Ingram is another BTCC driver being discussed as a potential challenger to the championship lead. The hosts frame the question as whether he can “close the gap at the top,” implying he’s currently behind Sutton in the standings.
“Round four” just means the fourth event of the season on the calendar. BTCC weekends usually have more than one race, so points can change a lot.
Concept
40% break
The “40% break” means there’s a scheduled pause in the season after a certain portion of the year’s racing has been completed. It’s basically the halfway-ish point where the calendar stops for a bit.
Ash Sutton is a top BTCC driver, referenced here as the dominant force so far in the season. The hosts discuss whether he can keep winning at Alton Park and mention him as the likely holder of the qualifying lap record.
The Monaco Grand Prix is a famous Formula 1 race in Monaco. It’s known for being very tight and slow, and the hosts bring it up to say you might watch touring cars instead.
A “three-quarter-sized circuit” means they don’t use the entire track. They run a shorter version, which changes how the race feels and how tires wear.
A “hairpin” is a very tight corner where the car has to slow down a lot and turn back on itself. It’s a big deal for lap time because you brake hard and then accelerate out.
A “qualifying lap record” is the fastest lap someone has ever driven during the qualifying session. Qualifying matters because it helps determine where you start the races.
Racing tyres come in different types. The harder tyre usually lasts longer but may not grip as well, so “avoiding the hard tyre option” means trying not to end up on the less-grippy choice at the wrong time.
Different tyres work better or worse depending on conditions. If someone does well on the “worst tyre,” it means they were able to make a less-grippy tyre work better than expected.
A body flap is a small aerodynamic part on the car that helps control airflow. If it gets damaged, the car can feel “off” because the downforce and balance change.
The wheel arch is the panel around the wheel. If it’s damaged in a crash, it can interfere with the tyre and can also change how the car sits and handles.
Here, “Infinity” sounds like a name tied to the team or car entry Sutton was driving at the time. It’s not describing a car part—it’s more like a label for that particular setup.
A puncture means the tyre gets damaged and goes flat. In a race, that usually makes the car unsafe and forces you to stop or causes you to lose control.
Collard is one of the race drivers being talked about. They’re saying he’s been doing well, but there’s also uncertainty about whether he has a contract for the whole season.
Chilton is another driver they’re evaluating. They’re saying his results tend to swing—good one weekend, not so good the next—and they’re wondering if he can improve this time.
They’re talking about reducing the engine’s power. That can be done by limiting how much the engine can make, and it’s usually done to keep cars more evenly matched. The concern here is that it might hurt a car that’s already doing well.
A reserve driver is a driver contracted to step in if the primary driver can’t race due to injury, illness, or contractual/availability issues. In series like BTCC, reserve roles can also reflect a driver’s funding situation and future prospects within a team.
Osamu Kawashima is a race driver. In this episode, they’re talking about him being a backup (reserve) driver in the BTCC, meaning he could fill in if someone can’t race.
A reserve seat role is basically a backup driver position. If the main driver can’t race, the reserve driver may step in, and they’re also often involved in preparation.
Person
Yuki Sonoda
Yuki Sonoda is a Formula 1 driver they’re using as an example. The hosts are saying that when a Japanese driver is in the spotlight, it can lead to more attention from Japanese brands.
A qualifying race is a race that happens after qualifying. Its results can affect where drivers start in the next race, so it matters for strategy.
Place
Orton Park
Oulton Park is a race track in the UK. In this episode they’re previewing the BTCC races happening there and when they start.
Topic
pit lane will open at 10 past 12
This is a schedule detail for the BTCC Sunday session at Oulton Park, indicating when teams can begin work in the pit lane before the first race. Pit lane opening times are important because they affect when cars can be serviced and when drivers can get ready for track action.
Safety cars are used in racing when there’s an incident on track or conditions require the field to slow down. The hosts note that race lengths can change depending on safety car periods and other events, which is a common feature of touring car weekends.
They’re talking about problems with the engine that can make the car slower or less consistent. In racing, that can show up quickly on track, especially during long runs and high-speed sections.
