Hill & Ingram Turn Up The Heat As Sutton Stalls At Oulton Park

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Championship contender Jake Hill turned in another admirable performance to register his fifth win of the season this past weekend as the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) returned to Oulton Park, in a meeting that also saw Tom Ingram finally officially notch up his 30th career victory and Josh Cook break his two-year duck.

A day of bodywork problems saw reigning champion Ash Sutton lose ground in the title race as his nearest rivals leapfrog him as the competition enters it's mid-point summer break.

Photo courtesy of British touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Qualifying

After last year's BMW whitewash, which saw Jake Hill register a double and Colin Turkington victorious in the final race, all eyes were on the West Surrey Racing and Laser Tools Racing garages to see if they could produce a repeat performance. However, it would be Power Maxed Racing's Aron Taylor-Smith that topped the times in FP1 and NAPA Racing UK's Dan Rowbottom followed suit in FP2 earlier on Saturday.

When it came time for the increasingly-popular 'Quick Six' qualifying showdown later in the afternoon,  however, the biggest surprise to come from the first two group sessions in Q1 was to see Irishman Andrew Watson eliminated in the early stages to ensure a start in the first race from the back half of the grid.

In Group 2, Jake Hill would leave it late to register his best time as he still sat outside the top six - and in the inevitable 'drop zone' - when he started what would be his final lap with seconds remaining on the clock. By the time he crossed the timing line at the end, Hill had done enough to jump from 7th to 5th, at the expense of Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble who was eliminated by only a thousandth of a second.

Although not trouncing the opposition in qualifying quite like he did last year under the old straight-thirty-minute format, Ash Sutton was still making headlines by setting the fastest lap times out of all those set in Q1, with the lowest allocation of hybrid deployment on the grid (1s per lap).

Q2 - which comprises the top six fastest from each group in Q1 - continued to dish out surprises as Jake Hill and Colin Turkington both failed to progress to the 'Quick Six' finale, along with Aron Taylor-Smith and the Speedworks-run Toyota trio Josh Cook, Rob Huff and Aidan Moffat, who all had to settle for top-twelve starts.

The 'Quick Six' showdown would once again come down to a manufacturer shoot-out with three NAPA Racing UK Ford Focuses (Sutton, Cammish & Rowbottom), two Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai's (Tom Ingram & Tom Chilton) and the lone remaining Team BMW car of Adam Morgan.

By the halfway mark of Q3, Sutton and Cammish sat atop the times and looked for an all-Alliance Racing front row before Tom Ingram nipped ahead to set the quicker time of 1:24:194 to put his Hyunda i30 N on pole position for the second straight time.

Photo courtesy of British touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Race One (Round 13)

Helping to maintain the BMW's reputation for lightning-quick starts, all eyes were on Jake Hill to see what he could achieve at the start from seventh on the grid. From the off, Hill found himself up to fifth as Ingram, Sutton and Cammish started to pull away from the rest of the pack early.

Colin Turkington, a winner at the Cheshire circuit last year, stalled on the line due to a mechanical failure, being forced into the pits immediately. West Surrey Racing would be able to get Turkington's car back onto the track, rejoining the race 2 laps down and inevitably having to make do with a last-place finish.

On lap two, Ingram and Sutton displayed why their on-track rivalry is being compared to the likes of Neal-Plato as they rubbed doorhandles heading into one of the turns, forcing Ingram off and over the grass at the chicane, but still being able to rejoin in the lead.

By the half-way mark, Sutton and Ingram increased their lead ahead of Cammish and the rest of the pack and a couple of laps later, Jake Hill had continued to make up more ground and was up to fourth.

However, as Hill pushed hard to catch and take Cammish's third spot, a big lock-up sent Hill into the escape lane, costing him positions to Dan Rowbottom and Adam Morgan, sending him back to sixth.

Only a few laps from the end, Dan Rowbottom's Ford Focus ST suffered bodywork damage as one of his rear wheel arches came loose, prompting a black-and-orange mechanical warning flag. Commanding a strong fourth position at the time, Rowbottom ignored the requirement to pit and completed the remaining three laps, opting instead to take a thirty-second grid penalty for Race Two.

Ingram maintained his position at the front to bring home his 30th BTCC career victory, an accolade he had to relinquish last time out at Snetterton after having his victory rescinded post-race.

Championship leader Ash Sutton crossed the line in second, ahead of team-mate Cammish who registered his fourth straight podium finish.

Tom Ingram said: “We would have loved some air conditioning in the car, it gets very spicy in there. We are about 25 degrees above ambient temperature so it’s pretty warm to say the least. Ash (Sutton) is obviously quick, so is Dan (Cammish), plus I could see Jake (Hill) coming too. There was a lot to try and manage but it’s good to get the win and the first one of the day under our belts.”

Race 1 Result – Top Ten
1. Tom Ingram, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS 15 Laps
2. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +1.913s
3. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +4.557s
4. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +10.230s
5. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +14.700s
6. Tom Chilton, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +16.238s
7. Árón Taylor-Smith, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +26.078s
8. Josh Cook, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +26.646s
9. Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +30.817s
10. Rob Huff, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +31.366s

Race Two (Round 14)

​The second race promised to shake things up a little bit as the top seven finishers from Race One, who all ran on the soft tyre, now had to run the hard compound for Race Two. Dan Rowbottom had also been demoted to fourteenth on the grid for the start, resulting from his thirty-second penalty incurred in the first race.

