NAPA Racing UK sit top of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship standings at the half-way of the season after picking up a seventh win of the year at Oulton Park.
The Alliance Racing-run team was looking to maintain its advantage at the top at the Cheshire circuit after a double win a fortnight earlier at Thruxton, with the Ford Focus ST starting the weekend well in first practice.
Daniel Rowbottom topped the times ahead of points leader Ash Sutton with Dan Cammish in third to complete a lock-out of the top three spots, with Sam Osborne a fraction of a second away from the top ten.
Oulton Park also saw the end of an era, with BTCC anchor man Steve Rider hanging up his microphone. Steve has been the voice of the BTCC since 1988 and has been hugely influential in creating the opportunity for broadcasting the championship on television. Thank you, Steve, for all you have done for the team, drivers and championship.
BTCC Qualifying:
Although Cammish was the only one of the quartet to then make it into the top ten in FP2, it was a session that took place on a drying circuit, and which provided little indication of what to expect in qualifying.
Sutton and Rowbottom ran in the first qualifying group in Q1 and whilst Sutton was able to make it through by a tenth of a second, Rowbottom narrowly missed the cut and end up 15th on the grid for race one. Cammish then topped group two, with Osborne missing out on going through by just 0.004s to qualify one spot ahead of Rowbottom.
Making it to the Quick Six fight for pole, Cammish and Sutton locked out the second row of the grid to leave them well placed for race day.
BTCC Race 1:
The two lead NAPA Fords went for the soft tyre in race one and were both able to clear the Hyundai of Chris Smiley on lap one – with Cammish moving into second at turn one before Sutton claimed third at Cascades.
After an early caution period, the pair held station in second and third place through to the final lap. Ash and his team decided to take a calculated risk to drop behind Smiley’s Hyundai into fourth, thereby allowing him to run the faster, soft tyre option again in race two. With the top 3 being forced to run the harder tyre, the aim was to collect the maximum number of championship points over the three races. Dan Cammish finished in a fine 2nd place, and his 5th podium of the season.
Both Osborne and Rowbottom elected to run the hard tyre in race 1, with Rowbottom able to finish the best of the hard tyre drivers in 14th place. Sam was again forced to settle for 20th, having been tipped into a spin early, exiting the Island Hairpin by Stephen Jelley.
BTCC Race 2:
Sutton’s gamble in race one paid off in race two as he made the most of having the better tyre to score a fourth win of the season. Moving up into second on lap one, Sutton grabbed the lead from his title rival Ingram on lap two and was never headed en-route to victory, even after a lengthy safety car period that backed up the pack behind.
Rowbottom, now on the soft tyre, made the most of the pace in his Focus to fight his way to a strong sixth place. Dan Cammish, being forced to start on the hard tyre, put up a strong fight to bring his car home to the points in tenth.
Sam was also in fighting form as, like Rowbottom, he was able to make up eighth places from where he started in twelfth, putting himself in contention for the draw for the race 3 grid and leading Jack Sears finisher.
BTCC Race 3:
The forecasted rain struck Oulton Park, just before the start of race three, which benefited Ash Sutton as he no longer had to run the hard tyre. Starting P9 he took advantage, battling his way through to finish second place to slightly extend his lead at the top of the standings.
Dan Rowbottom would join him on the podium, finishing in third, to cap a strong recovery from where he had qualified, with Cammish completing a solid points scoring weekend with sixth. Osborne ended the weekend on a high, with his strongest result as he took tenth spot to put all four NAPA Racing cars inside the top ten and gain some valuable points, moving up to 3rd in the Jack Sears Trophy overall standings.
Going into the mid-season break, Ash Sutton extended his championship lead, with Dan Cammish leapfrogging Dan Rowbottom to sit in 3rd place, split by just two points. With all 4 drivers performing well, the NAPA Racing UK team also extended its lead in both the Manufacturers’/Constructors’ standings and the Team’s Trophy.