Rowbottom wins first BTCC ‘Race For Pole’

Dan Rowbottom became the first driver to claim pole position for the first championship round of a British Touring Car Championship weekend by winning Saturday’s qualifying "Race For Pole."

Driving a Mercedes-AMG A35 Saloon for the new Cataclean Plato Racing team in its first outing, the result emulates team owner Jason Plato’s maiden weekend as a driver back in 1997. But it came as a result of a penalty for Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram who started from first on the grid – after topping his 15-minute group session ahead of the grid-deciding race, having earlier gone quickest in the sole 40-minute practice session at the start of the day – but was judged to be out of position on the grid.

That handed the Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance driver a five-second penalty, and despite a late push to build a gap, Rowbottom was able to snag the win and pole for Sunday’s season opener by just 0.024s after the times were adjusted.

“It’s mental,” Rowbottom said. “Yep, it’s good – it’s been a long winter. It’s been a challenge at times, but we’ve got a great product. The guys at Plato Racing have done an extraordinary job.

“[I] did just enough, I knew Tom had a penalty so there was no point in pushing and trying to chase after him. I think he had more pace – well he did have more pace – so we did just enough to start pole tomorrow. It’s great.

Ingram got away well but fellow front-row starter Ash Sutton, who'd topped the other 15-minute timed session in his reconfigured Ford Focus Titanium Saloon, was right with him through the opening lap. The pair rubbed through McLean's, with the NAPA Racing UK driver completing the pass for the lead at Coppice.

Ingram quickly fought back, but the battle had brought Rowbottom into the equation, and he passed both at the final chicane.

Then came the defining moment of the day. While trying to return to the lead, Sutton dropped a wheel on the grass on the approach to Redgate, then spun after making contact with Ingram. He also collected his teammate Dan Cammish in the incident, who – after starting fourth – was part of a four-way fight for the lead at the start of the second lap.

The skirmish left Sutton beached in the gravel at the first turn and Cammish falling down the order. Ingram emerged unscathed and soon retook the lead from Rowbottom.

With Rowbottom aware of Ingram's penalty, he wasn't pushing too hard to move back past him. But that had invited pressure from Josh Cook. In the end, Rowbottom was able to hold off the Speedworks Corolla Racing driver, and settled for second knowing it was enough to take pole for Sunday's season opener.

“He’ll be on challenging form tomorrow,” Rowbottom said of Ingram. “We’re still learning about this car, we don’t really know what it does. That was our first proper race run and there’s a few things we’ve got to address but we’ll work away overnight and try and take the fight tomorrow.”

Cook took third behind Ingram, while Mikey Doble gave another of the new cars on the grid – Power Maxed Racing's Audi S3 Saloon – a memorable debut to claim fourth on the Round 1 grid.

Charles Rainford was fifth in his BMW for West Surrey Racing, ahead of Team VERTU’s Tom Chilton, with Adam Morgan seventh in the second Plato Racing Mercedes. Morgan had started the qualifying race from 10th after a tough timed session where he had early lap times deleted for a combination of track limits violations and overboosting.

Aiden Moffat made it two Power Maxed Audis in the top 10 with eighth, ahead of fellow Scotsman Gordon Shedden for Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, with WSR’s Daryl DeLeon rounding out the top 10.

Dexter Patterson will start Sunday's first race from 11th in the third PMR Audi, ahead of the Toyotas of Aron Taylor-Smith (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport), Ricky Collard (Team VERTU) and Cammish, who after fighting back to the midst of the top 10 in the qualifying race after the early brush with Sutton, dropped to 14th on the final lap.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley and James Dorlin, NAPA Racing UK’s Lewis Selby and Sam Osborne, Team VERTU’s Nicolas Hamilton, and Speedworks Corolla Racing’s Max Buxton completed the finishers, with Sutton having to start 21st and last on the grid for Round 1 as a result of his retirement.

RESULTS

COMBINED TIMED SESSIONS

• All 30 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship championship rounds will be live on RACER Network and on the RACER+ App, beginning with Donington Park this weekend. Live coverage begins at 6:15am ET on Sunday, April 19.
• Race 1 of the opening weekend will be live on RACER Network at 6:15am ET on Sunday, with Race 2 at 9:25am ET and Race 3 at 12:15pm ET.