Term
M Sport engine cars
This is about which engine program a BTCC team is using. If one engine build has trouble, it can hurt lap times and race results—especially when the weather changes.
Term
manufacturer engines
They mean engines made as part of the carmaker’s own racing effort. The idea is that a purpose-built engine can fit the car better and perform more consistently than a more generic setup.
“Straight line” means what the car can do when it’s just accelerating down a straight. If one engine makes more power or runs more reliably, you often see it most on these sections.
Ambient temperature just means how warm the air is outside. Hotter or colder air can change how the engine runs and how well it can cool itself.
Term
hamster in a wheel engine
That phrase is a joke for an older engine setup they were using before changing to something new. The point is that the car’s engine situation wasn’t the same as it is now, so results may not carry over perfectly.
The Toyota Corolla is a small car made for normal driving. In racing, teams can modify it so it can compete on a track. The podcast is basically saying that the track might match the Corolla’s design and how it can be set up for racing.
Boost is extra pressure from a turbo that helps the engine make more power. If the track is slippery, too much boost can make the car spin instead of going forward.
The “greasy middle ground” is when the track is partly wet and partly dry. Tires don’t have consistent grip, so the car can feel harder to control than in clear wet or clear dry.
Charles Rainford is a driver they think performs especially well when it’s raining. Since rain is expected, they believe that could help him and his car.
“Intermediate” means the track is in-between wet and dry. The car can struggle because the team has to pick a setup that works best for one extreme, not the middle.
Brands Hatch is a famous race track in the UK. Because BTCC cars race there often, past results at Brands Hatch can hint at how well someone might do this weekend.
It’s a short race/qualifying session where drivers race hard to earn pole position. Pole position is the front spot on the starting grid, so it’s a big advantage.
Heat can make an engine run differently—sometimes it reduces how well the car can perform. The driver is saying the problem was likely caused by hot conditions, and without that heat the car would have been faster.
Mikey Doble is a BTCC driver discussed here in the context of engine-related issues and how he expects performance to improve. The host ties his potential rebound to what he learned about the cause of problems (heat) and his prior wet/Brands Hatch results.
Shedden is a BTCC driver. The host is predicting he’ll win the sprint-to-pole based on his earlier results and expectations about Toyota being competitive.
Race teams adjust the car differently for rain versus dry weather. The goal is to keep the tires working well and the car controllable when grip changes.
They mean the small “sweet spot” where the car feels right and is fast without getting out of shape. New teams often need time to find that exact balance.
Snetterton is a UK circuit where BTCC rounds are held, and the host is using last season’s results there as context for predicting this weekend. The mention implies the driver struggled due to setup or weekend issues rather than driver ability.
A setup issue means the team’s car settings weren’t quite right for that track or conditions. Even a good driver can struggle if the car isn’t balanced and behaving predictably.
A reverse grid means the starting positions are flipped compared to the previous race. That can let drivers who start further back still win if they get through the early chaos.
Here “outscore” means one driver/team should earn more points than another over the weekend. It’s about the points result, not only who wins a single moment.
They’re describing a crash where a car skids and hits the side of another car. On a wet track it’s easier to slide, so side contact can happen more often.
LIVE
Will Sutton be smiling like a Cheshire cat, or can Ingram close the gap at the top? This
is the Alton Park 3U.
