DRIVER ANALYSIS
MATT NEAL 8/ 10
Team Dynamics Honda
A solid qualifying was wasted by a mechanical failure in race one, but Neal’s recovery drive in race two was very impressive. After benefiting from the reversed grid draw, he would have been the winner of the final race of the day had he not been ungraciously removed from proceedings.
ASH SUTTON 4/ 10
Team BMR Subaru Levorg
A relatively scruffy weekend from Sutton. He recovered from a poor qualifying and there were some fantastic overtaking moves, but there were also some messy moments. One of those moves resulted in him receiving his second grid penalty of the year. Getting turned around in race two ultimately kept him away from the big points.
ROB COLLARD 3/ 10
Power Maxedvauxhall
Another rough weekend for Collard. He started out the weekend running different settings to Plato on his PMR Vauxhall Astra and was playing catch up from there. A bad qualifying left him with a lot of work to do on Sunday but the former Independents Trophy winner only managed to salvage a single point.
DAN 9/ CAMMISH 10
Team Dynamics Honda
Great qualifying performance was followed by a race day during which Cammish extracted everything from his Honda Civic to come away with two podium finishes. He was unfortunate to get caught out on the fluid on the track early on in race three, but it took nothing away from the job he did.
TOM INGRAM 7/ 10
Speedworks Toyota
Ingram showed improved pace in the new-for-2019 Toyota Corolla. Although he didn’t quite manage to convert it in qualifying, he made progress through race one and two. He was in a strong position to challenge for a podium in the finale until he too was another unfortunate victim of a spinning Neal.
RORY BUTCHER 6/ 10
Amdtuning.com Honda
I’m disappointed. I had predicted him to be fighting for wins at Oulton and, after a solid day’s work, his opportunity finally came in race three. However, he made a mistake, slid wide on fluid on the track and gave the win away. Worst of all, he made my prediction wrong (and that’s also cost him a point in this marking).
ANDREW JORDAN 8/ ˚ 10
WSR BMW 330i M Sport
Jordan was overshadowed by his team-mate slightly, but it was still a very solid performance to minimise the damage to his championship charge. That may not read well for him, but, on a bad weekend, he has come away with a double podium and that means he is elevated into second place in the points.
TOM CHILTON 4/ 10
Motorbase Ford Focus
Seemed to really struggle to put a lap together in qualifying and a poor grid position proved difficult to recover from. Slow progress in race one was followed by a nonfinish with toe-link damage in race two. His recovery drive in the final race salvaged a few points, but that will be little consolation to him.
SAM TORDOFF 7/ 10
Amdtuning.com Honda
Like his teammate, Tordoff caused my predictions to be wrong and thus has been docked a point. My tip for pole made a small mistake at Druids on his qualifying lap and lost out on top spot by just 0.027s. Drove well and stayed out of trouble for some solid points and a single podium on Sunday.
COLIN TURKINGTON 9/ 10
WSR BMW 330i M Sport
His pole-winning qualifying lap was a work of art. After that, he was always going to be incredibly difficult to beat and, true to form, on Sunday he did everything he needed to with no mistakes and impressive consistency. That led him to a double win, followed by some helpful points in the final race.
JOSH COOK 6/ 10
BTC Racing Honda
It looked like a tough weekend for Cook (tough Cookie?), who suffered from a duff turbo and a lack of pace in qualifying. After a slow start and limited progress in race one, he did gather some speed to score two top 10 finishes, and some valuable points in the final two races.
CHRIS SMILEY 3/ 10
BTC Racing Honda
He outpaced his team-mate and was on the cusp of the top 10 in qualifying but a grid penalty from the previous meeting meant he lined up 16th on Sunday. There was no progress during race one and he was incredibly unlucky in race two as Goff slid across the grass and collected him. Another non-finish.
JASON PLATO 6/ 10
Power Maxedvauxhall
Plato continues to find pace from the PMR Astra, which looked like it was on rails in free practice. Starting eighth Sunday brought two top 10 results but, after benefiting from the reversed grid draw, he was unlucky to be removed from a podium position due to having to avoid Neal, which damaged the engine.
STEPHEN JELLEY 9/ 10
Parker BMW 125i M Sport
He didn’t seem to quite have the pace on Saturday and only managed 17th in qualifying but, come Sunday, Jelley was on a mission. He made good progress through the first two races and was rewarded with a well-deserved win in the final race of the day. It was his first in a decade!
DANIEL ROWBOTTOM 5/ 10
Ciceley Mercedes A-class
Having recently recovered from the dreaded man flu myself, Rowbottom has my full sympathy! Despite his illness, which was compounded by the blazing hot weather at the Cheshire track, he managed to soldier through and score his first ever BTCC point in the second race of the day.