Another great start by Hill saw him jump from seventh to fifth almost immediately, whilst contact from Tom Chilton soon into the lap would send Adam Morgan in a spin and into the path of the rest of the pack, forcing several cars to take to the grass to avoid further incident.

The biggest benefactor of the incident., however, would be LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ's Josh Cook who suddenly found himself in second from eighth and surging ahead on into the lead by the end of the first lap.

There was no catching up to the pace of the Speedworks-run Toyota Corolla as Cook continued to increase his lead for the rest of the race, securing his first victory since Thruxton in 2022 and, in the process, recording the first victory for the new LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ outfit.

Josh Cook said: “It’s nice to be back winning races. It makes it a lot easier when you’re on the soft tyres and those around you are on the hards. I got off to a really good start on lap one and the doors just opened up around me, and I ended up in a good position. I got my head down and just focused on banging in some quick laps. It probably wasn’t overly interesting to watch, but I’ll take that any day and congratulations to everyone in the team.”

Elsewhere on the track, there was further drama for NAPA Racing UK as Ash Sutton picked up identical damage to his rear wheel arch as that which was inflicted upon Dan Rowbottom's car in Race One. With the team having to make a decision between calling Sutton to pit and lose places or incur a post-race penalty, team player Dan Cammish tried his luck and rubbed up alongside the #1 car in an effort to work the defective panel free. However, the play wouldn't pay off, forcing Sutton to pit and settle for a sixteenth-place finish.

Finally, after an inspired drive worthy of a BTCC legend of his calibre, Colin Turkington converted his rear-place start to a seventh-place finish after carving his way through the pack throughout the sixteen-lap race.

The Ulsterman narrowly missed out on a pole position start for the final race as sixth-place Mikey Doble was pulled to line up at the front in an all-Power Maxed frontline alongside team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith.

Race 2 Result – Oulton Park
1. Josh Cook, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 15 Laps
2. Tom Ingram, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +8.016s
3. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +9.879s
4. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +10.430s
5. Árón Taylor-Smith, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +10.856s
6. Mikey Doble, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +11.452s
7. Colin Turkington, Team BMW +12.197s 
8. Chris Smiley, Restart Racing +13.420s
9. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +14.705s
10. Andrew Watson, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +18.972s

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Race Three (Round 15)

Mikey Doble, determined to make good of his second career pole position after the miscommunication cost him dearly last year, made a better start than his team-mate but heading into turn one both Vauxhall Astra's remained out front.

The inevitable threat, however, was to come from a little further back as Jake Hill made another storming start off the line to leapfrog Dan Cammish into third place, whilst Josh Cook quickly took fifth place from Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton rose five places to close out the first lap in eleventh place.

Mikey Doble started to widen the gap ahead of Taylor-Smith, who soon found himself having to defend hard to keep Jake Hill behind him. ATS maintained his position and held off the attack beautifully until the tenth lap when Hill powered his Laser Tools Racing BMW 330e M Sport down the outside, utilising his hybrid at the opportune moment to move into second.

By the eleventh lap, Ash Sutton's woes from the previous race would be added to as he sustained front tyre damage, believed to possibly be due to clipping a tyre stack, putting an end to his race after powering up to seventh.

Jake Hill would continue to deplete the gap between himself and Doble up ahead and, despite the Power Maxed Racing man's valiant efforts, Hill's #24 car would prove to be too much and would power ahead and take the lead with only half a lap remaining to bring home his fifth win of the season, more than any other driver so far this year.

Jake Hill said: “That was tough. A fantastic race with Árón (Taylor-Smith) and Mikey (Doble) at the end there. Credit to them because they did a great job, and it was just a really enjoyable touring car race from my point of view – just hard-fought battling and it was absolutely awesome. As much as I feel sorry Mikey, I’ve got a championship to try and win and I had to get the move done. Credit to him for leaving me a bit of space, but, what a move!”

Despite being unable to register a first Vauxhall victory since Jason Plato in 2019, Mike Doble recorded his best-ever finish in his BTCC career so far and capped off a great day for Power Maxed Racing with a 2-3 on the podium alongside Aron Taylor Smith.

Photo courtesy of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

Owing to Jake Hill and Tom Ingram's victories, and Ash Sutton's non-scoring finishes in the last two races, the pair leapfrogged the reigning champion in the Driver's Championship standings, with Jake Hill going into the summer break leading Ingram by four points, who now leads Sutton by a further twenty.

​Race 3 Result – Top Ten
1. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 15 Laps
2. Mikey Doble, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +0.749s
3. Árón Taylor-Smith, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing +2.410s 
4. Tom Ingram, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS +2.856s
5. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +3.714s
6. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +4.150s
7. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +6.758s 
8. Josh Cook, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +7.474s
9. Chris Smiley, Restart Racing +9.744s
10. Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ +12.474s

The KwikFit British Touring Car Championship returns to action on the weekend of 27th-28th July at Croft.



Chris Tetreault-Blay
​BTCC Journalist @ F1 Journal