Five things we learned from the BTCC at Oulton Park

Turkington keeps the momentum going

In what has been the story of the season so far, nothing seems to be able to get in the way of Colin Turkington and a record-breaking fifth championship victory. Qualifying third on the grid despite carrying full success ballast, the BMW seemed to struggle much more with its extra weight in the damp conditions of race one. Having slipped down to fifth by the chequered flag, a ride height infringement for race winner Josh Cook promoted Turkington to fourth and claiming a valuable two additional points. He would finish third in race two before coming incredibly close to top honours in the final encounter. While team-mate Tom Oliphant struggled to get past the leading Mercedes of Adam Morgan, West Surrey Racing made the call to swap both of the 3 Series and give Turkington a shot at the win. While the plan had been to swap positions back if unsuccessful, a red flag with three laps to go ended that strategy, with the championship leader finishing second ahead of a slightly frustrated Oliphant. Turkington now takes a 19-point lead into Knockhill where he’ll be hoping for more of the same as he looks to solidify his lead at the point of the field.

Josh Cook has no luck

It was looking like it would be a day to remember for BTC Racing’s Josh Cook in the opening race of the day. Having qualified on the front row, a less-than-ideal start in the wet conditions saw Cook drop to fourth on the first lap, but what followed was a display of grit and determination. Scything his way through the field, Cook finally gained the lead on lap seven and began to pull away from the chasing pack all the way to the chequered flag. Unfortunately celebrations would not last as he was later disqualified for a ride height infringement, throwing him to the back of the grid for race two, but with the full 60kg of ballast in his passenger seat. Knowing he would have to try and get to the reverse grid draw for race three, Cook began an immense recovery drive in race two. Just as he was knocking on the door of the top 12 – and thus a spot in the reverse grid draw – he came together with team-mate Michael Crees and nosed into the barriers at Knickerbrook. Eleventh place in race three meant Cook left Oulton Park having scored five points, merely a quarter of the points he lost with his race one disqualification and slid down to 15^th in the standings.

Matt Neal can’t catch a break

It should have been a weekend of celebration for Matt Neal. with the series stalwart competing in his 700^th BTCC race in race two. Instead, it was yet another weekend of frustration for the Honda driver. A strong performance in qualifying gave a glimmer of hope, as Neal lined up alongside Colin Turkington on the second row of the grid, but it all unravelled from there. A faulty rain light in race one saw Neal forced out of contention, and he could only manage 13^th in his race two recovery drive following contact with James Gornall’s Audi, not the way he would have envisaged his 700^th race playing out. A first lap incident in the final race caused a puncture to the Honda Civic Type R, and Neal ended up with just two points to show for his weekend on Sunday evening. Teammate Cammish was able to take two strong finishes in races one and two, second and fourth respectively, before a separate first lap incident in race three dropped him down the field and could only manage 15^th at the flag.

Sutton shines again

The biggest talking point from the opening round of the year at Brands Hatch was arguably just how strong 2017 champion Ash Sutton looked behind the wheel of his new Infiniti Q50. After a less impressive weekend at Donington Park, Sutton was on fine form again in Cheshire. A poor qualifying session saw him have to start from 11^th, and failed to make much progress in the first race, finishing eighth thanks to the exclusion of Josh Cook. Race two, however, was a thing of beauty from Sutton. Starting from back on the fourth row, he lit up the Q50 in a very similar style to his Brands Hatch performances. Climbing to fifth off the line, he managed to claw his way past both Turkington and Cammish and into second on lap five, before taking a second out of Rory Butcher’s lead on the very next lap. A mistake from the Scot at Old Hall gifted the lead to Sutton, and he then streaked away, pulling out a four-and-a-half second lead by the time the chequered flag dropped seven laps later. Starting tenth by virtue of the reverse grid draw in race three, Sutton followed Turkington through much of the race before the BMW switcheroo and came home fourth to stay within touching distance of Turkington’s championship lead.

Rory Butcher has momentum going home

One of the paddock’s dark horses going into 2020, Rory Butcher proved why many have been tipping him as a true title contender at Oulton Park. A storming lap in qualifying put his Motorbase Ford Focus on pole position, and he had pulled out a lead on the field in race one before the safety car bunched everyone up, allowing Cook to find a way through off the restart. Butcher managed to hold on to second at the flag, promoted to the win when Cook was thrown out of the results. Another strong performance at the head of the field in race two saw Butcher pull out another lead, before Ash Sutton had other things on his mind. A mistake from Butcher was enough to hand Sutton the lead on a silver platter, but another podium finish for Butcher, with a solid seventh in race three, gained valuable championship points. Butcher now sits third in the standings going to his home race at Knockhill next week. While he won’t have the advantage of home support around the track, there are few out there who know the Fife circuit better and he will be hoping to enjoy a similar result to last year, where he took a win and a third for AmD.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.