30 JULY BTCC CROFT
If there is one thing utterly predictable about the BTCC it is the Championships unpredictability.
A thoroughly dominant performance in qualifying and the first two races saw Championship hopes ebb away from the “Cobra boys” in favour of the NAPA Racing trio of Dan Cammish, Ash Sutton and Dan Rowbottom, only for a dramatic final race of the day to see Team BMW’s Colin Turkington win from BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8’s Tom Ingram to once again concertina the Drivers’ standings.
Only six points now separate Sutton and Ingram, while the BMWs of Turkington and Hill are just 34 and 42 points back respectively.
The podium for race three was completed by One Motorsport with Starline Racing’s Josh Cook, making it a lockout for drivers using Cobra seats and giving Cook an 80-point lead over team-mate Aiden Moffat in the Independents table, so its no surprise that their One Motorsport stable also heads the Independent Teams’ standings,
It was a particularly frustrating weekend for Jake Hill who must have been optimistic after a strong fifth place finish in race one, however, a spin in race two relegated Hill to 11th place, which not only cost him five crucial points in the Championship, but also denied him a reverse-grid pole for race three. If that wasn’t frustrating enough, Hill’s hard recovery work in race three was again negated by a spin towards the end of the race, which means that he has slipped to fourth in the points table.
COBRA SEATS CUSTOMER DRIVER PROFILE: JADE EDWARDS
The BTCC meeting at Croft saw Jade Edwards mid-season return to One Motorsport with Starline Racing
Jade has followed in the footsteps of her father, BTCC race winner Jim Edwards Jr, and grandfather and Clio Cup racer Jim Edwards Sr.
Edwards’ first high-profile win came in 2014, when she won an Aston Martin GT4 Challenge race outright, leading her to be selected as an Aston Martin Young Driver for 2015. Jade would contest a number of selected British GT rounds, as well as winning the Hungary 12 hour in the car.
In 2020, Edwards announced her BTCC debut, taking to the track in Power Maxed Car Care Racing’s Vauxhall Astra at Silverstone. The historical moment saw Edwards become the first female driver to contest a BTCC round since 2007.
Edwards declared her intentions for her first full campaign in the BTCC in 2021, joining PHSC with BTC Racing in one of the squad’s Honda Civic Type Rs and bagging her first championship point during the season.
Building on her maiden campaign, Edwards stuck with the squad for 2022, alongside team-mates Josh Cook and Jason Plato. The Rich Energy BTC Racing driver claimed her second-ever overall points finish at Brands Hatch, before taking her first ever Jack Sears Trophy victory at Oulton Park.
