The 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship arrived in sunny Norfolk, as the third weekend of the season took place at Snetterton.
At 2.97-miles, the Snetterton 300 includes the longest lap of the season. And the weekend saw
extremely hot temperatures for Rounds seven, eight, and nine of the campaign.
Saturday’s Qualifying Session saw Napa Racing UK trio Dan Cammish, Lewis Selby, and Sam Osborne in Group One, while Ash Sutton was placed in Group Two. The championship leader registered a best time of 1:55.664, which was good enough for fourth place in his group despite only having one second of boost available per qualifying lap. Meanwhile in the other group, Dan Cammish finished in third position with a time of 1:55.609. Sam Osborne set a best time of 1:56.101 (7th) and Lewis Selby set a time of 1:56.150 (8th).
Those times translated to fifth place on the Race To Pole grid for Dan Cammish; eighth place for Ash Sutton; 13th for Sam Osborn, and 15th place for Lewis Selby.
RACE TO POLE (8 Laps)
The Race To Pole saw Sam and Lewis both armed with twenty seconds of boost available per lap, while Dan had eight seconds available and Ash just the solitary second. All four Napa Racing UK Ford Focus Titaniums were booted up with the soft tyre compound for this eight-lap race.
Ash got ahead of Dan on the opening lap, before gaining four more positions which saw the number 116 Ford get by the Team Vertu Hyundia i30Ns of Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton to start the second lap in third place. Meanwhile, Dan started lap two in fifth, Sam in twelfth, but Lewis dropped a couple of places to find himself in 17th.
The third lap saw Ash head off track before Murrays with a puncture, which saw him head straight into the pits. That promoted the remaining three Ford Focus Titaniums up a position, but Lewis was hit by Mikey Doble’s Audi A3 Saloon which left the number 15 Ford at the back of the grid.
Dan was embroiled in a battle with the two Hyundias of Ingram and Chilton by the sixth lap, as Lewis was doing something similar further behind to fight for 16th with Nic Hamilton and Mikey Doble. Ash did return to the track, but pulled off into the pits again after a lap. He did return to action again and took the chequered flag in twentieth place.
After eight laps, Dan saw the chequered flag in a solid fourth place, Sam finished in the top ten, and Lewis finished 17th.
RACE 1 (12 Laps)
Sunday saw the drivers having to deal with extremely high temperatures throughout, especially inside their cars. Yet despite that, the day’s racing would witness the unusual event of no Safety Car interruptions whatsoever! That meant that all three races ran smoothly and to the official twelve laps per race.
The day’s racing saw the four Napa Racing UK Fords line up as follows: Dan Cammish started fourth with five laps of boost available; Sam Osborne started tenth with ten laps of boost available; Lewis Selby started 16th with ten laps of boost available, and Ash Sutton started 21st with just one lap of boost available. He chose this opening race to use the less-favoured medium tyre compound, while his three teammates were on the soft tyres.
The number 116 Ford Focus Titanium was the first to improve positions during the opening exchanges of the race, as Ash guided his racer up eight places to start the second lap in 13th! By the end of the second lap, Ash had passed the Audi A3 Saloon of Mikey Doble and set after teammate Sam Osborne. Meanwhile, Dan Cammish was fighting hard with the Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook while defending vigorously from the BMW 330i M Sport of Daryl De Leon.
Lap three saw both Sam and Ash get by Adam Morgan, while Lewis Selby was fighting hard with Dexter Patterson (Audi A3 Saloon) for fifteenth place. The number 15 Ford Focus Titanium eventually got up into the points by the seventh lap, while up ahead Dan was putting in a brilliant defensive display to keep De Leon behind while putting Josh Cook under pressure. However, the pace of the former’s BMW 330i M Sport proved to be too much for the number 27 Ford, as he got by on the race down the Bentley Straight.
Back at the other end, Lewis managed to get by both Gordon Shedden (Toyota Corolla GR Sport) and Mikey Doble (Audi A3 Saloon) on the ninth lap to finish the race in thirteenth place. Meanwhile, Sam and Ash took the chequered flag in tenth and eleventh respectively, while Dan Cammish came home in fifth.
However, a mechanical issue which generated overboost during the final three corners of the race meant that Sam’s Ford Focus Titanium was eventually disqualified. That meant that he would start the second race at the back of the grid.