Hello, and welcome back to the British Touring Car podcast. We are coming into round four
of the season at Alton Park. In Cheshire. In Cheshire. The last one before the mid-season
break, which is coming a little bit early this year. The 40% break. The 40% break, yes,
quite. We've obviously seen quite a lot of dominance from a certain Mr Ash Sutton so far
this season. Will anything change this weekend? How are you, Russ? I'm all right. I'm looking
forward to a sofa weekend, the first of the season for us two. We haven't been on the sofa
as of yet for a touring car weekend. Looking forward to a little slight change of pace this
weekend with that. I like Alton Park. It's a good circuit. It's a tight circuit with lots of
complicated corners and tricky bits, as well as some longer straights. With the weather that is
potentially coming this weekend as well, it could be a quite a difficult one to call. It's the main
reason that I'm looking forward to sitting on the sofa. I must admit. I'm just prefacing all my
predictions going wrong now by saying it's hard to call. Just to give myself a little bit of an
excuse later on. Of course, it is also the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend. Why watch that when you
can watch the touring cars? I knew you would say that. Well, there'll be more action at Alton Park
than there will be at Monaco, for sure. Yeah, it's always famed for being, as you mentioned,
very tight and technical. Monaco or Alton Park. It'll be interesting to see how the touring
cars manage it this weekend. Absolutely. We'll start off our usual stat packing game, which
shows who's done the research and who hasn't. So, Autopark, Tarpauli in Cheshire. We have
nine corners, 2.26 miles. We don't do the full circuit. We do the three-quarter-sized circuit,
which includes the bowl and the longer hairpin. They're not the longest hairpin, the mid-airpin,
as it were. 2.26 miles. So, on the longer side of a touring car race, David did in 1960. Sam,
would you like to guess who has the qualifying lap record here? Let's go for Ash Sutton. No.
Would you like to have a second guess? England? Yes. He said it last year with a 1 minute 23.9
when rounded. Would you like to guess who has the race lap record? Camish. No. Ingram. Also
set last year, a 1.240 when rounded, so very close to the qualifying lap record. So, we could see
another weekend of virtue dominance this weekend because it is a track that has historically
suited the Hyundai's Chris Smiley picking up his first podium of the season last year here as well.
So, it'll be interesting to see whether that form continues this weekend. I think it probably
needs to continue. If we're going to have a much more interesting championship, then I
certainly think it needs to be an Ingram weekend that he needs to dominate and possibly see some
issues for Sutton and Napa. Well, you mentioned that. So, if we go back to last year, obviously,
Ingram took pole as I intimated there with lap time. Race 1 was won by Ingram from Camish from
Smiley. Sutton swapped a fourth on the last lap, if you remember, to avoid the hard tyre option.
Race 2 was then Sutton, Morgan and Chilton. Ingram got a fourth on the worst tyre in Sparta.
A lot of debate afterwards about how that car was handling the tyre situation. And then Race 3
was a wet race last year. Shedham won that from Sutton from Robottom. In terms of the two championship
trackers, and I think we can already say there's only two in this race, Sutton had a fourth, a
first and a second, and Ingram had a first, a fourth and a fourth. So, you might be thinking,
it's going to be another nipping tuck weekend. However, if there is a circuit where Sutton
has problems, it is here. So, in 2024, Sutton had a 12, a 16th and an 18th. That was the year of the
body flap, wheel arch and then into the pit wall at the start of Race 3. In 2023, a second, a second
and a retirement. I think that one, he went for a quite interesting move off the start line and got
squeezed. 2022, a second, a second and a 16th. So, he fell down. And I certainly remember when we
went, he was in the Infinity and he was going backwards down the Leap at one point as well
and had a puncture. So, if you are looking for a championship that might exist after four rounds,
this might be the track that allows Ingram to get a little bit closer.
Yeah, it's certainly something that we've probably got to be hoping for. We know Ingram is pretty
strong everywhere he goes. It's just whether he can back that up this weekend and then whether he
can also have some teammates to get in there and make it a lot more interesting. Obviously, we've
seen Collard have decent form so far this season and be a fairly key protagonist in being an ally to
Ingram. But can Chilton step up this weekend? It seems to go and fluctuates for Chilton. Normally,
he has a good weekend followed by a bad weekend followed by a good weekend.
I'm sure he'll suggest it would depend on the proximity of Charles Rainford.
I would say the last time out at Statham was a decent weekend for him. So,
maybe we won't see a brilliant one from him this time out. Let's see if he can turn those
fortunes around. And it's worth noting at this stage that there is some chatter that the Napa
engine will be turned down by a couple of horsepower. I have been looking into this
today and have not found any official directive as of yet. To be fair, that will probably only
be announced on the Saturday morning, I would have thought. So, keep an eye on that throughout
the weekend. I have to say, and we touched on this in our May recap, that I am fundamentally
against this. I don't want to talk too much because at the minute it's not been confirmed. But as a
general principle, I'm not a fan of having engines turned down when a car is performing.
