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This weekend the British Touring Car Championship heads to the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire for rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the 2009 series:



James Thompson was the man on form last time out at Donington winning two of the three races, lifting him to 6th in the standings despite missing the opening rounds at Brands Hatch. Rob Collard triumphed in the final race of the day in Leicestershire putting him into 3rd overall in the standings. In addition to the usual frontrunners, we also saw strong runs from drivers like Andrew Jordan and Harry Vaulkhard so the championship remains open. Matt Neal’s continued consistency saw him maintain his title lead, but the pack behind remain close:

1.  Matt Neal             89  
2.  Colin Turkington      76
3.  Rob Collard           67
4.  Fabrizio Giovanardi   67
5.  Jason Plato           58
6.  James Thompson        51
7.  Adam Jones            39
8.  Mat Jackson           37
9.  Stephen Jelley        29
10. Andrew Jordan         29
11. Jonathan Adam         25
12. Harry Vaulkhard       18
13. Gordon Shedden        11
14. Dan Eaves             10
15. Paul O'Neill           8
16. Tom Chilton            2
17. Martyn Bell            2
18. David Pinkney          2
19. John George            0
20. Alan Morrison          0
21. Martin Johnson         0
22. Liam McMillan          0
23. Nick Leason            0

The series will also see a new driver join this weekend in the shape of SEAT Eurocup racer James Nash who will be driving an RML Chevrolet.

Sunday timetable
12.10 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship
12.50 Formula Renault UK with Michelin
13.30 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
14.25 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship
15.10 ELF Renault Clio Cup
15.50 Ginetta G50 Cup
16.40 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship
17.20 Ginetta Junior Championship
17.50 Formula Renault UK with Michelin

TV coverage
ITV4 @ 1200-1800, Sunday 31 May (Live BTCC & Supports)
ITV1 @ 0140-0255, Tuesday 2 June (BTCC highlights)
ITV4 @ 1530-1700, Tuesday 2 June (BTCC highlights)

Further highlight repeats on Men & Motors. Check schedules for these.

Weather forecast
Saturday: Sunny, Temperature 22°C, chance of rain 0%
Sunday: Sunny, Temperature 23°C, chance of rain 0%
http://uk.weather.com

They don't start until 12? How bizarre. Tempted to go as Oulton is now my local track, any recommendations on where to stand?

Woohoo Oulton Park!!!

One of my favourite tracks

Jason Hughes is out again, but this time it's due to business commitments instead of his knee.

He is becoming a bigger farce than A1 Team Pakistan, who never got onto the track after months of delays.

I wouldn't say Jason Hughes is a farce, he's been a regular fixture in the series for several years, give him a break.

Liam McMillan has also had to pull out due to a very unusual engine dispute:
http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=1468

Aha, a French labour dispute.

Team AFM are also out of this weekend as well.

They'll be missing Croft as well.

Cascades.

I've thought about it a lot and I think this would be the best location. If you could quite towards the apex of the corner you could see them coming down the hill from turn 1 all the way through Cascades and then in the distance you might be able to see the chicane later in the lap too.
(I think I've got my geography right...it's based on the shortest Oulton layout where they cut straight through from Cascades to the chicane ignoring the island loop!)

Still, cascades is an awesome corner and if they get through the first turn without someone running wide and spinning off taking out half the field then Cascades is usually where the trouble erupts!!

Plus we've had a few years now of the bumpy nature of the grass at Oulton Park causing a few big accidents over the course of the weekend (remember the Clios last year?) so it'll be interesting to see what we get this year. I expect Simon Hill to say "Ride 'em cowboy" at least once on Sunday!

Actually, ITV coverage starts at 12noon, but from 11am to 12 there is a programme called 'BTCC crashes and smashes'

Thanks for the viewing advice, sadly think I'll be too hungover to make it on Sunday, definately going to go to some racing at Oulton this summer though.

Yep, I got the 12:30 start time from ITV's website, so they've changed it in the past couple of days. The Crashes and Smashes programme was on before the season started, but it's worth watching if you didn't catch it first time round.

Anyone who is going to the circuit over the weekend certainly won't need to worry about a brolly, there is no chance of any rain at the track until next Thursday at the earliest.

Does anyone know why the BTCC and it's supporting events don't use the full circuit anymore?

Because, fun to drive as it is, the Island loop would add nothing in terms of racing, and in fact just remove one of the best overtaking spots in the island hairpin.

The Banked shell corner is great to charge right around the outside of the dozing AI in Toca Race driver etc, but in real life it's one of them corners that allows the field to spread out, as is the next chicane which is clumsily designed imo (but again great to get air off the kerbs in the games! )

BTCC is using the perfect layout, imo.

Carrera Cup Race 1 & 2 Grids. Robin Clark seriously needs to be banned:
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Is he that much slower than Maxi Jaxx used to be? You need someone incompetent in the Porsches to liven it up

Yes he is. Maxi Jazz didn't used to get lapped 3 times per race.

BTCC Practice 1:
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Ginetta Junior Practice:
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Formula Renault Race 1 Grid:
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Ginetta G50 Race 1 & 2 Grids:
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Clio Cup Race 1 & 2 Grids:
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BTCC Practice 2:
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Ginetta Junior Race 1 & 2 Grids:
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Carrera Cup Race 1 Results:
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Formula Renault Race 2 Grid:
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