BTCC 2017 at Oulton Park

BTCC Oulton Park Weekend 2017

Mark

The 20th and 21st May saw the BTCC Oulton Park Weekend 2017, which was as normal an exciting and unpredictable couple of days.  Saturday saw downpours of rain and red flags, with Andrew Jordan toping the times in the first free practice session and Matt Neal in the second.   Jordan and Neal carried that form into qualifying, with Neal having his second pole position in a row after qualifying success at Thruxton, and Jordan joined him on the front row of the grid ahead of Aiden Moffat.

 

Sunday felt very different with the sunshine growing through the course of the day.  The first race saw Jordan get off to a fantastic start and pass Neal right at the opening of the race.  As the two leaders pulled away, there was a huge battle for third place, with Moffat competing with Colin Turkington, Ash Sutton and Mat Jackson.  Adam Morgan and Tom Ingram both had incidents on lap one that took them out of the race and impacted their position in the championship.  It was to be Ash Sutton who claimed the third step of the podium, and another championship contender, Turkington, suffered mechanical issues, seeing him finish at the back of the grid, and as the grid for the second race is made up based on finish positions for race one, this would impact the rest of Turkington’s day.

 

Jordan led the field from pole in race two, with Sutton and Rob Collard passing Neal early in the race, and the success ballast in Jordan’s car meant that it was soon Sutton’s Subaru that was in the lead, and stayed there until the chequered flag.  Collard took second, with Neal third, ahead of his team mate Gordon Shedden, and Jordan managing fifth place.  The Team Hard cars of Jake Hill and Mike Epps, who were impressive form all weekend, took 9th and 10th, and were hoping for some luck in the reverse grid pole draw for the final race of the day.

 

It was Josh Cook who was lucky enough to have his number drawn to start race three on pole, although a tangle with Shedden saw the Honda take the lead and Cook with broken suspension and out of the race.  Neal made it a 1-2 for the team, and Andrew Jordan’s good weekend continued with a third place.  Hill and Epps continued with their good run of form, finishing 8th and 9th this time.

 

As normal, the BTCC event was supported by the ever exciting Renault Clio Cup, British F4, Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Ginetta Juniors, and the Porsche Carrera Cup.

 

The weekend has changed the championship standings too, with reigning champion Shedden back at the top of the table, followed by Collard, Ingram, Turkington and Neal.  The series makes its next stop at Croft in three weeks.  Meanwhile, here are some photos from Oulton Park.