I'd also point to the fact that Virtue had a very strong engine last year that didn't get turned
down. And I'd also point to the fact that Camish, Selby and Osborne aren't completing the top four
places each weekend either. So, we have to see if that is true or not. Obviously,
that we picked up over the weekend. But fundamentally, I don't like the idea of that
particularly. No, and the other little bit of news that we've seen murmuring amongst the great vines
is a possible another Virtue driver. They've taken on a Japanese driver who seems to have a
decent amount of financial backing behind him as a quote reserve driver for the season. And we all
know that there is the possibility that Collard may not complete the season. He's already said
that he's only really got a deal together for half the season so far. And whether he can complete
the deal for the rest of the season is yet to be seen. If you're going on form from the start of
the season, he fully deserves to keep his seat for the full season. But that's unfortunately
not how the steering cars plays out at the moment. The driving question is, and I do apologise to
any listeners if I get this wrong, is Osamu Kawashima who appears to have joined, as you say,
in the reserve seat role. There are two ways of looking at this. Obviously, I echo if you can
say there about Ricky Collard and I think the series would be a lot poorer about him,
not just for his character off the track, but he's also been excellent on the track this year.
There is, of course, potentially a flip side that it might bring in. We saw with the Yuki
Sonoda racing in F1, there was a renewed interest from Japanese market and it might bring to us
some Honda backing into the series again, or maybe Mazda or...
He's had the Toyota back in his car.
I'm not sure Mazda is Japanese actually. Is it? No, it is, of course. Anyway,
it doesn't matter. The point is, it might bring in some other manufacturers if there are more eyes
on a competition. So, there will be pros and cons. As I say, at the minute, he is only looking at
the reserve seat role, but we do know, of course, as you've said that Collard has intimated that he
has only got half a season under his belt at the moment. Thank to him, he has got a nice long
break coming to hopefully muster the support. And let's be honest, he's certainly put a good
advert out for himself in the opening part of the season, but we'll watch this space on that
side of things. Definitely. So, looking forward to the weekend then, we'll go through the schedule
first of all, if that's all right. That's fine with me. So, on the Saturday, obviously, we have
the qualifying, followed by qualifying race. So, that will take place at two o'clock for the
qualifying session followed by five past three for the actual race to poll, which is going to be
10 laps at Orton Park. It's not really a sprint, is it? No, not really. And then, as we all know,
the Sunday at Orton Park always starts pretty much bang on midday because of the surroundings
that they're in. So, the pit lane will open at 10 past 12 for a 12-25 first British touring
car race, which is 15 laps. Second touring car race starts at five to three. Again, 15 laps.
All subjects change, depending on safety cars and other races and what's going on. And then,
the final race will be at 20 past five. And what's quite nice is there is a race to follow that
during her event, which hopefully should make it a little bit easier for some people to get out of
the circuit afterwards. Absolutely. With the qualifying and sprint to poll event race thing,
it is likely to be wet on the Saturday. It'll be very interesting to see how that
affects the field. Obviously, your front runners will have less of the boost available to them
over the laps. However, I think that in the rain, that will be equalised quite well.
And somebody like Ingram, and Saturday is also quicker, but I think Ingram has the edge on a
one-lap pace personally, is my personal view. Yes, certainly a good opportunity to maximise
good grid position and then the actual sprint to race poll event that will take place afterwards.
As part of the timetable this weekend, we have some Scottish Legends Championship joining us,
along with the poor sprint challenge, Great Britain, the mini challenge, and also the CTCRC,
which is the classic touring car championship, basically. And that will be a certain era of
touring cars within that as well. No F4s for this weekend. If you're looking out for those,
they will not be on the calendar for this weekend. It's an interesting support package.
