BTCC Brands Hatch Driver Report (part one)

The winter break is finally over, the BTCC is back and it's better than ever. Three different winners for three different teams and three different manufacturers along with some fantastic action all contributed to an enthralling day of motorsport, so it's time to look back at the drivers and see just how well each of them performed. In part one we'll look at how the seven Hondas and Tom Ingram performed.

Gordon Shedden: The reigning champion got his title defence off to an almost perfect start after qualifying second and managing to hold station in race one to come home with a podium finish. Just as last year, race two would see the Scotsman go one better and take his first victory of the season just over eight tenths of a second ahead of his teammate. After these two great finishes, the reigning champion found himself heading the standings, six points clear of teammate Neal, however race three would not end as well. After starting ninth Shedden quickly moved up to sixth before disaster struck, lap twenty one and a puncture sent the Scotsman into the tyre wall at paddock hill bend. Despite this the Scot finds himself second place in the standings heading into the next round at Donington Park, just five points behind championship leader Neal. Overall the reigning champion had a good weekend and has managed to lay a solid foundation for the rest of the season.

Matt Neal: The three time British Touring Car Champion has entered this season with an ambition top take title number four and Brands Hatch has allowed Neal to gain the early advantage. Third position in qualifying was maintained throughout race one and despite a relatively poor restart it was a good first race of the season for the Brit. Like teammate Shedden, he was able to go one better in race two and helped complete a fantastic one-two finish for Halfords Yuasa Racing. Starting eighth in race three, Neal proved his racecraft is as good as ever as he managed to fight his way up to fourth position including a fantastic pass at Paddock to get past Andrew Jordan's Motorbase Ford. There's still a long way to go but Neal has made his intentions clear, write him off at your peril.

Andy Neate: The third and final Halfords Yuasa Racing driver had a much quieter weekend, this was to be expected though on his return to the championship. A provisional seventh place qualifying effort very quickly became eighteenth in the finally moments of the session, débutante Matt Simpson was the only Honda Civic that qualified lower than the factory car of Neate. Like his teammates, Neate would hold station in race one and finished exactly where he started but unlike his teammates, Neate progressed backwards in race two with a twenty sixth place finish. Race three saw another twenty sixth place finish and while this may be Neate's first full season since 2012, more was expected of him and he'll have a point to prove at Donington.

Jeff Smith: Entering his fifth season as a driver and second as a team owner, Jeff Smith seemed to have a new lease of life as he was very quickly on the pace. Thirteenth place in qualifying was a great start to the weekend and showed that after a lacklustre 2015, Smith was ready to fight at the front. A great top ten run in race one was spoiled by a mistake at Clearways, ultimately leading to a fourteenth place finish. Race two though saw Smith in the top ten and fighting against the likes of Jack Goff, Adam Morgan and Sam Tordoff, all established race winners. He just missed out on benefiting from the reverse grid but with soft tyres on his Eurotech Racing Honda, Smith was able to battle through and claim a fantastic seventh place finish. His hometrack is next and the Midlander is looking to improve on a strong start to his season.

Martin Depper: In the second Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type-R, Depper had a more subdued weekend. Qualifying resulted in a sixteenth place grid spot so initially it looked liked Depper could almost match his teammate but as Smith Progressed forwards, Depper was dropping back. Nineteenth in race one was followed by twenty second in race two and despite having softy tyres on his Civic for race three, Depper dropped further back and finished twenty fourth. The Eurotech cars clearly have the pace so Depper needs to try and find his heading into Donington.

Matt Simpson: With last years championship winning car underneath him and a great team behind him in Speedworks Motorsport, Matt Simpson was immediately impressive. Twenty fourth in qualifying was really the only black spot on an otherwise decent weekend. Never involved in any contact, Simpson put in a strong charge in race one and finished seventeenth. In his first race with the soft tyres, Simpson could be forgiven for losing position as it is notoriously difficult to look after them but he only dropped one place to eighteenth and finished third in the Jack Sears Trophy for new drivers. Race three would see Simpson score the first point of his BTCC career with a solid fifteenth place finish. Simpson had a solid weekend and has established himself as the second best newcomer behind Ash Sutton, hopefully he can build on this and start scoring more points as the championship heads to Donington.

Tom Ingram: The weekend that was and then the weekend that should of been, three very contrasting races has left the Speedworks Motorsport driver with mixed emotions after the first weekend of the season. A career first pole position was followed by a fantastic drive in race one that allowed Ingram to take his first ever victory in the BTCC. This left him at the top of the championship but everything went downhill from there on in. Contact with Rob Collard on lap two broke the suspension on the Toyota and Ingram was out and classified a dismal thirty first. Race three would be an uphill struggle, Ingram quickly made his way up to eighteenth before getting stuck behind Jake Hill. The pair clashed once at Clearways on lap fourteen but both survived however, three laps later there was further contact that sent Hill spinning off the road. A £500 fine and three points on his license were Ingram's punishment. Now Ingram has prove dhe can win, he needs to start finishing strongly on a regular basis and Donington will tell if this performance was a one off wonder or whether Ingram will become an established front runner.

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