WSR’s Daryl DeLeon scored his second Jack Sears Trophy round win of the 2025 British Touring Car Championship on a dramatic day of racing at Donington Park.
A perfect 60 points from the 60 available helped the BMW 330i M Sport driver to an increased series advantage with just six races remaining in the season.
The Anglo-Filipino was shuffled back from fourth place to 13th on the opening lap of the morning race and finished 11th, but showed superb form in Race Two as he climbed the order to fifth – driving off-track at McLeans in the closing stages as a sudden rainshower created gripless conditions at the turn and caught out almost every driver on track.
Saving his mandatory use of the series’ hard-compound Goodyear tyre until the last race of the day, he came home ninth to increase his Jack Sears Trophy advantage to 14 points over WSR stablemate Charles Rainford.
Reigning champion Jake Hill scored his best result of the day with fifth in Race Three. That the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver was able to do this on the hard tyre was indicative not only of his class, but also of the speed of the BMW.
He was sixth and ninth in the other two races; the Kent ace one of the many drivers caught out by the rainshower at McLeans after making a number of carefully-executed passing moves to climb the order.
LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR drivers Charles Rainford and Aiden Moffat qualified on the eighth row after experiencing misfortunes in qualifying and opted to use the hard tyre in the opening race with the aim of moving forwards later on.
The duo showed strong pace on the less-favourable rubber to finish 13th and 15th, but both suffered on the stronger medium tyre in Race Two; Aiden punted off into the gravel by a rival on the first lap and Charles spinning in the damp in the closing laps.
While Aiden staged a magnificent recovery from 20th to 11th, despite a heavily-damaged car, Charles’s incident dropped him to 17th. They were 10th and 13th in the finale; Aiden again being pushed off-track by rival drivers.
Daryl DeLeon, WSR: “I’m really pleased with how today’s gone. Three out of three wins for the Jack Sears Trophy and a good way to convert yesterday’s strong qualifying. I was maybe a bit too nice in Race One and got shuffled back on the first lap, but once things settled down the pace of the BMW was good. I had a great start in Race Two and finished fifth, but for Race Three I was on the hard tyre so I was happy with a top-10 finish. A huge thank you to the WSR team for a strong day.”
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport: “I’m happy but annoyed because the BMW’s been really good and quick enough to be on the podium all day. I’m super-impressed we could carry that momentum over from Knockhill. Being pinged in qualifying put me back in the pack, but 11th to sixth in Race One was good. In Race Two I was elbowed back to 13th and came back to fifth, only to be done over by the wall of rain that came and finish ninth. Then ninth back to fifth on the hard tyre in Race Three. I’ve been like a yoyo all day!”
Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR: “It’s a day of ‘what could have been’ and not for the first time. Race One was pretty good with the hard tyre, but it unravelled in Race Two with a little bit of contact that resulted in a spin that was down to me. It’s not why I go racing, but the recovery in Race Three was pretty good. We have a few weeks to re-set so let’s get ready to go again at Silverstone.”
Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR: “That was a tough day. The car felt great and we had a lot of pace on the hard tyre in Race One. I was 15th in Race One, which I was reasonably happy with, and then I got hit a couple of times in Races Two and Three – I’m still pretty stiff after I was put in the gravel in Race Two! I felt happy with the speed of the BMW today; we just have nothing to show for it unfortunately.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “I’m quite pleased with the speed we’ve had with all four BMWs today. We’ve made a big step forwards from Saturday, when qualifying put us further back than we should have been. Daryl’s had a very good day to score every point available in the Jack Sears Trophy and while Jake, Aiden and Charles all had a bit of misfortune, they were all fast a lot of time time so that’s something we can definitely take forwards into the last couple of events.”
