The 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship arrived in Derby with Rounds 19, 20, and 21 taking place on the longer 2.49-miles Donington Park GP circuit.
The weekend saw the Napa Racing UK/Alliance Racing crew have split liveries. Ash Sutton and Lewis Selby carried the traditional Napa Auto Parts colours, while Dan Cammish and Sam Osborne were displaying the Valvoline sponsors’ colours.
Saturday’s Qualifying Session saw all four Napa Racing UK Ford Focus Titaniums placed in the first of the two groups, and all four were on the soft tyre compound. Ash Sutton had the usual solitary second of boost per lap at his disposal, while Dan Cammish had five seconds per lap. Lewis Selby and the returning Sam Osborne both had twenty seconds per lap available.
Once both groups had finished their 15 minutes of running, the Ford Focus Titaniums lined up on the Race To Pole grid thusly: Cammish fifth (1:33.090), Sutton seventh (1:33.218), Osborne thirteenth (1:33.574), and Selby fifteenth (1:33.754).
RACE TO POLE (11 Laps)
The 9-lap Race To Pole saw the afternoon’s racing at Donington Park interrupted by the Safety Car. All four Napa Racing UK Fords were booted with the medium tyres for this session, which would end up becoming an 11-lap race.
All Fords got away well and, by the time the field reached The Esses, Cammish was up into fourth place with Sutton right behind in fifth. Osborne was up to 11th, with Selby two places further back. However, the Safety Car was deployed on the next lap after Mikey Doble’s Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon had stopped with a problem.
Racing resumed on lap four, which resulted in Cammish and Sutton getting boxed in behind the defensive Josh Cook (Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport), which enabled the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport duo of Gordon Shedden and Aron Taylor-Smith bully their past the championship leader on the run through the Redgate, Holly Wood, and Craner Curves complex. Yet in typical Sutton fashion, he had the speed to maintain his position as the group reached McLeans.
Further back saw Osborne lose out to the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Tom Ingram, while Selby had dropped back to fourteenth. That became 13th on the next lap, after Daryl De Leon lost power in his WSR BMW 330i M Sport, which resulted in another Safety Car intervention.
At the restart on the seventh lap, Sutton dived up the inside of teammate Cammish at the Old Hairpin to take fourth place. Meanwhile, Selby was forced to take avoiding action to miss the luckless and power-less Tom Chilton (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N), which put the Ford driver back into 13th place and Osborne into the top ten.
He (Osborne) went on to fight with and succeed in getting by the Audi A3 Saloon of Dexter Patterson at the Melbourne Hairpin (lap 8), as Selby lost out to the recovering Dolby on Starkey’s Straight. Up ahead saw Cammish defending his place from Shedden, while Sutton was putting the pressure on Cook’s Toyota Corolla GR Sport for third.
And that’s how the Napa Racing UK Fords finished at the chequered flag – Sutton (4th), Cammish (5th), Osborne (9th), and Selby (17th).
RACE 1 (17 Laps)
On the run to the grid for the first race of the weekend, Sam Osborne’s Ford Focus Titanium rolled to a hault with a problem. Sadly the number 77 couldn’t get going again, which meant Osborne would have to miss out. And it wouldn’t be the only problem for Osborne, who had a torrid time at Donington Park.
The three remaining Ford Focus Titaniums lined up in fourth (Ash Sutton), fifth (Dan Cammish], and 17th (Lewis Selby). Both Sutton and Cammish were on medium tyres and had one lap of boost (Sutton) and three laps of boost (Cammish) available respectively. Selby meanwhile, plumped for the hard tyre compound and had the full quota of ten laps worth of boost at his disposal for this 14-lapper.
Cammish held station at the start of the race, while Sutton followed the Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Josh Cook in getting past the Mercedes A35 Saloon of Dan Rowbottom on the run through the Craner Curves.
The second lap saw the Safety Car deployed after Lewis Gilbert suffered a huge crash at the Melbourne Hairpin on the opening lap. Thankfully Gilbert was alright, but his WSR BMW 330i M Sport was a right off.
Lap six saw racing resume, before the Safety Car was straight back out due to Tom Chilton’s Hyundia i30N grinding to a halt! The Team Vertu driver managed to get going again, which enabled the race to continue on the eighth lap.
Cammish lost out to the Toyota of Gordon Shedden (lap 9), while Sutton was defending the advances of Rowbottom. Lewis Selby was keeping a watching brief of the two squabbling Audis of Mikey Doble and Aiden Moffat, while keeping tabs on the charging Charles Rainford (WSR BMW 330i M Sport) behind. The number 15 Ford then overtook Chris Smiley (Restart Racing Hyundia i30N) on the next lap.
The three Fords were each promoted up a spot after Josh Cook slowed with a problem on lap eleven, before Lewis Selby found himself in the middle of a fierce battle on the next lap. First he got a terrific run on the Audi A3 Saloon of Mikey Doble through the Old Hairpin, which enabled the Ford to get by at McLeans. However Doble returned the favour at Coppice, which left Selby vulnerable to an attack from the WSR BMW 330i M Sport of Charles Rainford. And the BMW’s straightline speed advantage meant that Selby lost another position on the race down Starkey’s Straight.
