2009 British Touring Car Championship

[Keith Peppiatt]

i'm thinking chevy win for all three races.

i wish i'd put money on that now!

Another fantastic round of racing.

After race three that was the most tired i've ever seen Gio, he looked absolutely drained. It just goes to underline the class that he has in these tin tops. As much as it hurts me to say that vectra was awful but somehow he made it work.

Now... a couple of discussion points. (please don't go flaming each other or me over this, lets respect others points of view)

herbert/plato - race 3 incident. Has herbert tried to defend the undefendable or has plato rammed him? I'm sure herbert is not one to hand a place over but how has plato not been penalised for the hit?* it seemed similar to nash/collard... without the jelley part.

collard - incident tally. Is it me or is collard involved in a lot more incidents than other drivers? I think he's a great driver in a very good car but is the red mist falling periodically or are other drivers ganging up on him? the nature of sport involves contact but he seems to be involved in more than the others.

*EDIT - seen plato got 2 points and a reprimand. still different to nash though.

 

[Trebor901]

Collard is getting involved in a lot of crashes at the moment, i think its the way he's driving, you only had to watch him trying to get past Jackson in the third race to see that he could only get by someone by pushing his way past. Like on the last lap he rammed Jackson up the back and ended up putting himself sideways and the whole of the last corner grandstand errupted into cheering for Jackson.

I must also say ive been to Silverstone every year for the past 4 years now for BTCC and sat in that last turn grandstand every time but yesterday the atmosphere was the most amazing ive ever witnessed at a BTCC event. It was like being at a football match thats how loud the cheering was when there were overtakes, crashes etc.

Oh and the whole grandstand boo'd Tim Bridgeman for taking out Harvey in the Porsche race which was quite funny to hear.

 

[Trebor901]

I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of people at Brands and at home watching the final race of the season and VXR's final ever race with a huge lump in their throat.

 

[Ben Tusting]

Rob that atmosphere was amazing in that Grandstand.
Where you there when they cheered for collins as he kept going of the track?

 

[Trebor901]

yeah we were sat in that stand all day, was great

 

[Trebor901]

Just seen the tv coverage and you can actually hear the crowd cheering over the cars when Jackson passes for the lead in both race 1 and 3

 

[Trebor901]

Some of my pics from yesterday

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=33021&id=1355918391&ref=mf

 

[Jon Trotter]

Toasted Vauxhall anyone??

(Found this on Crash)

 

[Wido Rossen]

BTCC 2009 - Round 9:Rockingham

Round 9 of the BTCC on the 19 / 20th of Sept.

Track Facts:
Track Length/1.94 miles
Number of laps/16
Distance/31.04 miles

Track records:
Qualifying: Gordon Shedden (GBR), Honda Civic, 1m24.327s (82.81mph) on 13 April 2008
Race: Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 1m24.698s (82.45mph) on 13 April 2008

 

[Trebor901]

For those of you who went to Silverstone and are thinking of going here then hold onto your Silverstone tickets as they're worth £5 off on the gate at Rockingham

 

[Keith Peppiatt]

isn't it nice how they keep the car's yellow theme running for ages after the car?

 

[Trebor901]

yeah i think their sticker guy over ran just a bit lol

 

[Alex Townsend]

Is there a Rockingham Track download for RFactor?

 

[Jon Trotter]

2 bits of good news - GR Asia are back with the Club SEAT team, running Shedden with backing from Cartridge World. Nothing from Jones yet although I hope we'll see him out as well.


New team Club SEAT will join the BTCC for the final two rounds of the season at Rockingham and Brands Hatch, with Gordon Shedden racing for the new team with support from Cartridge World.
The Scottish racer began the season with Team Dynamics, before being dropped to make way for James Thompson. He then returned to the series with the Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing for his home round at Knockhill, but that was short lived as the team withdrew prior to the Silverstone round of the championship.

Clyde Valley Racing is not involved in running this car, so it is effectively the scotsmans third team of the year. The car will be run by Paul Ridgway's GR Asia team, and with that a wealth of experience of the Leon will be brought in from GR Asia's World Touring Car Championship experience of the car.

