The 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship arrived in Cheshire recently, where the series tackled the lovely Oulton Park circuit for Rounds 10, 11, and 12.

At 2.23-miles in length, Oulton Park is one of the drivers’ favourite circuits, despite it being one of the narrowest on the calendar, and it precedes the much-needed mid-summer break.

As usual, Saturday’s Qualifying Session saw the Napa Racing UK drivers split into the two groups of fifteen minutes running. Sam Osborne would do his running in the second group, while Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish, and Lewis Selby were all placed in Group One.

Osborne and Selby both had the maximum of twenty seconds of boost available per lap throughout this session and the Race To Pole. Cammish had seven seconds available per lap, while Championship leader Sutton had to fight with just the solitary second per lap.

Saturday’s weather saw the sun shining following a wet start to the day. The track had predominantly dried when Group One’s qualifying laps began, which saw Lewis Selby register a best time of 1:25.104. That was good enough for ninth place. With many drivers falling foul of the track limits, both Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton left their best lap times until the end. Cammish took first place with a time of 1:24..222, while Sutton finished third with a time of 1:24.635.

Meanwhile, Group Two saw Sam Osborne set a best time of 1:24.967 to finish in fifth. That was good enough for eleventh place on the grid for the Race To Pole. That also saw Cammish placed on the front row in second place, while Sutton would start from sixth. Selby’s efforts saw him starting further down the grid in eighteenth place.

RACE TO POLE (13 Laps)

The Race To Pole saw all drivers using the soft tyre compound for this 13-lap dash. Despite Lewis dropping a place at the start, the Napa Racing UK Ford Focus Titaniums got away well, with Sutton and Osborne jumping up a spot each by the time the field reached the Island Bend hairpin. Osborne was then promoted an additional spot when Tom Chilton’s Team Vertu Hyundia i30N spun off at that hairpin, which also promoted Selby up into seventeenth.

Up front, Cammish kept his second place at the  start and was right on the bumper of Aron Taylor-Smith’s Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport. He was also defending hard in an effort to keep another Toyota behind him by the second lap (Josh Cook, Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport)!

With all four Ford Focus Titaniums deep in their respective battles, the Safety Car was deployed on the second lap, after Nic Hamilton (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N) crashed out at Island Bend. Thankfully Nic was alright, and racing resumed on the sixth (of now 13) lap. Chilton got the better of Selby’s Ford, while further up ahead saw Sutton pull off a great move on the outside of Mikey Doble (LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon) on the run up Hill Top, before slotting his Ford into fourth before Hislops.

Lap nine saw Osborne have a huge sideways moment on the grass down The Avenue and into Cascades, but he pulled off a superb save despite dropping behind teammate Selby in 16th. Up at the front saw Cammish’s Ford the meat in a Toyota Corolla sandwich (Taylor-Smith and Cook), as the trio fought for the win, while being chased by Sutton and the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Tom Ingram.

Sam Osborne’s earlier excursion meant that the  number 77 Ford Focus Titanium picked up a problem, which forced him into the pits. Osborne did return to action, as he took the chequered flag in a rather lonely 18th. Lewis Selby finished three places ahead in fifteenth, while a five-second penalty for Aron Taylor-Smith further up the grid had positive repercussions for the remaining two Napa Racing UK drivers, with Ash Sutton finishing in third place, and teammate Dan Cammish taking the victory.

RACE 1 (16 Laps)

Like the previous day, Sunday’s opening race took place on a drying track in Cheshire. Both Lewis Selby (14th) and Sam Osborne (18th) had the full ten laps worth of boost available to them, while Ash Sutton (3rd) had just the one lap available. Pole sitter Dan Cammish had four laps worth of boost at his disposal, and all four Napa Racing UK Ford Focus Titaniums were on the soft tyre compound.

The quartet got off the line well, with Ash Sutton getting alongside Josh Cook’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport on the run through Old Hall Corner and The Avenue. However, he got turned sideways by Cook at Cascades, but his efforts to save the car were successful despite the number 116 Ford dropping down to ninth by Island Bend.

While Cammish led up front, Sutton swiftly dispatched the trio of Dexter Patterson (Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon), and the LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon duo of Aiden Moffat and Mikey Doble to climb up to sixth by the second tour of Cascades. Meanwhile, Lewis Selby was forced onto the grass by Patterson where he spun into the barrier. Selby did manage to drive the number 15 Ford back to the pits, as teammate Sam Osborne finds himself down in eighteenth when the Safety Car was deployed.

Racing resumed on the fifth lap of what would now be a sixteen-lap race, which saw Cammish get away from Josh Cook well while Sutton fought with the Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon of Adam Morgan and Moffat’s Audi A3 Saloon. But the duo got by the championship leader when he had to take to the grass at Hislops.

Osborne got by the Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon of Dan Rowbottom at Old Hall Corner on lap 8, before climbing to 15th at the expense of the luckless Morgan on the next lap. The number 77 Ford Focus Titanium then got by the WSR BMW 330i M Sport of Charles Rainford on the tenth lap, while Sutton continued to chase the Audi A3 pair up ahead.

