The four-strong BTCC line-up headed into the third meeting of the season on a high after another strong showing at Brands Hatch had allowed Ash Sutton to hit the front in the Drivers’ championship and seen the Alliance Racing-run squad maintain its lead in the Teams’ standings.

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

The Snetterton weekend started off in positive fashion during free practice, where Dan Cammish was the quickest of the Ford Focus STs, going second fastest in both sessions with Sutton and Dan Rowbottom close behind.

The results from second practice saw all four cars drawn into Group 2 for the first stage of qualifying, where Sutton led the way from Cammish and Rowbottom set the fourth best time as the trio made it through to Q2, although Sam Osborne – fresh from an outing in the British Truck Racing Championship – dropped out at the first stage.

Q2 saw both Cammish and Sutton again progress as Rowbottom missed out by two-tenths of a second to finish tenth on the grid, with the final Quick Six shootout seeing Sutton overcome his lack of hybrid to take second place on the grid, with Cammish securing fourth with his only timed lap.

RACES 1, 2 AND 3

Sutton, Cammish and Rowbottom all elected to run the soft tyre in race one with Sam choosing the medium, and a positive start to the day saw Sutton and Cammish cross the line in third and fourth.

Sutton had held second early on before being overhauled by Bobby Thompson but still retained his 100 per cent podium record, with Cammish battling his way ahead of Adam Morgan mid-way through the race to follow him home.

Rowbottom had found himself shuffled back to 13th on the opening lap but showed strong pace to recover back through to tenth at the finish, with Osborne just missing the points in 16th.

Rain delayed the start of race two but with circuit conditions changing quickly, both Sutton and Rowbottom gambled on a switch to slick tyres after the green flag lap in the hope that the circuit would dry out.

The wet-shod cars had the advantage early on as Cammish found himself running in third spot, with Osborne rocketing up into the top ten on the opening lap. Sutton and Rowbottom meanwhile would be further down the order but hopeful of progressing forwards as conditions improved.

Further rain however meant the gamble on slicks had been the wrong call, with Rowbottom electing to pit a second time as he ended up back in 17th and Sutton back in 20th after a rare off track excursion heading on the Bentley straight.

It left Cammish to fly the NAPA Racing flag as he took advantage of a mistake from Andrew Watson to move into second spot and grab his first podium finish of the season, with Osborne scoring ninth place for his best result of the year to date.

The final race of the weekend saw the quartet back on dry tyres on what was a damp but drying track, with Ash producing a storming drive through the pack from the back of the pack on the medium tyres to race his way through to fifth spot despite having to deal with fumes entering the cockpit of his car after early contact damaged the exhaust on his car.

Forced to run the least favourable hard tyre, Cammish slipped back from eighth on the reverse grid to end up in 13th place for a third points finish of the weekend, although Rowbottom’s hopes of joining Sutton in racing through the field were ended when unfortunate contact resulted in a puncture that saw him forced into a pitstop and left him outside the points.

Osborne meanwhile started from the reverse grid pole but a lurid slide on soft tyres at turn one saw him spin onto the grass and drop to the back of the field. Despite that, he recovered through to 14th by the finish to pick up a handful of points.

STANDINGS

The weekend ends with Sutton ten points clear in the Drivers’ standings and with NAPA Racing UK 21 points ahead in the Teams’ Championship. The Alliance Racing-run squad also heads BMW in the Manufacturers’/Constructors’ title race, whilst Osborne lies third in the Jack Sears Trophy.

MINI CHALLENGE JCW

The three Vertu MINI CHALLENGE drivers faced a busy weekend with a fourth race added to the schedule to replace the one lost to poor weather conditions during the opening round of the campaign at Donington Park.

Heading into the weekend sitting second in the standings, Lewis Selby found himself in the wars in the opening race when he suffered a trip off track on tricky wet conditions and was forced to make an unscheduled pitstop that dropped him down to 16th in the end results.

Battling for the podium positions for most of race two, Selby end up classified in eighth place after a chaotic final lap before the third race of the weekend saw him unfortunately forced to bring the car in to retire with a driveshaft issue. A gamble on slick tyres in the final race ultimately came to nothing, with a spin off track on the third lap forcing him into retirement.

Jamie Osborne’s weekend kicked off with a fine podium finish in the rescheduled Donington Park race, setting the fastest laps in the damp conditions to match his best result of the season to date.

Osborne just missed out on the podium finish in the second race of the weekend in fourth spot before repeating the feat in race three – with fifth in the fourth and final encounter completing a solid showing that moves him up to third in the standings, one spot ahead of Selby. Selby also retains a comfortable lead in the Directors Cup.

MINI CHALLENGE JCW SPORT

Cameron Richardson’s JCW Sport weekend saw him take second in class in the rescheduled Donington encounter before he overcame an intermittent power issue at the start of race two to recover through to third place.