RACE 2 (12 Laps)
Race Two saw trio Ash Sutton, Lewis Selby, and Sam Osborne all have the full quota of ten laps worth of boost available, as they started in 10th, 12th, and 21st respectively. Dan Cammish started in fifth position and, once again only had five laps of boost available to him. He used the soft tyre compound for this race, as did Ash and Lewis, while Sam was on the medium tyres.
At the start, Dan got by Josh Cook on the run through Hamilton and Oggies, while further down Sam got past both Max Buxton (Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport) and Nic Hamilton (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N). Ash also gained a place, before overtaking Tom Chilton’s Hyundia i30N on the run through Coram and Murrays.
Ash then won a drag race with the Dan Rowbottom on the Senna Straight to edge into 6th place on lap four, while Dan Cammish was swarming all over the rear bumper of Daryl De Leon’s WSR BMW 330i M Sport. He eventually got by on the Bentley Straight on the fifth lap, before Ash got by Ricky Collard and De Leon in a brilliant overtaking move on the Senna Straight to enter Riches in fourth place.
That soon became third and the podium when he pulled off another lovely pass, this time on teammate Cammish, on the run down the Bentley Straight and into the Nelson corner on the next lap, before he despatched Charles Rainford at Riches on lap seven to claim second place.
Meanwhile, Dan Cammish reeled in Rainford while defending from the lively Ricky Collard to take third place on the seventh lap. Further back meanwhile, Chris Smiley dropped Lewis Selby back to 13th while Sam Osborn was fighting with Nic Hamilton further back on the struggling medium tyres.
Tom Ingram locked up his Team Vertu Hyundia i30N’s front tyres at the Wilson hairpin to gift Ash the lead on lap eight, while Dan lost a brief second place to Ricky Collard. Sadly, the number 27 Ford Focus Titanium was out of boost by lap nine, and was coming under pressure from Tom Chilton who eventually got by.
Ash went on to take the chequered flag in first place to claim his fourth win of the season, and his 51st BTCC victory. He also took the fastest lap of the race, as Dan came home in fourth place. Lewis brought his Ford home in 11th, while Sam saw the chequered flag in seventeenth.
RACE 3 (12 Laps)
The final race of the weekend was the usual reverse grid race, which saw previous race winner Ash start in seventh. He was on the soft tyres again and had the one lap of boost at his disposal.
Dan Cammish started fourth with the medium tyre compound and four laps of boost, while Lewis Selby started 11th with the medium tyres and ten laps of boost. Sam Osborn started in seventeenth place. However, his Napa Racing UK Ford Focus Titanium was now fitted with the soft tyres and had the full quota of ten laps worth of boost available as well.
By the third lap, Sam was up into the points (15th) while Lewis sadly went backwards to end up behing Max Buxton in 21st place. At the other end of the grid, Ash had already got past Ricky Collard and Tom Chilton to move into fifth place.
The number 116 Ford Focus Titanium soon got by teammate Dan Cammish, before overtaking Rowbottom’s Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon on the outside of Riches on lap five. But, as teammate Dan tried to follow suit, the number 27 Ford got boxed in by Rowbottom which enabled Charles Rainford to sneak past.
However on lap six, Dan used his boost wisely to blast by both Rainford and Rowbottom to enter Riches in fourth place before losing out to the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Tom Chilton on the run down the Bentley Straight!
Sam was having a good dice with Aiden Moffat and Josh Cook, as the trio chased after Aron Taylor-Smith (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport) for the last few points-paying positions.
On the seventh lap, Ash relieved Adam Morgan of second place and then had a superb battle with race leader Gordon Shedden. Meanwhile, having run out of boost and with the medium tyres struggling, Dan Cammish began dropping down the field to eventually finish in ninth place.
Sam Osborne saw the chequered flag in thirteenth, while Lewis Selby finished 20th. Ash Sutton meanwhile, had a brilliant tussle with Gordon Shedden and would see the chequered flag in second place.
After nine races completed, Ash Sutton remains in first place in the Drivers Championship with 174 points, while Dan Cammish is fourth with 99 points. Sam Osborn sits in eighteenth with 30 points and Lewis Selby is nineteenth with 14 points. Sam has 117 points and third place in the Jack Sears Trophy table, while Lewis sits in fourth place with 116 points.
Alliance Racing lead the Manufacturer/Constructor table with 291 points, and Napa Racing UK lead the Teams table with 247 points.
Next up on the calendar sees the BTCC travel to Cheshire, where the series tackles the lovely Oulton Park circuit for Rounds 10, 11, and 12.
By Chris Palmer
