Jon Bayliffe technically started in pole position for the reverse grid race but Jacob Money decided that pole should’ve been his. With perhaps the biggest jump start any of us have ever seen, Jacob shot up over the grass to somehow enter turn one in 1st place. His enjoyment of leading the race was short lived however, with a stop and go penalty to serve, he was put back to last place for his crimes.

There was a lot of concern heading to Knockhill for the reverse grid race, but as has been shown on a few occasions this season, a small, technical track can actually bring out some of the best racing and for the second season in a row, Knockhill did not disappoint! With the usual battles throughout the entire field, the reverse grid race made for an excellent, exciting watch.

With the title fight well and truly still on, Roman and Thomas drove an excellent race to finish 4th and 7th respectively, but it was the championship leader who unbelievably claimed his first win of the season to clinch that drivers title! Jon Bayliffe had a very well deserved race two podium, finishing just 4 seconds behind Ryan with Derek Crowther getting a fantastic double podium, finishing in 3rd for the second time of the evening.

Alfie Mcgarrity took his second Rookie class win of the season, an excellent second half of the season for the Spud Motorsport driver with Johannes Leppitt coming home in 2nd of the Rookies and Will Martin rounding out the Rookie podium.

Knowing that Tsukuba is such a tight track with limited overtaking opportunities I think I can safely say that almost all of us were expecting some form of carnage to break out, especially during the start of the reverse grid race. Scott Morris and Fraser Geraghty had a coming together into turn one which spun Fraser out and left Paul Clist nowhere to go, dropping both drivers right the way to the back of the field but other than that all of the drivers managed to safely navigate lap one. 

The opening few laps were exciting to watch with multiple battles going on, particularly between Jon Bayliffe and the two eTeamHARD – Heusinkveld drivers, but lap four was the end of the battle for Jon as he struck a stranded Honda Civic coming out of the penultimate corner, resulting in him towing back to the pit lane. Shane Dunn met the same fate having no way to avoid the stationary car and losing a front wheel in the process. 

But up front there was a three way battle going on for the lead of the race, Rikki Edwards had managed to jump into first at the start of the race however Johannes Leppitt and Dan Thornton were quickly hunting him down. Rikki did an excellent job to hold onto the  lead for the first six laps but a slightly wide line into the final turn allowed Johannes to slip through the gap and into the lead of the race. The battle continued but it was a class drive from Johannes that earnt the TR powered by Geekz Energy driver his and the teams first VBTCR win! Not only this but it was also the first time ever that a rookie driver has taken an overall VBTCR win. Sam Vanolst drove an almost unbelievable race two to come from 20th on the grid and finish up in 2nd place whilst Ryan Elliott rounded out the podium.

With Johannes taking the overall and rookies win, it was Scott Morris who came 2nd of the rookies, an excellent 10th place overall and Duncan Steele who finished third of the rookies, 11th place overall which was his highest overall finish of the season so far.

The full reverse grid put Jack Mace on pole for race two with Johannes Leppitt joining him on the front row where both drivers would be keen to make up for their not so successful race one. 

Insignia Racing driver Fraser Geraghty had a lightning fast start and drove his way up into second place before entering turn one. A few cars got caught up in an incident towards the rear of the field however, almost all of the cars managed to navigate the opening lap unscathed or with minimal time lost. 

Race two usually presents us with a highly entertaining race with drivers battling through the field and this week was no exception, with the regular VBTCR front runners making their way back up the grid but this week it was the battle up front that we couldn’t keep our eyes off. Jack Mace was being hunted down by the likes of Fraser Geraghty, Ryan Smith and Thomas Dandridge from the very first corner right up until the chequered flag but Jack was determined no to give up the chance for his first ever VBTCR win. We witnessed a defensive masterclass from Jack and some superb, clean racing from all of the other drivers involved in the battle. It was excellent to watch and a race that I’m sure all the drivers will remember for a long time.

I’m sure everyone will agree that Jack deserved his first win after that race. Fraser earnt his highest ever VBTCR finish and although he couldn’t quite take the top spot away from Jack, he will be more than happy with that result and so will his team for the large amount of points earned. Rounding out the podium in race two was Thomas Dandridge and with a top ten finish in race one, I’m sure Oulton Park will be a round that the Verve Team Racing driver is more than pleased with.