He (Selby) lost out to Smiley (Hyundia i30N) on the next lap, before fending off Dan Lloyd (Restart Racing Hyundia i30N) and the BMW 330i M Sport of Daryl De Leon to take the chequered flag inside the points (14th).
Up ahead, Dan Cammish lunged down the inside of Rowbottom (Mercedes A35 Saloon) at the Melbourne Hairpin to steal fourth place, as Ash Sutton finished in a comfortable second.
RACE 2 (14 Laps)
The second BTCC race of the day saw the luckless number 77 Ford Focus Titanium of Sam Osborne pull off the track with another problem on the formation lap! That left his teammates a man down once again, as they took to the grid in second place (Ash Sutton, with two laps of boost available and hard tyres), fourth (Dan Cammish, with four laps of boost and medium tyres), and 13th (Lewis Selby, with ten laps of boost and medium tyres).
This 14-lap race marked Cammish’s 200th competitive race, and he started well to get by the Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Gordon Shedden on the opening lap. Up ahead saw Ash Sutton take the lead away from the Mercedes A35 Saloon of Adam Morgan with a brilliant pass.
Further back saw Lewis Selby lose out to Daryl De Leon (WSR BMW 330i M Sport), but the Napa Racing UK driver gained two places at the expense of Tom Chilton and Mikey Doble on the second lap. Unfortunately, Selby’s race was all but ruined on lap three when he was hit with a 10-second penalty for a false start. He’d go on to finish in a disappointing seventeenth.
Cammish took his third place back on lap three, after getting by Morgan at Redgate. He then followed the other Mercedes A35 Saloon of Dan Rowbottom in getting by teammate Sutton (lap 4). The number 27 Ford Focus Titanium then fed Rowbottom the dummy at Goddards to take the lead of the race.
Sutton meanwhile was having a good old ding-dong with his championship rival Tom Ingram (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N) and, when Rowbottom slowed down on lap ten, the championship leader found himself in second place once again and followed his teammate home for an Alliance Racing/Napa Racing UK 1-2.
Not only was the race number 200 for Dan Cammish, but the win was his eighteenth BTCC race victory! So, despite the struggles of the other two Fords (Osborne and Selby), there was plenty to smile about for the crew.
RACE 3 (14 Laps)
The final race of the weekend was the usual Reversed Grid Race. Ash Sutton lined up in 9th place (with 2 laps of boost and medium tyres), while Dan Cammish (one lap of boost and hard tyres) lined up directly behind him. Lewis Selby started from 17th (with 10 laps of boost and medium tyres), and Sam Osborne took to the grid in 22nd place. He was on the medium tyre compound and also had the full ten laps of boost available.
By the end of the opening lap, Sutton had climbed to seventh, Selby was up into 16th and Osborne found himself in 17th after overtaking five cars! However, Cammish got swamped at the start of the race and had dropped to 14th by the start of lap two.
Lap three saw Sutton’s teammates all gain a place after Rowbottom entered the pits to serve a 10-second penalty for a false start. Sutton meanwhile was inside a group of five drivers fighting for third place. He gained one place (6th) after getting by Tom Ingram (Team Vertu Hyundia i30N), just as Selby overtook Cammish further back.
The next lap saw Sutton lose ground and find himself in ninth place, which soon became seventh once again after the Team Vertu Hyundia i30N of Ricky Collard ran wide while exiting The Esses (lap 5).
In contrast to the previous race, Cammish’s Ford Focus Titanium appeared to be struggling and he lost out to both Ryan Bensley (Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport) and Nic Hamilton (Team Vertu Hyundia i30) on lap seven. But he did return the favour on Hamilton on the following lap.
Ash Sutton was now swarming all over the back of the squabbling Toyota of Gordon Shedden and Audi of Dexter Patterson, and he made a good move on lap nine to get by the latter through Redgate and Holly Wood. Sutton then completed the move at the Craner Curves, before then having to defend firmly from the charging Charles Rainford (WSR BMW 330i M Sport) a few laps later (lap 11).
On the last lap of the race, Sutton dived down the inside of the Toyota of Shedden at Redgate to steal fifth place. While in similar fashion, Cammish stole the last point (15th) away from the Hyundia i30N of Hamilton on the line! Selby and Osborne, meanwhile, took the chequered flag in 12th and 14th places respectively.
As the dust settles after another weekend of excellent racing, there were mixed emotions within the Alliance Racing/Napa Racing UK camp. Yet from the highs of finishing 1-2 in the second race, to the misfortune of Sam Osborne in particular, the crew still remains at the helm of the Manufacturers/Constructors Championship and Teams Championship tables with 658 and 571 points respectively.
Ash Sutton still leads the Drivers’ Championship with 377 points, with Dan Cammish on 274 points in third. Sam Osborne sits in 18th with sixty points, while Lewis Selby occupies nineteenth with 34 points.
Having missed the previous round due to illness, plus his misfortune in today’s races, Sam Osborne has lost ground to the leaders (Dexter Patterson and James Dorlin) in the Jack Sears Trophy race. He has dropped to fifth with his 221 points, while Lewis Selby finished the day in third with 255 points.
By Chris Palmer
