For the final event before the annual summer break, the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship travelled to Oulton Park. btcc.net looks back to the Cheshire circuit, to relive all the exhilarating action.
Team BMW star Colin Turkington notched up a fantastic half-century of BTCC victories after producing a dynamic double at Oulton Park.
The Northern Irishman scored two lights-to-flag wins as he further extended his impressive advantage at the top of the standings heading into the summer break.
BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan grabbed consecutive podiums to move into second overall, ahead of BTC Racing’s Josh Cook.
Team Parker Racing’s Stephen Jelley eventually won the final thrilling race at the picturesque Cheshire venue – his first in the series since Rockingham in 2009 – after on-the-road winner Jake Hill was handed a post-race penalty.
Turkington ran relatively untroubled in the opener to convert pole position into his third victory of the season.
Dan Cammish kept the leader honest throughout, but the Halfords Yuasa Racing man had to settle for second at the finish, while Jordan completed the podium positions.
Now four-time champion, Turkington’s milestone moment came in the second encounter as the Northern Irishman swept to his 50th BTCC victory with another commanding triumph.
The trio of manufacturer-backed BMWs stormed into a 1-2-4 off the line as Jordan relegated Cammish’s Honda down to third, whilst Tom Oliphant also hauled his fast-starting 3 Series into contention.
A couple of safety car periods interrupted proceedings, but the lead positions remained unchanged until the chequered flag as Turkington led home Jordan, Cammish and Oliphant.
Jelley then took his first BTCC victory in ten years after a dramatic finale around the 2.23-mile circuit.
TradePriceCars.com’s Hill led away from pole position, but immediately had to deal with attention from Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal.
The main talking point came on lap three when Neal had slid down the inside of Hill across the start/finish line and took the lead. As Neal’s Honda Civic Type R tucked ahead of the Audi S3 into Old Hall, contact was made and the manufacturer Honda car was spun across the track.
A gaggle of oncoming cars tried to find their way through a cloud of smoke and when the air finally cleared it was Hill leading from Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance’s Rory Butcher and Jelley, as Neal tumbled down the order.
Scotsman Butcher pushed hard, and latched his AmD-run Honda onto the back of Hill and there would be one final push for a change in order. Butcher overcooked things into Island Bend and his chance was over, all but confirming Hill’s victory on-the-road.
Jelley held second from Team BMW’s Tom Oliphant, who finally got the better of Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance’s Sam Tordoff late on.
Celebrations for Hill were then cut short post-race after he was adjudged to have caused the incident involving Neal. Twenty seconds were subsequently added to the Kent driver’s overall race time, which ensured Jelley would take a first-ever BTCC win for Team Parker Racing.
With the triple-header signalling the midway point of the 2019 BTCC season it was Turkington leading the way from Jordan and Cook in the overall standings.
BMW/Team BMW topped both the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ tables, whilst BTC Racing headed the Independents Teams’ order.
Butcher held advantages in both the Independent Drivers’ championship and the Jack Sears Trophy, where he would be victorious in both by the end of the campaign.
Following the traditional mid-season summer break, BTCC headed to Snetterton; Thursday will see BTCC looks back reminiscing about event six of the 2019 season.
