The 2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship returned to action following its mid-season break to find itself deep in the North Yorkshire countryside for Rounds 16, 17, and 18, as the circus arrived at the lovely 2.1001-mile Croft circuit.
With nearby Darlington lurking beyond the green surroundings, Saturday’s qualifying session saw Sam Osborne qualify his number 77 Ford Focus ST in eighteenth position.
RACE 1 (17 Laps)
Sunday’s opening race of the day (Round 16), saw the drivers head out onto a slightly damp circuit. And, despite the race being declared as a dry one, the drivers had to tread carefully on the slick tyres. But the sun was out early, meaning that the track would dry quite quickly during this (eventual) 17-lapper.
Sam started on the outside of the ninth row on the unfavourable hard tyre, and with the usual eight laps worth of boost available. He got off the line well initially to get the jump on both Gordon Shedden (Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA Toyota Corolla GR Sport) and Aiden Moffat (LKQ Euro Car Parts with WSR BMW 330E M Sport). However, the duo returned the favour further round the lap leaving Sam to start lap two where he began.
He proceeded to have a good old fashioned ding-dong with Dexter Patterson’s ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra Leon, before being elevated to seventeenth following a spin by Mikey Doble (Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra) on lap three.
The other Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Nick Halstead got by Sam later in the lap, before Sam returned the favour two laps later.
And by the eighth lap, Sam had stretched his lead over Halstead to more than six seconds, as he tried to chase down the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA Toyota Corolla GR Sport of James Dorlin and ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra Leon of Dexter Patterson.
Racing was interrupted by the safer car on lap ten, after Chris Smiley (Restart Racing Hyundia i30N) and Gordon Shedden’s Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA Toyota Corolla GR Sport came together at the chicane, which saw the former spin into the barrier and out of the race.
With the number 77 Ford Focus ST now up into sixteenth, racing resumed on lap thirteen (of now 17), which saw Sam immediately promoted up into the points after teammate Ash Sutton was forced to pit with what looked like a puncture.
Sam then got by Dorlin’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport, before fending off the recovering and soft tyre-shod Vauxhall Astra of Mikey Doble to finish in 14th place at the chequered flag. A result that sees him add another two points to his Drivers’ Championship tally.
RACE 2 (15 Laps)
Round 17 saw Sam switch to the better soft tyre compound, as he started from fourteenth on the grid and had the full quota of eight laps worth of boost available.
Initially getting a good launch off the grid to maintain position, the number 77 Ford Focus ST soon got relegated down two places by the end of the opening lap, having been passed by his recovering teammate Ash Sutton and the Vauxhall Astra of Mikey Doble.
But Sam returned the favour on Doble on the second tour, before Dan Lloyd got by the Ford in his Restart Racing Hyundia i30N two laps later.
However, Sam returned the favour to Lloyd and passed Senna Proctor (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N) to start lap nine in thirteenth position, before being promoted to 12th following Aron Taylor-Smith’s Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with IAA Toyota Corolla GR Sport suffering a puncture.
Sam proceeded to have a great battle with the Restart Racing Hyundia i30N of Chris Smiley, along with the Cupra Leon of Dexter Patterson and Vauxhall Astra of Mikey Doble for the remainder of the race, as he took the chequered flag in 12th place to claim another four Championship points.
RACE 3 (18 Laps)
The reverse-grid third race of the weekend saw Sam’s Napa Racing UK/Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST booted up with the soft tyre once again, as he started on the outside of the sixth row.
With the usual eight laps worth of boost available, he made a terrific start to get the jump on Patterson’s ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra Leon and Tom Chilton’s Team Vertu Hyundia i30N to finish the opening lap in 11th (after Chris Smiley had got by in his Restart Racing Hyundia i30N).
The safety car was deployed on lap three, following Dan Cammish getting clipped onto the grass in his Napa Racing UK/Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST, whereby he inadvertently took out duo Daryl DeLeon (WSR BMW 330E M Sport) and Chris Smiley (Restart Racing Hyundia i30N) in an accident that forced Sam to take avoiding action.
With the number 77 Ford Focus ST now in fifteenth place, racing resumed on the eighth lap (of now 18), whereby Sam immediately dispatched the Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Nick Halstead, before reeling in Nik Hamilton’s Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock Cupra Leon.
Having got by Hamilton swiftly, Sam then took Stephen Jelley’s ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra Leon and was up into 11th position by lap ten following a spin by Charles Rainford (LKQ Euro Car Parts with WSR BMW 330E M Sport).
During lap 11, Sam had reigned in and passed the hard-tyred Cupra Leon of Dexter Patterson, Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Aron Taylor-Smith, and James Dorlin’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport to find himself in eighth place. That soon became seventh after he’d bombed past the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Tom Chilton and began to chase Chilton’s teammate Adam Morgan with six laps remaining.
However Morgan soon got by Aiden Moffat, leaving Sam to chase down the latter’s BMW 330E M Sport and finish on its rear bumper as he eventually ran out of laps.
His fine race to seventh position meant that Sam collected another nine points to finish the weekend with 60 points and 17th place in the BTCC Drivers’ Championship table. Meanwhile, in the race for the Jack Sears Trophy, Sam currently occupies third spot with 239 points.
“It was a good weekend in the end” said Sam afterwards. “To be back behind the wheel in Race One was a struggle on the hard tyre, but then Race Two was good, as we made some progress. Then Race Three was full of everything! A small mistake on my part and a large crash ahead dropped us down near the back of the grid, but that just made it more fun to get back up to seventh!”