grid to second place in a wet opening race was one of the outstanding drives of the weekend; the Kent racer using the excellent balance of his BMW 330e M Sport to pick off his rivals one-by-one and score his 40th career podium.
Part of a thrilling four-way race-long fight for second spot between the title contenders, he added third place in a dry second encounter and then eighth in a bruising finale in which he suffered bodywork damage against a chicane tyre stack.
Jake’s results maintained his third place in the Drivers’ Championship and took him to 10 podiums for the year.
Team BMW racer Adam started fourth on Race Three’s partially-reversed grid and left it late to pass one of his chief race-long rivals for third – his fourth podium of the year.
The Lancashire racer had earlier finished 12th in a wet opener and ninth in Race Two.
Four-time champion Colin Turkington produced one of the most consistent sets of results of any driver on the grid; the Northern Irishman finishing fifth in the wet before adding fourth and sixth spots in the dry to cement his fourth spot in the points.
His results, combined with those of his three WSR stablemates, kept BMW at the head of the Manufacturers’ points as they chase a record-breaking 10th title.
Large amounts of spray limited Stephen Jelley’s visibility in Race One; the local hero starting 20th and making little progress.
But his dry pace was far stronger; the Leicester racer climbing to a points finish in 13th in Race Two and improving further to end the day with a 10th-place finish.
Jake Hill (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) said: “Overall I’m very happy. It’s been a strong day and my engineer Craig and the WSR and Laser Tools crew have done a great job to give me probably the best ‘wet car’ I’ve ever had. The BMW – which I was struggling with in the dry yesterday – was much better after some major changes overnight – and helped me get on the podium again. We’ve stayed ahead in the Manufacturers’ points too so I’m pleased to have done my bit.”
Adam Morgan (Team BMW) said: “I’m really pleased to be back on the podium and it’s been a good weekend all round. We have to work on our wet pace because Race One was a bit of a struggle, but the balance was better in the dry and in Race Three the pace was really good. The drive home’s going to be a good one and hopefully the rest of the season will be too.”
Colin Turkington (Team BMW) said: “To have fourth, fifth and sixth today is decent points. That’s the pace we had for the three races. It was a bit of a war in Race Three, but it was actually quite an enjoyable race. You’d gain one place and then lose two, but it was fun. I was conscious not to get involved in anything too hard because we have the Manufacturers’ Championship to think about, but we’ve come away with some decent points.”
Stephen Jelley (Team BMW) said: “The BMW was good in the dry in race trim today, we just couldn’t overtake some of the cars that had more straight-line speed. I’m pleased with what we’ve done with the balance. That’s the bit we can control and the team did a good job. I feel a bit aggrieved because in Race Two I was battling to pass another driver for 12th – which would have been reversed-grid pole – and he was abusing track limits everywhere and wasn’t penalised. That could have put me in line for a win at my home track…”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “The priority this weekend was to stay ahead in the Manufacturers’ Championship. We’ve done that so that’s the number-one aim achieved. We knew we had to make an improvement after qualifying and we definitely did that today, as three podiums proves. Jake drove very well to go from ninth to second in the wet and it was great to see Adam get back in the top three, which hopefully will boost him for the rest of the year.”