Fourth place in race three after a late battle with Ben Crossley for the final podium position was followed by a battling third place in the finale that leaves Cam second in the standings at the end of the weekend.

NEXT STOP

Whilst the BTCC quartet return to action at Thruxton in a fortnight, the three MINI CHALLENGE drivers will be out next at Oulton Park in late June.

The post NAPA RACING BATTLES THE ELEMENTS AT SNETTERTON appeared first on Alliance Racing.

NAPA Racing UK will chase title glory across four different championships in 2024 after today finalising its expansive racing programme for the upcoming campaign.

BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

Following a stunning 2023 season that saw it win the Drivers’, Manufacturers’ and Teams’ Championships, NAPA Racing UK will once again compete in the biggest series in the UK with a four-car assault on the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship alongside partners Alliance Racing.

An unchanged driver line-up will be led by defending champion Ash Sutton, who goes into 2024 looking to become the first driver in series history to win five championship titles. Ash equalled the record held by Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington last year after a dominant campaign that included no fewer than twelve wins, with the 30-year-old emerging as the class of the field in a season that will live long in the memory.

“After an incredible two years with the team already and the latter being a record-breaking year claiming my fourth title, this now means I am fully focused to go after more. Let’s get 2024 underway, the car finished in a good place but that doesn’t mean it’s been left there. More development has been going on back at HQ and I can’t wait to get back in the hot seat,” says Ash Sutton #1.

Dan Cammish embarks on his third year in NAPA Racing UK colours looking to join Ash in challenging for the championship having shown race-winning pace across the past two seasons. The multiple Porsche Carrera Cup title winner was a three-time victor last season as he played his part in the team’s championship success, and goes into 2024 amongst the fancied runners in the battle for top honours.

“I am proud to be part of such a fantastic team and have learnt a great deal over the past two seasons. I intent to use everything at my disposal to bring NAPA Racing more success and look forward to getting back on track with my teammates,” says Dan Cammish #27.

Daniel Rowbottom returns for his second season as part of the NAPA Racing UK family on the back of his strongest BTCC campaign to date last year. A race winner at Thruxton, Daniel secured his best championship finish so far and set a new personal best for points scored. With these two records, he will now be looking to join Cammish and Sutton in the hunt for championship honors.

“To go into 2024 with NAPA Racing UK is an amazing feeling, with one year under our belt we have a great understanding of how we all work. To be apart of the success of 2023, and to be able to have contributed in a positive way is a great feeling, but it has left me hungrier and more ready than ever. I’ve been in the gym since the flag fell at Brands GP and I don’t think I’ve ever placed myself in a better position to start a season. It’s going to be a great one, lets go racing!” – Dan Rowbottom #32.

The four-car line-up is once again completed by #77 Sam Osborne. A career-best finish at Donington Park, combined with a total of 14 points finishes (almost doubling his previous best), meant that like Rowbottom – Osborne enjoyed the best season of his BTCC career in 2023. Osborne will once again be challenging for the Jack Sears Trophy title.

MINI CHALLENGE, BRITISH TRUCK CHAMPIONSHIP AND BRISCA F1

NAPA Racing UK will continue to have a presence elsewhere on the TOCA package, with a three-car entry into the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE.

As was the case in 2023, Jamie Osborne and Lewis Selby will chase honours in the headline JCW class with Jamie chasing overall honours having secured the Graduate Cup last year – helped by a breakthrough victory at Oulton Park. Lewis meanwhile picked up multiple top-ten finishes and was a winner in the Directors Cup, a title he will bid to secure during the year ahead.

The pair will be joined on the grid this season by Cameron Richardson, who graduates from the Cooper category into the all-new JCW Sport class and has his sights firmly fixed on fighting for the inaugural championship title.

“I’m excited to be back for another year with NAPA Racing UK and better yet, in the JCW Sport. It’s intriguing to get into this championship for it’s first ever year. With Jamie and Lewis and the best team behind us, I know we’ll have the car. It’s a case of head down and make the most out of this incredible opportunity,” says Cam Richardson.

Cameron will be coached throughout the season by the experienced figure of four-time Clio Cup Paul Rivett, who will also seek to defend his Division 2 title in the British Truck Racing Championship.

Paul’s season-long fight with Adam Bint for the championship crown last year went right to the wire and ended with NAPA Racing taking the title thanks to a superior win record – picking 18 victories compared to the six of his rival.

The NAPA Racing UK line-up for 2024 is completed by Jack France, who embarks on his fourth year with the team in BriSCA F1 looking to maintain the front-running form he displayed last year en-route to a share of tenth in the Grand National Championship.

