The three races from the British Touring Car Championship meeting at Oulton Park last weekend showed that two words would sum up the weekends performances:
Improved Pace...
Let me explain...
Better put that kettle on...
Now, since Thruxton, many of the teams in the BTCC took the 3 week break to go testing and get some mileage done on their cars before the Oulton Park meeting. The reason for this taking place en mass at Pembrey, Snetterton, Brands Hatch Indy and Donington was due to the fact off the poor weather during the off season.
And its paid off for everyone in some way, shape or form...
MG had a test at Snetterton, evaluating the setup changes from Thruxton and unlocked a sweetspot for the Oulton track. In qualifying this translated into in MG 1-2 with Plato on Pole position and Sam Tordoff beside him in his best qualifying position yet.
That front row start translated into a 1-2 for MG in race one and Plato would take a win in race two to help his championship chances. Tordoff however would suffer in race two on the soft tyre and find himself in the sore end of a typical BTCC Beating session, being passed by Shedden, Turkington, Neal and Jordan before contact out of the hairpin from Mat Jackson would end both drivers races.
So it would seem that the MG's have found that competitive setup that now gives the Works Honda's a run for their money in the coming rounds. Things are about to hot up between the works teams, trust me on that...
Andy Jordan had a good weekend again. Although he didn't qualify on the front row, both races one and two showed yet again that he is not afraid to fight with the works teams. In race one, he made up a position from 5th on the grid to finish 4th as Newsham fell back to 8th in the race.
There was a worrying amount of smoke from the Pirtek Honda but this was later attributed to a loose exhaust cover and not oil. In race two he was running 4th when Jack Goff's Insignia parking in the Pit Entry bought out the Safety Car. During the run down to Lodge Corner, Neal passed Jordan, taking advantage of the Safety Car rule stating that all competitors can race until they see a Safety Car board at a Marshall post.
In race one Plato led home Tordoff, Shedden, Jordan and Turkington for the top 5, followed by Neal, Jackson, Newsham, Morgan and Collard. Newsham had started 4th however his tyres went off during the race and he fell back but his Toyota showed the same fast pace that Morgan's has this year and hopefully theres more to come after the tests that the team had at Pembrey and Donington. Both the Airwaves Fords have improved in pace with the Focus's being involved in battles for the top ten positions in all three races.
In race two, Plato led home Shedden and Turkington for 3rd, again the Ebay BMW showing it too has improved in pace since its last outing at Thruxton and the test at Brands Hatch. Whats also given the BMW an advantage is that it seems to work its soft tyre the best when its used. His win at Donington was proof of this.
Pretty soon that Beemer is going to be challenging for race one and two wins on...improved pace...
Behind the Turk came Neal, Jordan, Newsham, Morgan, Austin, Welch and Smith. Yes, Dan got the Proton into the top 10 after a torrid season plagued with problems for "Optimus" The Proton Persona and it was great to see for the team to do so well at their home track. With Austin getting "Sherman" into the top 10 for the race three reverse grid draw, race three was looking rather tasty...
And it was!!! But I'm getting to that...
By the way, I am loving the fact that BTCC Teams are naming their cars. I think its a great idea and that TOCA should make this a standard practice in the series. The cult fan following that Optimus and Sherman have is growing day by day on facebook and twitter!!
And so we come to race three...
Now many people I speak to who are fans and first time viewers alike will often speak of race three at BTCC meetings because its all out racing, carnage and great sport for the fans. That's the best part about the BTCC because in the beginning all the way back in 1991 when the 2 litre era began, it was all about panel bashing and bumper pushing and flying wing mirrors...and that's what got the series its good name for exciting motorsport that's a great alternative to Formula One.
Ok, I'm done with the selling, on to race three. Now remember as you read this next part, this was the third race of the day and it ran for 17 laps...
On lap four, Jason Plato pulled into the pits with smoke billowing out of his MG6, which was on fire on the front right corner. The Marshals managed to put out the fire in the pits and Plato escaped from the car unhurt and safe.
Oh, but there's more...
A huge concertina effect at the front on lap five saw Dave Newsham spin off spectacularly at Cascades in his Toyota Avensis, whilst Shedden’s Honda Civic slowed with a puncture. On lap seven, Matt Neal attempted to pass Turkington at the Knickerbrook Chicane, however the two cars made contact and for a scary moment, Matt was tipped up on two wheels. Fortunately both cars were able to continue on
Now since the start, Smith had been harrying Austin in the Audi with the Honda looking the faster car of the two. After a helpful nudge from Smith as the two cars headed into Lodge corner, Smith took the lead on lap eight, with Adam Morgan in his Toyota making his way past as well. Unfortunately Dan Welch retired when he lost power a lap later on lap nine, before Jordan passed Morgan for second.
And we're only just halfway through!!!
Colin Turkington passed Morgan on the exit of Cascades on lap 12 before what I think s the defining moment of the race took place. Now Jeff Smith has upped his game this year leading races at both Thruxton and Oulton Park and fighting with the bigger guns as he usually has qualified in the top ten on a Saturday. However I think that the 2nd opportunity to try and take a race three win got to him. With team mate Jordan in second a possible Pirtek Racing 1-2 was in the offering and that would have sent the team and the paddock wild.
