Daryl DeLeon increased his Jack Sears Trophy (JST) lead on what was an otherwise bruising Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race day for WSR at Oulton Park.
The Anglo-Filipino driver scored a pair of overall points finishes at the Cheshire track and now holds a 25-point lead in the JST standings over his WSR BMW stablemate Charles Rainford with half the season gone.
DeLeon’s standout performance came in wet and slippery conditions in race three as he climbed from 15th on the grid to eighth within a handful of laps, only to have his progress thwarted when two cars collided ahead of him stunting his progress in the process.
A resultant puncture led to an unplanned pitstop along with a loss of a lap while damage was checked over and a switch to dry-weather tyres on a now drying circuit. With conditions not suited to these hard-compound rubber, his progress was restricted to a 15th-place finish in what became a race of attrition.
Team-mate Jake Hill was the team’s highest points-scorer over the weekend in his Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW 330i M Sport.
The 2024 champion managed his wet rubber on a drying track in race three to climb from fifth to second early on, a minor braking error led to an off-track moment on the penultimate lap.
That dropped him to seventh spot, which equalled his race one result – a finish that was achieved from 13th on the grid. His best finish of the day was fifth in race two.
This was achieved without Hill’s Race Engineer Craig Porley – who was hospitalised on Friday night after suddenly falling ill – but who had recovered enough to return home by Sunday night.
LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR’s Charles Rainford was in the thick of it on the opening racing lap of the day and fell to 11th – where he finished – and was even more unfortunate in race two as another driver clashed with Rainford, causing him to spin into the tyre barrier at Old Hall.
The Brands Hatch race winner had to start the final race from the back of the grid, but made use of some clever set-up choices to climb to ninth by the finish; a result that kept him second in the JST points.
His team-mate Aiden Moffat recovered from being spun in race one to take a points finish in 15th. Choosing to use the hard-option Goodyear tyre – which must be used in one of the three races – he found his grip limited and finished 16th: instead opting to save his remaining soft rubber for the finale. The Scotsman drove well to 11th in the wet race three.
Daryl DeLeon, WSR: “Today was really hectic. There were a lot of incidents and a lot of drivers just trying to make an impression ahead of the summer break – including myself. I was really quick in the last race on the wet tyres, but then there was an incident at the chicane where two cars got into each other and left me with nowhere to go as they rejoined, so I ended up with damage and a puncture and had to pit. I gambled on taking slicks because it was drying, but because I had to use the hard tyre, it took too long to get the temperatures and it didn’t really come off. I extended my Jack Sears Trophy points lead, but there’s some work to do pace-wise to make sure we’re at the front in the second half of the year.
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport: “It’s been a mixed bag today. Overall, two sevenths and a fifth isn’t too bad from 13th place in qualifying, but it shows that our qualifying pace wasn’t representative of the speed we had over the weekend. I’m proud of the team and what we’ve achieved without my Race Engineer Craig being here. We’ve banded together with me, Craig doing what he can from his hospital bed and Dick [Bennetts, Team Principal] all playing a role. It’s gutting to be second and then dropping it in Race Three, but I have to push so hard just to be close to fighting for a win… It just is what it is.”
Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR: “I’ve had a decent day today, but got hit a little bit in the first two races. I actually ended up in the wall a little bit in the second race down to contact from a Toyota. In the last one I went from last up to ninth, which was good and made it a solid weekend with good points. We have the summer break now so that’s a good chance to work on the BMW before Croft and come out swinging in the second half of the year.”
Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR: “In Race One the BMW felt great and I got as high as 12th. We used the hard tyre in Race Two and struggled to 16th, which actually we weren’t too unhappy about as we had it out of the way for the last race. Then in Race Three it rained so we never got the benefit, which meant it was a bit for nothing, but we still felt it was a gamble worth taking. We tried to leave a dry set-up on the car, hoping it was going to dry out quickly – which it didn’t – so I slipped back to 19th before climbing back to 11th and the car’s the most damaged it’s looked for a while.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “It’s been a challenging weekend and the cars have been through it a bit, but there are some positives to take. The pace of the BMWs in the damp conditions in Race Three was strong, which shows how much progress we’ve made in setting the car up for greasy conditions, Jake was looking good for a podium until the end and Daryl’s increased his Jack Sears Trophy lead too. We need to use the summer break to do what we can to find more speed and aim for a stronger second half of the year.”