Keep up to date on all our drivers this year @naparacingukor click HERE to buy NAPA Racing merchandise.

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NAPA Racing UK, together with Technical Partner Valvoline, unveiled a truly special one-off livery on Sam Osborne’s Ford Focus for one weekend only. This exclusive design paid homage to the Ford Mondeo driven by Paul Radisich in the 1990s.

QUALIFYING

It was the return and final 2023 ‘Top Ten Showdown’ format, with Sutton heading into qualifying with only 1 second worth of hybrid around the challenging circuit and a combination of high-speed corners and straights.

It would be the Valvoline Ford of Osborne who was the fastest of the four-car fleet as he delivered the lap of his life, storming to an incredible third spot in the first round of qualifying. Championship leader Sutton was on the clasp of the cut off zone but managed to hold on while teammate Dan Cammish took sixth and Dan Rowbottom in 13^th. The top ten were separated by an incredible 0.109s.

By the end of qualifying, Sutton qualified in fifth, Cammish in seventh and Osborne completed his best qualifying result of the season in tenth. This was a first non-NAPA pole of the 2023 BTCC season after Mikey Doble became the first driver outside the NAPA Racing UK line-up to secure pole position in qualifying.

RACE 1

Drizzly conditions led to a chaotic pre-grid as teams and drivers had a critical call to make, with Sutton and Cammish choosing the slick tyres, while Osborne and Rowbottom fitted the wets. With the rain getting heavier, #116 and #27 came in to change tyres, dropping them down the order. With the correct rubber on, it was a great result for Rowbottom as he charged through the field from P13 to take second position with Osborne finishing in eighth.

RACE 2

Sutton produced one of the finest performances of his BTCC career so far, as the three-time champion fought from 23rd on the grid to secure an extraordinary first victory. The final move from the #116 machine came on the penultimate lap as he dived down the inside of leader  Árón Taylor-Smith and into the lead through Woodcote and secured what was remarkably Sutton’s first Silverstone win of his BTCC career..

RACE 3

With a complete top twelve reverse grid for Race Three, Sutton started down in 12th place, with Rowbottom taking a second row start in P3. A great getaway from Rowbottom saw him battling for the lead heading into the first corner, eventually leading the pack just before the safety car was deployed. Sutton picked his way through the pack, making his way up to third, with Rowbottom eventually finishing in fourth.

Sutton will now head to the final races of the season at Brands Hatch on the 7/8 October 45 points clear of Ingram, while NAPA Racing UK heading with a dominant 119 points lead in the Teams Championship.

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP

Silverstone marked the return of Gus Burton as he qualified in third place, in tricky damp conditions, along with the top two he started on slick tyres. With Burton losing P3 at the start, when he suffered wheelspin off the line, he slipped down the grid to P9. By lap 5, the slicks were the quicker compound, with Burton picking his way through the field. With only a handful of laps left, it turned into a three-way fight with Burton placing his car perfectly, holding off tremendous pressure from championship leader Adam Smalley to take the win.

MINI CHALLENGE JCW

The Silverstone weekend marked the penultimate round of the MINI CHALLENGE JCW for NAPA Racing UK’s two drivers, Jamie Osborne and Lewis Selby. Osborne lined-up in P12, while Selby took to the grid in P15. Both drivers got off the line, but it was Osborne that would be the quickest of the pair as he stormed up the grid, to finish in 5th place and taking the win in the Graduates Cup.

Jamie now leads the Graduates Cup with 14 points going into the final rounds at Brands Hatch on the 7/8 October.

TEAM

ASH SUTTON – NAPA RACING UK, NO.116:

“I’m speechless if I’m honest. I knew it was going to be tough and it fell in our favour with Jake [Hill] having that engine trouble by the looks of it. I’ve missed hybrid, it hurt here in qualifying but to get the full allocation – we haven’t had that since Round One so we made the most of it.

“Our plan was to utilise it for passing cars that we thought might be harder to overtake. I’m over the moon, we maximised everything, the car, the changes we made overnight were mega, so I can’t thank NAPA Racing UK enough for their effort.”

OLY COLLINS – TEAM MANAGER

“The BTCC always offers excitement, but Sunday was next level! With full concentration on the Championship for Ash, Race 1 was a bit of a dent, but what followed showed the best you can see of Ash Sutton! We approached Race 2 with an eye on the reverse grid for a potentially strong Race 3, but Ash displayed a masterclass of pace & race craft, leaving us all stunned.

This weekend showed the strength of this team throughout. To have all four drivers up there in qualifying shared moments throughout the day between all of them, and a brace of silverware to come home with. We now head to the finale in a positive mood, knowing there is a complete team here all working for the same goal”.

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The post UNSTOPPABLE SUTTON AT SILVERSTONE appeared first on Alliance Racing.