After the unfortunate race one incident, Johannes Leppitt finished 9th overall and came over the line as the top placed rookie driver. An excellent result for his first ever VBTCR round. Race two saw another solid finish for Rikki Edwards in second, with Duncan Steele rounding out the rookie podium

As we all know, race two in the VBTCR means a full reverse grid and after the implementation of the new ‘second chance restart’ process and Silverstone, we were glad to see that it was not needed here. Even with an unlucky Martyn Pearson, who got tagged into turn one and sent sideways across the track, it was great to see everyone alert and proactive in their driving, meaning that everyone made it through cleanly and with minimal time lost.

As always, race two provides us with a vast amount of thrilling battles throughout the whole grid. We had drivers trying to make up for their poor luck in race one, others making the most of the higher starting position that the reverse grid offers them and drivers trying to maximise their points haul after a successful race one.

Ryan Elliot has clearly got the hang of the VBTCR format, fighting his way up to 4th place and getting oh so close to that double podium which very few have managed to achieve. Ell Neal was our race two winner, earning himself a result he knew he deserved after being dealt a bad hand in race one. Goldwing Motorsport driver Sam Vanolst took the fight to Ell for the entirety of the race distance, battling bumper to bumper right up until the final corner but ultimately bringing it home in 2nd place, just 0.429 seconds behind Ell. Chris Young finished off his first round of VBTCR with a well deserved podium, finishing just over 3 seconds behind the leader. Spud Motorsport driver Alfie Mcgarrity was the highest placed rookie driver in race two, another one who suffered from some bad luck early on in race one and managed to make the most of the reverse grid race.

New for season two is the ‘second chance restart’, a process dreamed up by the VBTCR admin team that in the unfortunate event that a large percentage of the field get caught up in an incident in the early stages of a race, neutralises the race and gives those drivers just as the name suggests… a second chance. As the lights went green, a stationary car in the middle of the grid resulted in an almost unavoidable obstacle that resulted in one of those incidents that was just mentioned and therefore the second chance restart was utilised. Make sure to check out the broadcast at the bottom of this page to see how it all worked out!

Race two has always been a fan highlight in VBTCR, with a full reverse grid race it gives every single driver a new challenge and opportunity and once again, when we eventually got underway it did not disappoint. Drivers battling their way through from the back trying to maximise their points haul from this round gave us a bunch of great battles and overtakes throughout. 

Jacob Money was our race two winner, giving himself and his team, Positively Racing a big points haul this round. Thomas Dandridge brought his Hyundai Veloster home in second place whilst setting the fastest lap of the race and Rookie driver Neil Goodacre got an overall podium in race two which is a fantastic result for the Spotless Motorsport driver!

Now onto the big one, the overall drivers championship! After a hard fought season that went right down to the final round before being decided it was Luminous Racing driver Terje Flåten that came out on top. With 6 race wins and 9 podium finishes it was a very much deserved title.

1st – Terje Flåten

2nd –  Martijn Asschert

3rd – Andreas Gillmann

Race two at Oulton Park could be described in many ways… eventful, chaotic or for the spectators, entertaining and that’s all applicable before the drivers even got to turn one! After picking up damage and dropping a lap down in race one, James Birch would of been hopeful for a turnaround result in race two, especially when starting on pole in the reverse grid. His hopefulness was short lived though after a very slow start, other opportunistic drivers were scrambling left, right and centre to gain some positions. Will Martin and Duncan Marais were the first two drivers to make contact, which ordinarily would’ve ended up with both drivers continuing but being on the starting grid the chaos that entailed wouldn’t of been predicted by anyone. With almost half of the grid being caught up in the accident, drivers had to navigate their way out of the mess by taking to the grass, towing back and some drivers even having to reverse out of it. It was not the start that any of us wanted to see and one we are hopeful to never see again.

After this the race was of three kinds, those drivers who were trying their best to get their damaged cars back to the pits to begin repairs, the drivers who decided to continue with the damage they had been given those that managed to avoid the carnage and make the most of the opportunity they’d been presented with. Christopher Smith, Tom Holland and Jan Böhl were the three who managed to escape any contact and shoot off up the road best. After the disappointment of race on, Jan was quick to make the most of the opportunity by dispatching Tom and Chris by the start of lap two, from here on the Impulse driver was untouchable, taking the win by a gap of over seven seconds!

