British Touring Car Championship - Oulton Park Preview 2015

The 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will continue this weekend (6/7 June) with three races at the Oulton Park in Cheshire. The races are scheduled for Sunday at 12.17, 15.32 and 17.42 (local time).

Oulton Park always generates a festival atmosphere, with over 40,000 fans gathering around the 3.6km track, and 2015 event looks set to be bigger and better than ever.

A favourite for family campers, the fields around the circuit are expected to be packed with fans of all ages ready to cheer on their favourite drivers and local heroes.

We have six different winners in nine races of three events in 2015 (Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Truxton) and the top five drivers are covered by just fifteen championship points. With the grid of almost 30 car and drivers, with half of them accounting of podium positions, we can expect nothing but spectacular racing at Oulton Park.

Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden leads the championship standings. He showed impressive speed in the all-new Civic Type R and with victories at Brands Hatch and Thruxton climbed to the top, ahead of reigning champion Colin Turkington (Volkswagen CC, Team BMR) who is ranked at second place. The Ulsterman has adapted quickly to a switch in team and the car this year and is already a frequent front-runner.

At third and fourth place are Honda and VW-BMR drivers – Matt Neal and Jason Plato, respectively. Plato has won nine times at Oulton Park and will be gunning for more glory, having taken two victories already this season.

2013 champion Andrew Jordan (MG, Triple Eight Racing) has yet to win a race, but two podiums and consistent top ten finishes have put him fifth in the standings. Just a single point behind Jordan is WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan. Ciceley Motorsport, the team behind Morgan’s Mercedes A-Class, is based near Oulton Park and this is their home circuit, so it’s naturally that Morgan expect success in front of local fans.

“Thruxton was one of the best days I’ve ever had and to be on the podium twice in a day in the BTCC is fantastic! It would be nice if we can do the same on my home track, there will be loads of fans there to cheer me on which always helps! I know the circuit like the back of my hand, but it is completely different to Thruxton. Oulton is bumpy, there are off-camber corners and it’s narrow. It makes for great racing”, Morgan said.

Last year, Colin Turkington was dominant at Oulton Park,  with pole position and a double race win. Because of that everybody expects good results of three drivers who race the WSR BMW 125i M Sport machines, the same car which dominated last year.  They are– Rob Collard, Sam Tordoff and triple World Champion Andy Priaulx.

Rob Collard has already tasted victory in the very first race of the season, while Sam Tordoff took his first podium behind the BMW wheel at Thruxton. Priaulx has also shown speed as he grabbed the first pole position of the season and missed out a victory in race two at Brands Hatch by only 0.040s.

Apart from the BTCC, the weekend programme will include plenty of action in the support series – Ginetta GT4 SuperCup, Ginetta Junior Championship, Renault UK Clio Cup, Porsche Carrera Cup GB and MSA Formula. Six racing series at one place, a real festival of speed… it goes without saying that every British racing fan will be there.