BMW and WSR head north this weekend determined to enhance their challenge for the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) title at Oulton Park.
The 15-time series-winners surged into the lead of the Manufacturers’ Championship last time out at Thruxton courtesy of a double-podium finish for ROKiT MB Motorsport driver Jake Hill and another for Team BMW’s Colin Turkington.
And with the UK’s leading motor racing series approaching the fourth of its 10 events in 2022, both Colin and Jake are determined to take over at the head of the Drivers’ standings too at a track that has provided plenty of success for BMW & WSR previously.
“Thruxton was exactly what we needed in terms of getting a good amount of points for Colin and Jake at a track that isn’t typically one that’s suited us,” commented Dick Bennetts, Team Principal. “Oulton Park traditionally has been good for the BMWs and we’ve had a lot of wins and podiums here.
“As we learn more and more about the hybrid system, we’re getting nearer to working out the optimal way to use it, but there’s still a huge amount to learn whenever we go to a track that we haven’t used it at before, like Oulton.
“I’m confident that if we all work hard as a team, all three WSR cars will be fast here. The aim will be to turn performance into more big points on Sunday.”
Fifteen wins and 44 podiums – including an incredible lock-out of the top three positions in 2018 – makes the 2.3-mile Cheshire parkland circuit one of the happiest hunting grounds for WSR-run cars in the BTCC.
Nine of those wins have come from Northern Irishman Colin, who scored doubles at Oulton in 2009, ’14 and ’19 – three of his record-equalling four title-winning seasons.
With podium finishes at each of the first three events of 2022 aboard his BMW 330e M Sport – including a win at Brands Hatch – Colin arrives at Oulton third in the Drivers’ points and eager to chase down the leader.
Jake, from Kent, has a win and three further rostrums to his name this year and sits fifth in the points following a pair of second-place finishes at Thruxton
The ROKiT MB Motorsport racer was a podium finisher at Oulton in 2020 and has scored consistently highly at each of the three events held so far to rack more points at this stage of the season than at any point in his BTCC career previously.
Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley has happy memories of Oulton Park as it was the scene of a BTCC victory in 2019 and also where he scored his first podium finish since returning to the WSR family last year.
The Leicester racer has shown promising speed during the opening portion of the season and has qualified inside the top 10 at the first three events – something he’s never done before in his BTCC career.
But poor luck on racedays has limited his points-scoring opportunities; something he’s looking to put right in a big way this weekend.
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