Jake Hill comes alive to make it two from two at Oulton Park

MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill led from start to finish in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park, closing the gap to the top of the standings with a double win in his BMW.

Hill held a tight lead early on before a safety car was brought out for the stranded Will Powell at Cascades. As soon as the safety car went back in nothing got in the way of Hill. The gap was managed from the front to win by 1.773 seconds.

Ash Sutton finished in second once again in the NAPA Racing UK Ford. Sutton had pressure throughout from title rival Tom Ingram but as the laps went on the gap grew. In the end the gap was 2.529 seconds.

Excelr8 Motorsport’s Ingram was on the attack for the majority of the race but that all changed in the closing laps. The reigning champion came under fire from none other than Colin Turkington who started race one from last and made up a further four places in this encounter.

The battle concluded after Turkington attempted a switch back at Lodge Corner which Ingram blocked causing damage to Turkington on lap 16. Even with one lap left and the two being nose to tail, the gap grew to 3.494 seconds.

Josh Cook finished in fifth despite an off at Old Hall on the opening lap. The One Motorsport driver found himself on the outside of Dan Cammish with nowhere to go. Even with the off the lead independent fought back to leave with a top five finish.

Cammish was next on track after the midfield of the top ten were as tight as race one at times. In the end the NAPA Racing UK driver dropped behind Cook after being overtaken on the penultimate lap. Cammish would finish with 1.5 second gap in front and behind.

Adam Morgan had another strong performance in the Team BMW car. As is the case in most races this year Morgan spent the majority of the race battling team-mate Stephen Jelley.

However, with Jelley having a five-second time penalty for a false start, he would drop even further than the 11th place he had originally crossed the finish line in, having earlier run in ninth with six laps to go. Jelley was ultimately classified in 18th out of the points.

Dan Lloyd would fly the colours for Team HARD in eighth place. Lloyd would have held seventh place if it was not for Morgan forcing an error on the final lap to concede that position. Lloyd would head two Toyota Gazoo Racing UK cars to round out the top ten.

Ricky Collard was the first of the Toyota cars coming home in ninth place. Early on Collard was the lead of a six-car train before Cammish pulled a similar move to what he did on Cook on lap one that would see Collard lose three places in one move.

Rory Butcher had the opposite effect, moving forward. Even though this was the case come the end of the race the Scot was defending from a large group of cars. Across the line no one was outside a second of the car in front until Butcher’s teammate George Gamble in 20th.

There were three retirements in the race – One Motorsport’s Powell had made contact with Team HARD’s Jade Edwards on the opening lap, forcing her to pit with significant suspension damage which would force her into retirement after three laps.

Then on lap four, Powell went off the road and brought out the safety car to recover his stricken Honda.

Bobby Thompson also failed to make it beyond three laps, when Cook hit the CUPRA and broke the Team HARD racer’s front-right suspension.

Race results

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP	GD
1	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	17	26:18.318	1:26.068	1
2	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	1.773	1:26.147	2
3	1	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	4.302	1:26.170	3
4	4	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	17	7.796	1:26.218	8
5	66	I		Josh COOK	One Motorsport with Starline Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	17	8.731	1:26.305	6
6	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	10.162	1:26.365	5
7	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	17	11.679	1:26.588	11
8	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	CUPRA Leon	17	12.61	1:26.401	10
9	37	M		Ricky COLLARD	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	13.726	1:26.404	4
10	6	M		Rory BUTCHER	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	18.97	1:26.764	15
11	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	19.239	1:26.692	12
12	11	I		Andrew WATSON	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	17	19.671	1:26.978	14
13	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	17	20.445	1:26.973	13
14	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	CUPRA Leon	17	21.442	1:26.518	17
15	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	One Motorsport with Starline Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	17	21.836	1:27.128	20
16	14	M		Ronan PEARSON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	22.255	1:26.742	18
17	96	I		Jack BUTEL	Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	CUPRA Leon	17	23.060	1:27.354	16
18	12	M		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	17	24.041	1:26.637	9
19	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	17	24.202	1:27.010	25
20	42	M		George GAMBLE	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	28.711	1:27.361	26
21	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	30.293	1:27.247	24
22	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	CUPRA Leon	17	32.943	1:28.048	21
23	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	35.443	1:27.832	27
24	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	36.152	1:28.086	23
R	70	I		Will POWELL	One Motorsport with Starline Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	3	DNF	1:28.444	19
R	19	I		Bobby THOMPSON	Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	CUPRA Leon	3	DNF	1:27.031	7
R	99	I		Jade EDWARDS	Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	CUPRA Leon	3	DNF	1:36.807	22