However when Jordan tried to pass his team mate, Smith defended a little too robustly and for a few laps it was obvious as the two Pirtek cars drove through Knickerbrook each time, that Jeff was losing grip through the chicane. Had Smith let Jordan through to gain the "I led a lap" point, I'm pretty sure that Pirtek Boss Mike Jordan would have ordered positions reversed and Jeff might have won. But it wasn't to be and Smith lost it under braking at Knickerbrook.
Smith finally made his day worse his day by flying off backwards at Cascades on the next lap, a spot which also saw a spin for the fan popular Tom Onslow-Cole in his Tony Gilham Racing Volkswagen on the last lap. Unfortunately TOC was moving back through the field in all three races in his Passat after qualifying in the top ten on Saturday. However I am sure that the Passat and TOC will star again in the next few rounds.
Besides, that car looks fast even standing still!!!
Sam Tordoff is proving the revelation of the series this year by far. After his race two incident with Mat Jackson in his Airwaves Ford Focus where the pair touched at the Island Hairpin and both drivers took damage dropping them to the rear of the field, Sam started 22nd for race three...and he would take no prisoners. Starting in his MG6 with no success ballast and also on the normal "harder" tyre, he carved his way through the field to finally finish 7th. I still stand by my statement in an earlier blog post that this boy is going to take a win this year in BTCC and that he is going to be a revelation in future seasons to come.
Jordan kept the lead all the way to the finish with Turkington second and an elated Morgan taking his first podium in BTCC in only his second season by finishing third, holding off Matt Neal by just 0.078 in the end. Behind Neal the top ten was completed by Rob Austin and Will Bratt, both RAR drivers taking the best result this season and also Bratt's best position in his short BTCC career so far. with Tordoff 7th, he was followed by Nick Foster, Frank Wrathall and Aron Smith in the second Airwaves Ford.
So in review, a little bit of testing in the past few weeks, that was denied to most teams during the winter due to the bad weather, has closed up the BTCC field of drivers and now made it even more harder for fans like me to pick their Fantasy BTCC team for Croft onwards!!! Cheers fella's!
But seriously, a field this close is starting to show a trend at each meeting with MG and Honda fighting it out for Pole Position with Pirtek's Andy Jordan on a Saturday. On race day however, the EBay BMW's are moving quickly through the field to make up positions as are the Audis and Toyota's. I am feeling however for Frank Wrathall. The Dynojet Toyota is fast this year, blindingly fast...but fragile too. If the Dynojet guys can get some reliability into the Toyota, Frank will be fighting for wins again with the works teams. His win last year at Brands Hatch in the finale was no fluke and soon it will be joined by others.
The Insignia's of Tony Gilham Racing showed pace again in the hands of Jack Goff and James Cole and pretty soon those cars will be fighting for top ten places in all three races in the same way that TOC is dragging the Passat into the fight. However the team deserves the commendation alone for building at least 3 cars from scratch over the winter and already having taken 2 podiums in races this year. Hopefully Howard Fuller will join them at Croft in a second Passat and the talent he showed last year at Rockingham and Silverstone in the Honda Civic was impressive.
The Airwaves Ford's of Mat Jackson and Aron Smith are again showing improved pace and fighting for top ten positions and hopefully in the coming weeks in the Summer Break after Croft, they will find more speed and come out fighting and faster at Snetterton. Last year the NGTC Focus made it's debut in Mat's capable hands and he showed good pace on its first weekend.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, Lea Wood is now ahead with 5 Trophies to Liam Griffin's 4. Liam did win in race one but he was given a 1 second penalty after contact with fellow JST rival Wood. AmD regular James Kaye was replaced by VW Cup leader Aaron Mason for this round only whilst Warren Scott endured a difficult meeting with the ex STR SEAT Leon. He has confirmed that as soon as the team can make the switch to NGTC machinery, it will probably be a VW Passat. Joe Girling didn't race after taking medical advice and David Nye also had a difficult weekend. Wood took wins in races one and two to maintain his good home record.
And so we look forwards to the weekend's action at Croft, the fifth meeting of the 2013 BTCC Season. Again like Oulton Park, it has fast flowing corners and slow corners, even a hairpin. The racing is fast an close and hectic and expect the rear wheel drive BMW's and Audi's to star again.
Add into the mix that its home territory for the MG fans and that Honda will be fighting back and this is already looking like a cracking race weekend. So I'll leave the racing to the experts and hope that this post hasn't been too long this time.
To add into the already spicy mix, Airwaves are due to have their third NGTC Focus makes its appearance along with Andy Neate's NGTC Chevrolet Cruze. I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes as it looks a great car already. It was due to race at Oulton Park, but Andy decided on safety grounds that more work and testing was needed. Jake Hill will replace Liam Griffin in the S2000 Ford Focus due to Griffin having to see to Business Commitments. Howard Fuller may also make an appearance...we wait and see...
One final thing, apparently there's this 24 hour race taking place in France this weekend. At some place called Le Mans. Something about Audi and Toyota racing diesels head to head...not sure what that's all about...
Cheers
Phil
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