Dan Rowbottom rounded off an incredible weekend for NAPA Racing UK as he won the reverse grid Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race at Thruxton.
Pole-sitter Adam Morgan made a stellar getaway and immediately pulled away from the chasing pack, as Aiden Moffat (One Motorsport with Starline Racing) initially proved to be the cork in the bottle with a gaggle of cars bulked up behind him.
Team BMW’s Morgan scurried off into the distance, whilst Rowbottom was busy making progress from fifth on the grid and into third.
On lap five, Rowbottom’s Ford Focus dispatched of Moffat’s Honda Civic Type R through the Complex and he took six tenths of a second out of Morgan’s advantage on the very next lap.
The gap kept coming down and Rowbottom eventually made his move down the inside of Morgan’s #33 BMW 330e M Sport before the cars reached Church on lap ten.
It was a great comeback throughout the day from Rowbottom, as his car suffered with a puncture in the opening race before his fightback began in race two.
Morgan held on to second whilst Moffat defended valiantly to fend off Team BMW’s Colin Turkington to complete the podium.
Ricky Collard (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK), Aron Taylor-Smith (CarStore Power Maxed Racing) and Rory Butcher (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) were next in the order, ahead of a quintet of title contenders headed by Dan Cammish (NAPA Racing UK).
Tom Ingram (BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8) arguably made the move of the race as he surged around the outside of Jake Hill (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) at top speed to steal ninth as they battled with Josh Cook (One Motorsport with Starline Racing) and Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK).
Daniel Rowbottom said: “I made up places at the start and then it was a good battle with Aiden [Moffat]. Aiden put up a great challenge, but our car was fantastic and so once we got clear and into second I set about chasing Adam [Morgan] down. I didn’t plan to make the move into Church, but it was a great feeling to take the win.
“The team have been brilliant all week – Ash [Sutton] won the first two races and we’ve won the third. I did not feel as positive at the end of Race 1 after the issue we had – I wondered if the weekend was finished – so to come back from that and show the pace that we had in Race 2 and in Race 3 is a great feeling. It’s a fantastic end to the day.”