Up front, Dan Cammish opened up a gap on the Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook and the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Tom Ingram, as the number 27 Napa Racing UK Ford set the fastest lap (lap 11). Cammish went on to win his first race of the season, as Ash Sutton took the chequered flag in seventh. Sam Osborne claimed thirteenth and three championship points, while Lewis Selby had retired from the race.

RACE 2 (15 Laps)

Race Two saw Cammish starting on Pole Position, with Sutton starting 7th, Osborne 13th, and Selby at the back of the grid. Both he and Osborne had ten laps of boost available, while Sutton had eight laps available and Cammish just the one lap. Aside from the number 27 Ford that was on hard tyres, the remaining trio were all booted with the soft tyre compound.

Three of the four Fords made early progress at the start, with Cammish holding the lead as Sutton launched by three cars to find himself in fifth place at Old Hall Corner! Further back saw Selby get by Adam Morgan and the Toyota Corolla GR Sport (Speedworks Corolla Racing) of Max Buxton, but Osborne found himself going backwards by three places.

Sutton was a man on a mission though, as he swiftly got by Josh Cook’s Toyota on the run through Druids, Warwick Bridge, and Lodge Corner, before claiming third place when Aron Taylor-Smith (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport) ran wide at Island Bend on the second lap.

Lewis Selby passed the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Nic Hamilton, before Sutton got a great run down The Avenue to take second place away from Tom Ingram at Dentons. The number 116 Ford then got by the hard-tyred Ford of teammate Cammish to take the lead at Lodge Corner in what was a busy opening three laps for Sutton.

By lap five, the recovering Osborne was making progress after getting by James Dorlin (Restart Racing Hyundia i30N) to chase after Rowbottom’s 13th placed Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon, while Selby was now up into sixteenth and looking for a points-paying position.

Osborne got by Rowbottom at Island Bend on lap six, before getting a great run on the Toyota of Cook up Hill Top to slot into twelfth place at Hislops. Up front meanwhile, Sutton continued to drive clear as Cammish defended the ever-increasing advances of Ingram’s Hyundia. The current champion did eventually claim second place, when he sent his Hyundia down the inside of the number 27 Ford Focus Titanium at Lodge Corner with three laps remaining.

Osborne was having a terrific ding-dong with the Restart Racing Hyundia i30N of Chris Smiley through the Island Bend, Hill Top, and Hislops section, as both drivers get by the WSR BMW 330i M Sport of Charles Rainford on the run through Deer Leap on lap eleven.

Sam Osborne finally got by Smiley on the run down Lakeside on the final lap to take eleventh place at the chequered flag. Lewis Selby finished 15th, as Ash Sutton took another victory and Dan Cammish finished in a well-deserved third place.

RACE 3 (18 Laps)

The final race of the weekend was the usual Reversed Grid Race, which saw Sam Osborne placed on the front row of the grid (second). He had the full quota of ten laps worth of boost available to him, but like both Ash Sutton and Lewis Selby, he was now on the less-favoured hard tyres. Dan Cammish started ninth with the soft tyres and three laps of boost, while Sutton was down in 11th place with one lap of boost and Selby would start in fourteenth (with ten laps of boost at his disposal).

Osborne got away well only to be bullied out of second place by the lively Charles Rainford at Old Hall Corner. However the Safety Car was deployed, after Aron Taylor-Smith lost his Toyota on the exit of Old Hall Corner and collected the Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon of Adam Morgan on the run down The Avenue!
Further back saw Cammish get away well too, but having to take swift action to avoid Gordon Shedden’s slow-moving Toyota which had a driveshaft failure.

Racing resumed on the fifth lap in what was now an 18-lap race, with both Cammish and Sutton gaining a position each as Osborne defended the attacks of a charging Ricky Collard (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N) up ahead. Collard did get by the Ford at Hislops, as Tom Ingram got by both Cammish and Osborne by the sixth lap.

Lewis Selby was fighting with the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Tom Chilton while defending the advances of Aiden Moffat, before Chilton took too much kerb at Dentons and collected the Ford Focus Titanium to take them both out of the race.

Once the Safety Car peeled off the track following a clean-up, the remaining three Napa Racing UK Fords were embroiled in a five-lap sprint to the chequered flag. Osborne’s Ford was struggling by this point, as Sutton, Dexter Patterson, and Dan Rowbottom all got passed and the number 77 Ford eventually dropped down to thirteenth at the finish line.

Ash Sutton was deep in a battle with Aiden Moffat, Dexter Patterson, Chris Smiley, and Dan Rowbottom and finished in a hard-fought ninth place, as Dan Cammish saw the flag in a solid fourth.

At the end of another day of frantic BTCC racing, Ash Sutton remains at the head of the Drivers’ Championship table with 220 points. Dan Cammish’s solid weekend saw him in third with 160 points, as both Sam Osborne (17th) and Lewis Selby (19th) remain close together with 32 and 17 points respectively.

The duo are also close together in the fight for the Jack Sears Trophy, with Osborne in third on 166 points and Selby in fifth with 129 points.

Alliance Racing/Ford lead the Manufacturer/Constructors Championship table with 387 points, while Napa Racing UK sits top of the Teams Championship with 334 points.

The Napa Racing UK squad now enjoys the mid-summer break until racing resumes at the excellent Thruxton circuit on the 25-26th of July.

By Chris Palmer