It's always going to be a little bit smaller at Alton because of the limited time factor on the
Sunday. I think that combination is quite nice to see something so different. Yeah,
absolutely. Welcome to one weekend a year at the very least. Yeah, I remember I went to Croft a
couple of years ago and they had classic touring cars, then you had minis trying to overtake long
American Cadillac-y style cars. And it was very fun to watch. So, yeah, as you say, it has a little
bit of variety and gives the spectators will be track-sides and a little bit different than the
usual Tokersport package, which is, of course, brilliant in its own right, but it is always
nice to get a little bit of variety and new bits from here. And also potentially for those
championships to get a few more eyes on them. And I'll be honest with you, until the legends had
been on the touring car, I'd never heard of them. And now I very much enjoy being able to watch them
when I can because they are very fun to watch. Agreed. What are your thoughts as to the form
book for this weekend? Well, with the rain, are we going to see a massive shake up? Or are we going
to see a fairly status quo? One thing on that, we're assuming it'll be wet. Every weather
prediction suggests it will rain, which means that we've bone dry 30 degrees. But assuming it
does rain, I think the big question this weekend is going to be, we spoke a lot at Snettaton about
engine troubles for the M Sport engine cars. Are they going to be a problem this weekend as well?
There seemed to be a suggestion it was down to heat at Snettaton. There have been some
grumblings online that it's not actually a heat problem. It's the engine problem. I personally
don't buy that. I just think that the Ford and Hyundai engine are better because they've been
manufactured by the race cars themselves. They're not quote stock engines that have been plugged into
a car. They've been specifically manufactured for that particular chassis. But it'd be interesting
to see whether those cars are going to be back up to speed this weekend. Again, I'm not expecting
them to be able to necessarily compete with those manufacturer engines on a straight line,
but the difference was noticeable, particularly amongst PMR at Snettaton who seemed to struggle
the most. Obviously, Shedden did win a race on the quote lower performing engine. So yeah,
it'd be interesting if those problems have been fixed for this weekend. If it was just a heat issue,
or if there is a wider problem, because there are some long straights on this circuit where
engine power is going to be key, particularly if the boot isn't going to be as effective due to
the rain. Yeah, I think if we are going to get that wetter weather, obviously, or bring temperatures
temperatures down naturally, and that will really tell us whether the difference to cold,
whether the difference is in the ambient temperature or whether there is something
more critical with those engine builds themselves. I personally think that Toyota and PMR are going
to have a fairly strong weekend. Obviously, we saw Shedden win here last time out, or in 2025.
Yes, it was a very defensive win, but it was almost a classic shedding kind of win.
And it's also important to point out that that race was not only in the wet, but that was when
Shedden was still running the hamster in a wheel engine from last year before they made the switch
over and he was able to get the win against all odds really, because the car or the engine was
dreadful for the first half of last season. I think you're right. I think the circuit does suit
the Corolla shape and potentially the the PMR Audi, which will come here with a bit more boost if
that isn't completely nullified by the rain. Obviously, Mikey Doble has gone well here in
the past. He's taken a podium here from memory serves me right. Jake Hill nipping his first
win away from him in 23. But also the BMW goes well here as well. Again, I know that that will
be slightly curtailed by the rain potentially, but it also depends. The BMW in full wet is fine
and full dry is fine. It's that greasy middle ground that's the difficulty. And if the weather is
as advertised, it's going to be wet and therefore they can go full wet set up. And we know that
Charles Rainford is good in wet conditions. And as I say, that car is better when it's fully wet.
It struggles in the medium, almost intermediate, which we don't have, but almost intermediate
setup because you have to set the car up either wet or dry. Yes, you can go a little bit in between,
but that does seem to be where the BMW struggles. Yeah, I think that's more down to putting power
down onto the circuit in those kind of conditions. Should we get onto predictions? We can do,
we can do. I've got to find my predictions, but yeah, we'll go on to predictions.
