Ash Sutton arrived at Oulton Park with an incredible record of winning six of the previous eight races: something unprecedented in modern touring cars. The weather at Oulton Park was glorious, with a chance of rain for the final race, but would Sutton continue his imperious form?

Qualifying – Ash Sutton, Jake Hill, Ricky Collard, Bobby Thompson, Dan Cammish, Tom Ingram

For the third consecutive race meeting, Sutton lined up at the front of the grid, meaning a NAPA Ford Focus has been on pole at every event. It was a successful Top Ten Showdown for Jake Hill as he joined Sutton on the front row with Ricky Collard and Bobby Thompson on row two. Dan Cammish and Tom Ingram were not far behind in fifth and sixth, but after qualifying seventh, Colin Turkington’s BMW was disqualified from the result after not being able to provide the minimum fuel sample for scrutineering checks. 

Race One, 6.5/10 – Jake Hill, Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram 

• Hill made the better start and took the lead, although Sutton didn’t give up easily over the opening laps. While Thompson dropped a couple of places, Ingram gained a couple with some smart moves. 
• By lap 4, Turkington had already gained eleven places from the back of the grid, but Collard was holding up Ingram, Cammish and Josh Cook in third. It didn’t prove to be for too long with Ingram finding a way by, although the leaders were 2.5 seconds up the road.
• Towards the back, Aiden Moffat on unfavoured hard tyres, was holding up a train of cars and similarly, in the lower reaches of the top ten, was Árón Taylor-Smith. However, a little tap from Adam Morgan opened the door and Taylor-Smith went down the order as several found their way through.
• However, at the end of the race, Taylor-Smith was involved in a heavy crash with Dan Rowbottom. There was some debate about whether Taylor-Smith was struggling with brake issues, but Rowbottom cut across the kerbs and grass at Druids straight into the side of Taylor-Smith who ended up in the barriers.
• At the front, Hill managed the race well and came home for a relatively comfortable first victory of the season.

Race Two, 5.5/10 – Jake Hill, Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram

• Like the opening race, Hill started well, but despite Ingram’s best efforts he couldn’t pass Sutton. Thompson was spat out of the pack and was soon out of the race with a broken wheel. At the end of the lap, the top five were as they were and Turkington continued his fine race one form, by moving up to sixth on lap 2.
• The safety car was needed for several laps on lap 4 as Will Powell found himself beached in the gravel, as he was in qualifying. 
• After the re-start, Turkington looked to move further forward and after eyeing up Cammish for a lap or two, Turkington made a lovely move at Lodge, something he repeated a lap later on Collard.
• Collard was soon to fall further down the top ten as when Cammish went through, he ran wide allowing Cook and Dan Lloyd to follow. 
• Hill was clear, but Sutton appeared to be slower than Ingram and Turkington. However, Sutton was given breathing room as the latter fought it out, with Turkington hitting the back of Ingram after he eased off the accelerator coming out of Lodge. Despite one side of his bonnet lifting, Turkington survived the final lap to come home fourth. 

Race Three, 4.5/10 – Colin Turkington, Jake Hill, Adam Morgan

• Ball 7 of Morgan was chosen by Hill to be on the reverse grid pole and while he got away well, teammate Turkington was already second after passing Cammish at the start. As the lights went out, Ingram moved across the track to deny Sutton space, but Sutton went for the gap and ended up touching the pit wall. 
• As Sutton reached Lodge, he ran over the kerb and then it became clear that his car was terminally damaged from the incidents. A safety car was required to recover his Focus and it took until lap 5 to go racing again, with Turkington on the back of Morgan.
• An outstanding move from Turkington, which started at Lodge and was completed at Old Hall, around the outside of Morgan gave him the lead, with Hill following him through too. 
• While Moffat on the favoured soft tyre was making his was into the top six, Turkington seemed to be keeping Hill half a second away, which seemed a little too close for comfort as the top six all appeared to gap each other for several laps. 
• The battle for ninth provided some late action between five cars, but at the front Turkington edged out his lead to complete the day with a victory after starting the day last. 

After Sutton’s previous form it seemed strange that he didn’t win a race, especially after starting on pole. Furthermore, it seemed strange that Oulton Park was the first meeting that a NAPA Ford hadn’t won at least two races, let alone one this season. In fact, it was the first time since 2015 at Croft that WSR had won all three races in a day. Quite some turnaround in form, and unexpected.  

Whether that form will continue at Croft after the midseason break remains to be seen, but given that the BMWs have generally gone very well at Croft, the championship battle could be back on. It seemingly already looked to be over after Sutton’s form in the opening half of the season.

Sutton’s DNF in race three allowed Ingram to reduce Sutton’s gap at the top to just six points. Even though Sutton has been grabbing the headlines with win after win, reigning champion Ingram is doing an amazing job to keep him so close in his sights. From a fans’ point of view for the championship, Sutton not finishing race three was excellent as it keeps the fight well and truly alive.

Another man who has dragged himself into contention is Hill. An outstanding weekend of two victories, a second and three fastest laps was by far Hill’s best weekend in the BTCC. We saw last season that Hill was more than capable of mounting a championship challenge and Oulton Park showed his credentials for this season. His points scoring exploits moved him ahead of teammate Turkington in the standings.

However, Turkington will be more than delighted with his efforts in Cheshire. To come from the back of the grid in race one to win the final race of the day showed the incredible nature of the BTCC. Oulton Park in recent years has been a difficult track to overtake on, but that didn’t stop Turkington who made a series of great moves. Normally Mr Consistent, Turkington went full throttle to great effect. It did help that the soft tyres were favoured by the BMW, yet his race victory came on the hard tyre which the majority of the field ran in the final race. 

At Croft, all three tyre compounds will once again be used and if it is anything like Snetterton, the effect will be fantastic. It will be interesting to see how midseason updates effect the racing, if at all. Will NAPA be back on full form or will WSR continue to spoil their party? 

2023 British Touring Car Championship Standings after 15 races:

1.	Ashley Sutton	218 points
2.	Tom Ingram	212
3.	Jake Hill	192
4.	Colin Turkington	183
5.	Dan Cammish	160
6.	Josh Cook	125