Rory Butcher inherited the win of round seven at Oulton Park as Josh Cook was excluded for failing post race ride height checks. Cook had won the first race on the road at a rain soaked Oulton in the British Touring Car Championship.
Having lost positions off the start, Cook surged back through the field to take the win on the road. Polesitter Rory Butcher was lifted to first with Dan Cammish taking second for Team Dynamics and Jake Hill third for MB Motorsport.
The start of the race was delayed as Carl Boardley crashed on the formation lap, parking his BMW in the wall on the final corner.
Once the race got underway, Turkington had a brilliant start, passing Cook and battling Butcher. Tom Oliphant in the second WSR BMW moved up to third while Stephen Jelley struggled to get off the line, falling to last. At the end of lap one Cook attempted a dive past Oliphant into the final corner not quite able to overtake.
On the next lap Cook tried the same move and passed Oliphant at the final corner before diving past Turkington on lap three in to the double right hander. The safety car was out on lap four as Ollie Brown crashed at the first corner.
On the restart Cook passed Butcher at turn one, while Mike Bushell, driving for the returning Power Maxed Racing, went off at turn one.
Cook built a lead but it was the fight for seventh which dominated the final few laps. Tom Ingram, Adam Morgan and Ash Sutton were fighting with Sutton nearly spinning Ingram round at the final corner.
Ingram set the fastest lap and surged through past Morgan, with Sutton in ninth fighting. The Toyota of Ingram then reeled in Tom Chilton in sixth, but couldn’t quite pass him.
Cook took the win but a proverbial dark cloud hung over him as the ToCA technical team were checking his ride height in the post race scrutineering. He was then announced as excluded from the race result as the ride height rollers couldn’t fit under the car, meaning it was illegal.
Pos | Driver | Car | Interval |
1 | Rory Butcher | Ford Focus ST | |
2 | Dan Cammish | Honda Civic Type R FK8 | +1.680 |
3 | Jake Hill | Honda Civic Type R FK2 | +2.521 |
4 | Colin Turkington | BMW 330i M Sport | +7.250 |
5 | Tom Chilton | Honda Civic Type R FK8 | +8.822 |
6 | Tom Ingram | Toyota Corolla | +9.559 |
7 | Adam Morgan | Mercedes Benz A Class | +11.980 |
8 | Ash Sutton | Infiniti Q50 | +19.497 |
9 | Chris Smiley | Hyundai i30N | +20.357 |
10 | Senna Proctor | Hyundai i30N | +26.018 |
11 | Michael Crees | Honda Civic Type R FK8 | +27.142 |
12 | Tom Oliphant | BMW 330i M Sport | +28.801 |
13 | Ollie Jackson | Ford Focus ST | +30.033 |
14 | Bobby Thompson | Audi S3 Saloon | +30.364 |
15 | Andy Neate | Ford Focus ST | +30.759 |
16 | Sam Osborne | Honda Civic Type R FK2 | +31.650 |
17 | Aiden Moffat | Infiniti Q50 | +32.041 |
18 | James Gornall | Audi S3 Saloon | +36.600 |
19 | Jack Butel | Mercedes Benz A Class | +45.746 |
20 | Stephen Jelley | BMW 125i M Sport | +49.971 |
21 | Nicolas Hamilton | VW CC | +2 Laps |
22 | Mike Bushell | Vauxhall Astra | +2 Laps |
23 | Ollie Brown | VW CC | +2 Laps |
24 | Matt Neal | Honda Civic Type R FK8 | +3 Laps |
25 | Jack Goff | VW CC | +4 Laps |
Retirements | |||
DNS | Carl Boardley | BMW 125i M Sport | Crash |
DSQ | Josh Cook | Honda Civic Type R FK8 | Ride Height |
Image Credit: BTCC Media