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BTCC Race Three

Despite Alex being uncatchable at the top of the championship table, there was still plenty to play for in the final WHO BTCC race of the year. Second and third were still up for grabs, plus their were plenty of duels further down the table and some racers were desperate to score their first points of the season.

   

There were no points on offer in the E Final, but Pete stepped up for the third time in a row - this time finishing second to Kev's much-improved Halfords Civic. Their chances of a points score were dashed by strong performances by Ollie and Isaac in the D Final. Racing for the final time as juniors, the two BMW 330i drivers blitzed the rest of the grid and Ollie banged in a rapid 13:085-second lap on his way to victory.

   

Ollie held back slightly in the C Final and that helped him to another race win. This time Dean filled the second step-up spot, the other four finishing a lap down. Could Ollie make it to the A Final? He certainly had the pace (a 12:799 lap was quicker than Alex) and sat nicely in third at half distance. However, an over-exuberant final 8 laps dropped the youngster out of contention - Alex comfortably won by a lap ahead of Jean, Dean and Jeremy.

   

So we reached the final sixteen laps of our WHO BTCC season. The reverse grid had been very kind to the front runners and Alex had negotiated the B Final step-up with no issues. Could he grab a fourth win? Would Mike or Andy add a second - or would we see a first-time BTCC winner?

   

A slightly scrappy opening saw Andy and Alex move to the front, as they have for much of the past two seasons. Carrying plenty of success ballast for first and second in Race Two, the pair couldn't push as hard as they might have liked, but they increased the gap to the other four racers. There was nothing in it for the first six laps, with Alex starting to look for a way past. Back markers came into play and it was Andy who negotiated the moving chicanes with better fortune. Alex dropped back a few metres and just didn't have the power to close back up. An off for the champion-elect briefly dropped him behind Oliver, although he responded like a true champ and retook second spot. Andy's clean run from start to finish gave him a fine consolation victory...

   

Here are the full results for Race Three...

   

Jeremy added up the scores to confirm the championship podium - a thumping 15 point win for Alex, with Mike a further 14 points back, just two ahead of Oliver in fourth. Dean was best of the rest in fifth...

   

Here are the nineteen racers who picked up points in 2025, five drivers out of 24 missing out...

   

Huge congrats to Alex on his championship win, after just missing out last year. And a big thank you to everyone who has made our 2025 WHO BTCC season so enthralling with some great racing and exemplary sporting behaviour, including the loan of cars to our newer and visiting racers.

But that's not it for our December Tin Top Saturday - there's still Muscle Car Mondiale to go...