A thrilling weekend at Donington Park featured some of the most memorable BTCC support races in recent times, as MSA Formula, the Ginetta Junior Championship, Renault UK Clio Cup and Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup tackled the iconic Leicestershire circuit.
A number of drivers shined during the weekend, and here at TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk we’ve picked out our drivers of the weekend from each championship:
Read our selections from the Brands Hatch season opener here.
MSA Formula – Dan Ticktum
Ticktum made a lot of headlines during pre-season with his testing pace and following a pair of second places on his maiden weekend at Brands Hatch, the Fortec Motorsport ace was the pace-setter throughout at Donington.
With a double pole position in qualifying under his belt, Ticktum swept away to a dominant seven second victory in the opening race. After battling to fifth in race two, Ticktum led from lights-to-flag again in race two to establish a 27 point championship lead.
Ginetta Junior Championship – Jonathan Hadfield
It was a relatively subdued opening weekend of the season at Brands Hatch for Hadfield, but the sophomore racer has firmly thrust himself into the championship picture with a stunning performance at Donington.
Setting the pace in qualifying, Hadfield converted his first Ginetta pole position into a dominant maiden victory in race one, before fighting tooth and nail for victory in a thrilling race two, the R&J Motorsport racer finishing up second to move into the same position in the points standings.
Renault UK Clio Cup – Ant Whorton-Eales
Whorton-Eales kicked off his season in perfect style at Brands Hatch with the opening race win of the year and carried that momentum into Donington Park, the SV Racing ace stamping his authority at the top of the championship with a podium hat-trick.
After securing a pair of front-row grid slots in qualifying, Whorton-Eales took second place in the opening race following an epic duel with Brands adversary Ashley Sutton. Repeating that result in race two, Whorton-Eales followed it up with a dominant second win of the campaign.
Ginetta GT4 Supercup – Jamie Orton
Orton was unlucky to miss out on the Driver of the Weekend accolade after a double victory at Brands Hatch, but the HHC Motorsport ace showed that meeting was no flash in the pan with another star outing at Donington.
After making it two pole positions from two so far this campaign in qualifying, Orton followed up a pair of second places with a lights to flag third win of the campaign to extend his championship lead to fifteen points over team-mate and former champion Carl Breeze.
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Who else impressed?
Matheus Leist followed up a pair of podiums at Brands Hatch with a maiden MSA Formula victory, while another to get a first category win was Ash Hand in the Clio Cup. Tom Oliphant established his Ginetta Supercup title credentials with a first win of the campaign, whilst Senna Proctor grew his Ginetta Junior points lead with a second win as Lewis Brown secured a first category podium finish.