Daryl DeLeon claimed his first ever win in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship with a charging performance on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit this afternoon (Sunday).
Race one winner Jake Hill initially held the lead after defending from Charles Rainford into Paddock Hill Bend at the start. Behind that, Tom Ingram’s Team Vertu Hyundai slotted into third whilst his teammate Adam Morgan ceded ground to the fast starting Dan Cammish in his NAPA Racing UK Ford.
Cammish then punched straight through into third with a bold move on Ingram at Graham Hill Bend whilst DeLeon began his charge further back, passing Morgan for fifth. By the time they crossed the line at the end of the first lap, it was Hill’s chrome blue BMW in the lead from Rainford’s similar LKQ Euro Car Parts branded machine in a repeat of the earlier race.
DeLeon’s move towards the head of the pack continues a lap later when he passed Ingram with a strong run on the exit of Clearways. This put the WSR BMW fourth with plenty of time still to run in the race.
Just a couple of laps later, Morgan began to make up for his slower start with a move on Ingram at Paddock Hill Bend for fifth. It was at this stage that Ash Sutton in the black and yellow liveried NAPA Racing UK car loomed into frontrunning contention too, closing up on Ingram. Just up the road from that, Cammish made additional progress with a move on Rainford at Clark.
Sutton promptly passed Ingram on lap five whilst DeLeon moved on Rainford at Druids with Morgan followed him through. This left Hill in the lead with Cammish and DeLeon just behind ahead of Morgan, Rainford and Sutton. Full speed action soon came to a halt however, when Dexter Patterson and Max Hall went off into the Paddock Hill gravel trap.
The safety car intervention meant the race distance was extended from 24 to 27 laps, but before action could properly resume, Cammish came to a halt on the Cooper Straight. The initial attempt to restart was waived off, with DeLeon crucially promoted to second ahead of another resumption.
When the race got underway again on lap 20, DeLeon decisively dived for the lead at Paddock Hill Bend, with Hill initially holding second. Rainford managed to squeeze alongside however, and the early race leader was down to third by the time they crossed the line again.
From there, De Leon drove sublimely from the front to seize his opportunity and claim a first win in the BTCC at just 19 years of age. From there, Hill began to drop further down the order on the harder tyres. Morgan was one of the chief movers heading up the order, passing Hill on lap 22 before getting Rainford a couple of laps later.
Sutton similarly cut his way through to take third just two laps from the end, having started just 10th on the grid. Chris Smiley was on his rear bumper for much of the final dash, and remained right there to seal fourth by the time they crossed the line.
Another charging drive came from Aiden Moffat in his BMW. The Scot rocketed through from 20th on the grid and even recovered from contact with Cammish behind the safety car to end up fifth. Josh Cook’s Honda was another entry to benefit from the struggles of Rainford and Hill, pipping them to sixth. Rainford ultimately finished just ahead of Hill in seventh with Daniel Rowbottom grabbing ninth and reverse-grid pole for the final race of the day.
Ronan Pearson completed the top-10 just in front of Tom Ingram, whose slide down the order ended in 11th.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Race 2, Brands Hatch
- Daryl DeLeon, WSR, BMW 330i M Sport
- Adam Morgan, Team Vertu, Hyundai i30N, +3.641s
- Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +5.466s
- Chris Smiley, Restart Racing, Hyundai i30N, +5.910s
- Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR, BMW 330i M Sport, +6.798s
- Josh Cook, One Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R, +8.350s
- Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR, BMW 330i M Sport, +9.501s
- Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, BMW 330i M Sport, +10.590s
- Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +10.829s
- Ronan Pearson, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, +11.136s
Click here to view full results from this weekend.