The majestic Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire, UK, lies in wait for BMW and WSR as the British Touring Car Championship reaches the midway point of what’s been a dramatic season this weekend.
With Team BMW drivers Colin Turkington, Stephen Jelley and Adam Morgan all winners at the circuit in recent seasons and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill a podium finisher there, an all-out attack for more trophies is guaranteed from the BMW 330e M Sport quartet.
“Oulton Park is a circuit at which we’ve done very well with BMWs in the past and one that gives us a far better chance of getting back onto the top step of the podium than Thruxton did,” commented Dick Bennetts, Team Principal. “We’ve worked extremely hard since Thruxton to dive into the data with the drivers and engineers and work out where we can extract a bit more performance in both qualifying and race trim.
“We should be in pretty good shape, though we probably won’t know exactly how it will shake out until qualifying. The ‘Top-10 Showdown’ qualifying seems to have suited us quite well whenever it’s been used and if we have a hot day on Sunday, that will help us too as the BMW is extremely good on its tyres over a longer distance.”
Northern Irishman Colin Turkington has won 10 times at Oulton in WSR-run BMWs including in each of his record-equalling four title-winning seasons. After solidifying third place in the points at Thruxton, he is looking forward to racing at a track that should play to the strengths of the hybrid 3 Series.
Team-mate Stephen Jelley was victorious in two of the past three visits to Cheshire and lists the Parkland circuit as one of his favourites. The Leicester racer has a full helping of hybrid energy to use through practice, qualifying and Race One to boost his performance.
Adam Morgan was a winner in 2020 at Oulton Park and is chasing a landmark 40th career podium after finishing second at Thruxton last time out. As Oulton is the Lancashire racer’s local track, he is set to be one of the crowd favourites.
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill climbed to fourth in the points last time out and was one of the star performers at Oulton Park last year; charging through the pack to score solid points after being pushed off the track in qualifying and several times on race day.
With BMW just nine points off the Manufacturers’ Championship lead and Team BMW climbing to second in the Teams’ standings at Thruxton, Oulton Park represents an excellent opportunity to progress further and add to the one win and eight other podiums scored by WSR-run cars so far in 2023.
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