Gordon Shedden said: “Hopefully it’s third time lucky! It would have been easy to say ‘sod this’ and just write off the season. But I’ve had a lot of support from a lot of people to get back on the grid, plus I’m fiercely determined to succeed. In any case I’ve always had to fight tooth and nail to be on the grid so this time is no different."

Mike Holland, UK General Manager of Cartridge World said of the team's return:
“We are excited to be returning for the last two weekends of the season. Gordon will race a striking yellow Cartridge World SEAT Leon. We hope he will perform as well as he did at Knockhill. It would be fantastic to be celebrating more podiums."

The SEAT Leon will again be powered by E85 bio-ethanol fuel, as part of Cartridge World's Carbon Zero campaign.

Adam Jones, who indicated he was also attempting to orchestrate a return in his SEAT Leon, which was run by Team CVR earlier in the season, and under the Team Air Cool banner last year - has not been confirmed in this new team - so far the deal is for Gordon Shedden only.

 

[Jon Trotter]

and secondly, Anthony Reid will be outto play with WSR and Team RAC again:

British Touring Car Championship veteran Anthony Reid is going to continue driving for Team RAC during the coming round at Rockingham. Reid is confident for the race.
"It was always going to be tricky at Silverstone but I’m much more confident for Rockingham. I’m carrying less late penalty ballast this time around so we’re fully expecting to be more competitive," said Reid.
Reid has got a lot of experience of Rockingham and has tested at the track earlier this year.

"Rockingham’s a circuit I know very well. I’ve tested there this year already, and raced it numerous times throughout my career. Hopefully I can play a key supporting role in Colin’s quest for the title," said Reid.

Team boss Dick Bennetts is looking forward to the race but realizes that the team is going to have a tough job due to the penalty weight.

"We were certainly quick at the Rockingham media day, however this time around both Colin and Anthony will be carrying ballast which will slow us down a bit.

It will be tough for Colin with 45kgs on board, however Stephen and Anthony should be up there fighting for a good grid position in qualifying," said Bennetts.



Both articles from Touringcartimes.com

 

[Ryan Callan]

Colin down in 14th. Hmmm, first time he's qualified badly, perhaps he's feeling the pressure, or maybe just unlucky.

Now we'll see if has that champion's quality of being able to drag himself out of a bad result into a good result, like the great man himself (Giovanardi) can.

 

[Ben Tusting]

Here are the times

Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m24.087s
2. Jonathan Adam BMW 1m24.194s + 0.107s
3. Mat Jackson Chevrolet 1m24.300s + 0.213s
4. Stephen Jelley BMW 1m24.353s + 0.266s
5. Paul O'Neill Honda 1m24.505s + 0.418s
6. Gordon Shedden SEAT 1m24.553s + 0.466s
7. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 1m24.568s + 0.481s
8. Rob Collard BMW 1m24.626s + 0.539s
9. Johnny Herbert Honda 1m24.656s + 0.569s
10. Tom Chilton Ford 1m24.700s + 0.613s
11. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 1m24.711s + 0.624s
12. James Nash Chevrolet 1m24.744s + 0.657s
13. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet 1m24.776s + 0.689s
14. Colin Turkington BMW 1m24.801s + 0.714s
15. Matt Neal Vauxhall 1m24.937s + 0.850s
16. David Pinkney Honda 1m25.088s + 1.001s
17. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 1m25.232s + 1.145s
18. Anthony Reid BMW 1m25.377s + 1.290s
19. Martin Johnson Vauxhall 1m26.800s + 2.713s
20. Matthew Hamilton Honda 1m28.969s + 4.882s
21. John George Honda

 

[Trebor901]

I cant believe im gonna say this but Plato for champion anyone? he will have a great chance if he wins race 1 and 2 today and then the same at Brands in October.

 

[Trebor901]

Johnny Herbert's a moron takes the mick the old grandad shouldnt even be there.

 

[Trebor901]

good words from Tom Chilton "Plato being Plato started trying to ram off the whole world"