BTCC 2025: Title Tension Builds And a Fairytale Win at Silverstone

The British Touring Car Championship rolled into Silverstone for the penultimate round of 2025. With Ash Sutton looking to chase down Tom Ingram, Jake Hill fighting two Napa drivers for third, and the Jack Sears Trophy heating up, there was plenty of excitement around this one. 

This was not the only focus for the weekend. Jason Plato announced he will be back for 2026! However, not as a driver, but as a team owner. He couldn’t say who his sponsors or drivers would be, but that doesn’t stop the paddock chatter and enthusiasm for the news.

Qualifying

The weather intervened on Saturday, with rain hitting midway through the second qualifying session. The greasy surface upset several of the title protagonists. Tom Ingram failed to advance from Q1 and started a lowly 14th, while Ash Sutton just scraped through before a turbo boost penalty dented his chances, and Dan Cammish was disqualified due to ride height. 

 The story belonged to Daryl DeLeon, who kept his cool in the slippery conditions and bagged his first-ever BTCC pole. His performance brought huge cheers from the WSR garage and set up Sunday’s racing perfectly.

Race 1: Lloyd pounces as fire halts the action

At lights out, DeLeon made a clean getaway, but the pole-sitter quickly came under fire from the experienced Gordon Shedden. The two went side-by-side into Luffield, with Shedden edging in front at Woodcote with a daring move. They were alongside each other across the line and into Copse, but Shedden had the inside line, forcing both wide. That then opened the door for Dan Lloyd and Hill, who had stalked the pair from third and fourth. 

Lloyd continued the battle with Shedden through to Brooklands and dived down the inside on lap two. The leader had switched between three drivers in two laps, and DeLeon was down to fifth. 

By lap six, Hill kept the pressure on, having gotten past Shedden, while Ingram and Sutton began their climb from the midfield, trading elbows with multiple drivers and each other. 

The race was building into a classic, and Hill was trying everything to get past Lloyd when, on lap 17, Nicolas Hamilton’s Cupra Leon erupted in flames on the Wellington Straight. A dramatic oil fire brought out the safety car until the end of the race. Thankfully, Hamilton escaped unharmed. 

The result gave Lloyd his first win of the season, a great achievement for him but also for Restart Racing, as this was their first overall win in BTCC. Hill took second, and Shedden third, while Ingram and Sutton crossed the line nose-to-tail in seventh and eighth, a small psychological win for Ingram, but there was plenty of action to come.

Race 2: Ingram's masterclass, Suttons relentless charge

There was drama before the start of the race as Cammish was stuck in the pit lane with car issues. He didn’t make it out in time for the start and missed race two. 

Hill got a great start and had the inside line to turn one on Lloyd, meaning the BMW took the lead heading into Maggots. Meanwhile, starting from the fourth row, Ingram rolled the dice with the soft-compound Goodyear tyre, and it paid off. By the end of lap one, he was up to third after bold moves at Copse and Brooklands, dispatching Senna Proctor and Shedden with clean but forceful passes. 

At the sharp end, Hill briefly held the lead until a charging Ingram swept past with a perfectly timed down the Wellington Straight after several attempts on lap four. From there, he stretched his legs, delivering a controlled but aggressive stint to the flag. 

Further back, there was an intense battle for third. Sutton, on mediums, carved his way through the pack, banging wheels with drivers and with Dan Rowbottom in tow. He then went wheel-to-wheel with Lloyd before making a successful move. 

The rest of the pack had an exciting race with the LKQ Euro Car Parts drivers exchanging places with Adam Morgan, Tom Chilton and Árón Taylor-Smith. Morgan came out on top with his teammate making contact with Charles Rainford on the exit of Luffield, which broke his suspension, and Chilton was out. The safety car neutralised the race on lap 10, closing the gaps between drivers. 

On the restart, Ingram managed to catch everyone napping and pulled out a gap. Sutton had Hill in his sights but couldn't quite get close enough while there was contact in the rest of the pack, and Morgan's bonnet flew up, forcing him into the pits. 

On lap 16, Sutton made it past Hill into second place with a dive into Brooklands, leaving the BMW in a Napa sandwich, and Sutton trying to close the gap (though he couldn’t quite manage it). Despite lacking the outright grip of Ingram’s tyre choice, Sutton’s recovery drive was vital for keeping the title battle alive. 

Hill completed the podium, while Taylor-Smith shone in fourth, climbing seven places in what many dubbed his drive of the season.

Race 3: Osborne's dream realised

The final race flipped the script. With the grid reversed, Sam Osborne lined up on pole for his 200th BTCC start, and what followed was nothing short of magical. 

There was more pre-race pit lane drama as WSR were forced to change brake parts on DeLeon's car. The delay meant he missed the formation lap and had to start from the pit lane. But things got worse when, on his way out, he crossed a red light at the pit lane exit, earning himself a 30-second stop-and-go penalty. 

Osborne blasted away cleanly, pulling out a gap immediately as Mikey Doble took pressure from Moffat. There was drama at the back heading into Copse with a Restart Racing and Napa driver. Both continued on in the race, and all eyes turned back to the front just in time for Shedden to make a move on Lloyd out of Becketts. The two made contact, and Lloyd spun out but got going again. 

By lap three, Osbourne had a good lead but would need to start holding off relentless pressure from Josh Cook, who had made his way up into second. Cook tried everything, lunging at Becketts and drawing alongside into Copse, but Osborne refused to yield. His defensive driving was measured rather than desperate, blocking lines without over-driving. Behind them, Sutton held third after a bruising scrap with Taylor-Smith, while Ingram shadowed Hill in the lower top ten, carefully collecting the points he needed. 

Lap after lap, the pressure mounted, but Osborne held firm. When he crossed the line to claim his first-ever BTCC win, the Silverstone crowd erupted. Cook followed in second, Sutton third, but the day belonged to Osborne. His elated team met him in parc fermé with tears and cheers in equal measure.

One more to go

This is it, just one more meet at Brands Hatch to complete the 2025 season. Ingram may have only extended his lead by one point at Silverstone, but he goes away 33 points ahead in the championship standings. 

The Jack Sears Trophy only has an eight-point difference with the top three drivers not able to compete for the honour next year (according to the current rules). So, it goes down to the wire at the final round in a last-ditch attempt for all of them. Definitely not a battle to miss.

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