Currently reading: 8 highlights from the BTCC at Thruxton
Hot weather conditions made life difficult for rounds 7, 8 and 9, where three different winners prevailed

The latest round of the British Touring Car Championship has been an eventful one, due to unexpectedly high temperatures playing havoc on the Thruxton track. Read our highlights here.

1. Becoming the first double winner of the 2016 season, WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan won round 7 of the BTCC, after the contest initially seemed to favour pole-sitter Tom Ingram. Still, Ingram managed to recover following an early overtake by Matt Neal and others, coming second, while Andrew Jordan in his Pirtek Racing Ford Focus made steady progress to come third.

Morgan 1

2. The hot weather played havoc on round 7 of the race with hard-compound tyres unable to endure the conditions. Aiden Moffatt was the first to gain a puncture on lap 10, with Mat Jackson’s Ford Focus suffering a similar fate. It wasn’t long before Matt Neal’s Honda also picked up a puncture, with a number of other drivers, including Gordon Shedden and Jeff Smith, caught up the incident. With cars now littering the track, officials were forced to cut short the race, with the red flags immediately waved by the Thruxton marshals.

3. Following the drama, the BTCC announced it would reduce the distances of the remaining two races of the day to 12 laps for rounds 8 and 9. The official word was: “While a bespoke compound is produced by Dunlop to cope specifically with the high-speed and abrasive nature of the Thruxton circuit, the warm climate (33deg track temperature) faced this weekend is pushing an even greater workload through the tyre.”

Blog: Why BTCC tyres take a pounding at fast and abrasive Thruxton

4. Motorbase Performance’s Andrew Jordan became the seventh different race winner in 2016, winning Round 8. Despite Adam Morgan making a steady getaway from pole, he eventually ended up in third place, with Jordan managed to scythe his way past the WIX Racing driver on lap 11. Rob Collard came second, with his JCT600 Racing with Gard X BMW managing to fend off plenty of attacks throughout the race.

Jordan

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5. Ingram didn’t fare so well in round 8 when he was adjudged by officials to have jumped the start. A subsequent drive-through penalty forced him out of the fight, and he eventually came 20th. Bad luck was also in store for Eurotech Racing; despite having all three of its drivers in the top 10 at one stage, both Jeff Smith and Martin Depper didn’t manage to finish the race. Smith ran wide at high speed and left the circuit while Depper retired late on.

Ingram 1

6. Motorbase Performance scored a second win of the day as Mat Jackson followed up Andrew Jordan’s race two success with his own impressive display in the Thruxton finale. The victory was also Jackson’s second of the 2016 campaign as he joined WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan as the only double winner so far this season. Blasting past the Proton of pole-sitter Dan Welch off the line, Jackson’s Ford Focus was able to cruise home to the flag in relative comfort despite the chasing pack.

Jacksonm

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7. Having overtaken Team IHG’s Rewards Club’s Jack Goff on lap eight, Matt Neal in his Honda came second in the final race of the day, while the final podium place went to Morgan – making it a hat-trick on the day, as he crossed the line just 0.198sec ahead of MG pair Josh Cook and Ashley Sutton.

8. Rob Collard leads the 2016 driver standings with 91 points, followed by Gordon Shedden (86), Jack Goff (85), Matt Neal (84) and Adam Morgan (83).

Rounds 10, 11 and 12 will be held at Oulton Park on 4-5 June.

Read Autocar's report on rounds 4, 5 and 6

Read Autocar's report on rounds 1, 2 and 3

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289 9 May 2016

BTCC

This tyre issue is just ridiculous. Dunlop need to have a word with themselves....I mean, whilst it may have been the warmest day of the year so far, it was hardly equivalent to a hot summers day and there was a good breeze.
If Dunlop cant make a Hard compound tyre cope with 27 degrees (33 track temp) at Thruxton then the coumpound needs to be harder....not make races shorter. OR the drivers will have to nurse their tyres more.
What are they going to do when summer does arrive?