It’s been an up and down year so far in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BMW and the West Surrey Racing team (WSR), which races a trio of 330i M Sport entries in the series. After fifteen rounds (with three races per weekend), BMW driver Jake Hill is fifth in driver points and BMW is third in manufacturer points. The only category a BMW driver is leading is the points for the Jack Sears Trophy, which awards points to drivers that have never scored an outright podium in the series. WSR drivers Daryl Deleon (shown in top photo) and Charles Rainford are one-two in those points.
After not getting a driver on the podium in any of the three races at the Donington Park opening rounds back in late April, BMW drivers won every race at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in mid-May, with Jake Hill winning race one, Deleon winning race two and Rainford getting the win in race three.
Jake Hill is the highest placed BMW driver in the points, in fifth.
The win for Hill was the 133rd for the WSR team, which putting them at the top of the all-time wins record, and they added two more to that on the same weekend. “Today has been a fantastic day,” said Team Principal Dick Bennetts. “To break the BTCC’s all-time wins record is a major achievement and a testament to the hard work of everyone who’s been involved with WSR over the past three decades. To go from where we were at Donington to three wins with three different drivers two weeks later is incredible and all the drivers richly deserved their wins.”
The WSR team celebrates their record setting wins at Brands Hatch.
Unfortunately, a BMW driver hasn’t been on the podium since the Brands Hatch Indy weekend. Over the last nine rounds at Snetterton, Thruxton, and Oulton Park, the best finishes a BMW driver has are a pair of fifth place finishes for Hill at Thruxton and Oulton Park. “We need to use the summer break to do what we can to find more speed and aim for a stronger second half of the year,” said Bennetts after the Oulton Park races.
Charles Rainford had first and second place finishes at Brands Hatch.
WSR still has half of the season to bounce back and get into the championship hunt. The BTCC will race again at Croft on August 2nd-3rd, followed by races at Knockhill, Donington Park, Silverstone and the Brands Hatch GP circuit.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy BTCC]