Aiden Moffat has won his first ever Dunlop MSA British Touring car championship race after a stunning drive at Donington Park.
Moffat, who was the championship’s youngest ever driver in his first season, took the win after starting fourth on the grid. He passed second place starting Jack Goff in the Eurotech Civic on the first lap while Goff was in third, before charging after Rob Austin. Austin succumbed on lap two when Moffat made a great move up the inside at the old Hairpin.
The next target was Tom Ingram for the lead. It took him until lap five to find his chance as the ballast laden Ingram was finding his performance dropping as his tyres wore out. Moffat made his move on the outside of the Craner Curves and there was nothing Ingram could do to stop him.
From then on, Moffat managed the gap before taking the chequered flag for his first win.
“It’s a very special feeling, I won’t be forgetting this moment anytime soon!” said Moffat. “The Laser Tools Racing car was absolutely brilliant. We’ve had a great set-up all weekend, so I was feeling confident and knew we had the pace. It all came together nicely.”
Ingram found himself dropping further down the field when Austin repassed him followed by Neal and Colin Turkington.
Austin and Neal then fought over second, Neal finally taking it on lap fifteen and the duo then continued to battle to the flag with them both closing slowly on Moffat who was looking after his tyres.
Neal was happy with his second place
“After I cleared Rob, I thought ‘I’ll get my head down and try to chase after Aiden, but he pegged me lap for lap – everything I did, he just seemed to go slightly better,” said Neal. “Fair play to him – he drove a clean, honest race and it was a great result. I’ll gain some weight for race two now which will make it a bit harder, and rain might spice things up, too…”
Rob Austin was also happy with his podium despite starting from pole;
“I’m so happy for Aiden, he’s such a good lad and it was a brilliant drive from him – he really deserves it,” responded Austin. “As for me, at the start of the race I was on the brakes but the car wasn’t stopping. That was quite upsetting, but we got going and then for the first couple of laps we really struggled to get enough heat into the rear tyres and it was a bit lairy at times! We also had a small gear issue, and that was the only opportunity Matt needed to get past. I thought we would have a genuine shot at Brands Hatch, but I’m really happy to now be scoring good points and making up for lost ground.”
Ingram stopped any further cars passing to take fifth ahead of Rob Collard doing his usual charge through the field. Collard took Adam Morgan and Gordon Shedden on the penultimate lap.
Jeff Smith finished where he started in ninth but had an eventful race moving up and down the order before retaking his ninth place.
Josh took took tenth in his Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus after Daniel Lloyd and Aron Taylor-Smith took each other off going down the Craner curves.
Hill, Depper and Cole all went out on the first lap whilst Andrew Jordan and Mike Epps collided later in the race with Epps going out into the tyre wall.
There was a great battle between the two AMD Audis with Ant Whorton-Eales beating team mate Ollie Jackson to sixteenth.
2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 4 – Donington Park
1 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 16 laps
2 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.504s
3 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +2.164s
4 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +2.433s
5 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +14.539s
6 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +14.984s
7 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +15.168s
8 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +15.358s
9 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +17.996s
10 Josh COOK (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +18.905s
11 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat with Duo +18.330s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Eurotech Racing +18.878s
13 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +19.858s
14 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +20.556s
15 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +21.074s
16 Ant WHORTON-EALES (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +21.327s
17 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +21.714s
18 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +22.005s
19 Luke DAVENPORT (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +23.791s
20 Dave NEWSHAM (IRL) BTC Norlin Racing +24.829s
21 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +25.278s
22 Josh PRICE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +39.276s
23 Will BURNS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +41.935s
24 Aron TAYLOR-SMITH (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +1 lap
DNF Daniel LLOYD (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +4 laps
DNF Michael EPPS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +7 laps
DNF Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +12 laps
DNF Tom CHILTON (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +12 laps
DNF Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +13 laps
DNF James COLE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +16 laps
DNF Martin DEPPER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +16 laps
DNF Jake HILL (GBR) TAG Racing +16 laps
By Marc Waller