Christopher Smith drover a superb race to earn himself second place and his best result of the season so far whilst Mats Borge Anderson got up onto the podium for the TC Motortsport drivers first race meeting. With Jan’s win and Martijn Asschert coming home in sixth it was another good race for the Impulse Racing team, outscoring their main championship rivals once again. 

The full reverse grid put Ignium Motorsport Spark driver Neil Stephenson onto pole position and he made the most of it, getting near perfect traction off the line and keeping himself out of any pressure into the first braking zone of turn two. A bit further back some running wide and a couple of ‘optimistic’ overtaking attempts sent four or five cars off onto the grass between turn one and two but almost everyone managed to continue without any major damage. 

A good start from Shane Dunn and some defensive manoeuvres from Alfie Mcgarrity gave plenty of screen time for the Spud Motorsport drivers to show off their one off ‘down under’ livery at the sharp end of the grid. Neil Stephenson was doing a fantastic job out front and was maintaining a good gap to the rest of the field but a bit of oversteer sent Christopher Emms straight into the back of Neil, effectively ending both of their races. Such a shame to see as although it was early in the race, both drivers were on for their best ever finishing positions. However, Ignium Sparks loss was the sister teams gain as Dan Mould took over the lead of the race where he would remain unchallenged for the remaining 17 minutes of the race. Although Dan has firmly been a front runner in the championship since this beginning, almost unbelievably this was his first VBTCR win! Shane Dunn followed in second with Jack Johns rounding out the podium, with both drivers also earning their best finishes of the season so far. 

As always with VBTCR, race two meant a full reverse grid! We’ve already come to love these reverse grid races as not only does it really highlight who is able to fight their way through the field after a good result in race one but it also gives the chance for the drivers who weren’t able to nail that perfect qualifying lap to show their skills when starting up at the front of the grid. 

After his unfortunate lap one slow down penalty in race one, the reverse grid put Freddy Hewitt on pole position with Dan Thornton joining him on the front row. Tom Holland, Nick Kent and Dom Cottenham rounded out the top 5. Dan Thornton did not get the start he would of hoped for, dropping back to 8th position off of the line. This was still better than Scott Malcolm’s start to the race though, with the Team Mad Simmortal driver being spun round as he turned into the first corner and dropping him right to the back of the field. 

After getting his first VBTCR win at Brands Hatch, Silverstone did not treat Freddie Hewitt well, he entered the pit lane at the end of lap one for an unknown reason handing the race lead over to Tom Holland. The opening part of race two always seems to bring drama and this week was no different, with multiple incidents throughout the field leaving various cars with damage that they would have to carry for the remainder of the race.

Mark McCabe took the lead away from Tom Holland just a couple of laps into the race, which is where he would stay all the way up to the checkered flag, he held the pressure of Martijn Asschert hunting him down throughout the closing stages of the race, managing to just pip him to the line by 0.1 seconds! It was a superb first win for Mark and bumped him way up the championship standings to 11th place. Tom Holland seemed extremely happy with his 3rd place and first VBTCR podium which was great to hear. 

Race two meant a full 33 car reverse grid, providing a real challenge for those drivers who were absolutely rapid in race one to now battle their way through the field but also an opportunity for the drivers who perhaps got caught up in that lap 3 incident or just didn’t have the race one they had hoped for.

This put Derek Crowther from Insignia Racing on pole position with Jt Johnston and Alfie McGarrity completing the top three. An incident at the start sent one of the mid pack cars into the wall and bouncing back across the rest of the grid, leaving a lot of cars nowhere to go and meaning that for a lot of drivers their race two was over before they had even reached turn one. The lap one mayhem continued with the 4th, 5th and 6th place cars attempting to go three wide into Surtees which seemingly was never going to happen and resulting in all three cars losing a bunch of positions. Meanwhile Derek Crowther had a dream opening lap and shot off into the distance putting over two seconds between himself and second place Alfie McGarrity and over seven seconds back to third!

At the end of a very chaotic race just 17 cars finished on the lead lap, with Freddie Hewitt taking his first VBTCR win! Terje Flåten unbelievably managed to get his Audi RS3 TCR all the way from the back of the grid and up to second place, a fantastic effort and very nearly a maximum points haul from the Luminous Racing driver! Derek Crowther did a superb job to bring his car home in third and earn himself his first podium finish! Spud Motorsport driver Shane Dunn came ever so close to also getting his first podium, losing out to Terje on the last lap of the race, still a great effort getting his Audi up from 18th place.