So obviously, we've got our full weekend predictions. We'll take a look through the
Saturday, the Sunday and also three generals as we normally do. And if you haven't done already,
please do subscribe down below. Make sure you click that like button, get the bell on as well,
so you don't miss any of our forthcoming podcasts. And we'll keep you up to date with
all the news throughout the season. Absolutely. We'll start then with our poll. This is who's
going to set the fastest time in qualifying, so not where they'll start Sunday necessarily,
who starts on poll for the race to sprint event poll thing that will happen on Saturday afternoon,
which I think this has got the potential to be one of the better ones at Alton Park because I
think that it's a circuit that naturally leads itself to overtaking. I think if you sprinkle in
the rain as well, that's potentially an interesting factor. I will say that Alton Park has similarities
to Brands Hatch in so far as that there are clear overtaking areas. And I think Brands Hatch so far
has been the best sprint to poll race that we've had. What I will be interested to see is whether
it follows the pattern of what we've seen so far, which is the first few laps, quite interesting.
And then it sort of peed us out as teams and drivers don't necessarily want to risk too much.
But we'll have to see how that pans out on the Saturday.
Chilton, I think that the virtue engine is going to be strong here. I think that
I've hitched my bets slightly because I don't know how wet it's going to be and how much that's
going to offset the boost. But I think that Chilton will have the most boost out of Ingram
Collard and himself. And if that does come into play, I think that will then give him the edge
on the rest of the field of that engine. I think that engine is going to dominate this weekend.
I think you've got to hope that Chilton doesn't have a bad Chilton weekend as well.
I would also say Chilton was very quick at Snetting and took poll there. And I think that he has
got really good one that pays for the car. I think where he's struggling in that car is
either he's got to battle somebody or just general race pace over a race.
I have gone for Mikey Doble. As I've already said, I think the PMR is going to bounce back
quite well this weekend. I spoke to him very quickly at Snetting about the possible engine
issues. And he said to me that it was very much down to heat. And if the heat wasn't there that
we did have at Snetting, he reckons he would have been in the top five most of the weekend.
Yeah, and he ran well at Brands Hatch in wet conditions. So I wouldn't be stunned if that
one came true. Although I'd also say I wouldn't write off my foot in these conditions either.
Agreed.
For your sprint to poll winner.
I've gone for Shedden. I have this sneaky suspicion that the Toyotas are going to do rather well
this weekend. And with the form that he's had earlier on in the season, obviously taking that
win at Snetting as well, he'll be on some sort of high and he'll look to continue that into
quite mid-season break. And we know how well he went here last year and that was a very defensive
win. But I think he'll be a little bit more expressive this year. Fair play. I've gone for
Morgan. I think that that Catechli Mercedes car will be strong here. I think it's a circle that
will suit them. I think that the only thing that might undo them slightly is if it's
somewhere in between, weather wise, I think they'll have a wet setup and a dry setup. It's
about finding those margins for a new team coming to the grid in the in-between bits.
But if it's one or the other, I quite fancy that car to do quite well this weekend.
Okay, fair enough. Moving on to the Sunday then and we've got three race winners that we can pick
from. I have gone for Ingram, Doble and Taylor Smith. Okay. I think Taylor Smith's got that
burden off his back of getting that fifth win. He was nowhere at Snetting though.
He was nowhere at Snetting, but I think that was more down to a setup issue and issues that he had
on the Saturday. I think he'll be much clearer coming into this weekend of where he wants the car
to be and the base setting that they may well have had from last year. Potentially. You'll talk
about the new number too. I mean, Ingram is the safe bet, isn't it? Ingram's Ingram. The only
surprise is I haven't gone for a certain win. Well, nor have I. I have gone for Ingram as well. I
think that you just have to expect he'll pick something up this weekend. I've also got for
Ricky Collard. I think he will break that duck this weekend and say, I think that the car will be by
far and away the best in the field and I really fancy if it's wet as well. Collard is excellent
brands hatch in the wet conditions. He'll also, I think it's worth pointing out that he'll know
this track quite well from GT as well. Yes. I just, I've got the, I've just fancy the cars
going to do it this weekend. And then I've gone for Josh Cook, similar vein to Shedden last year.
I can see a race three. He's not the greatest start season cook. A little bit of problems of the car
with the setup and how it's all feeling, et cetera. But the way that the weekend is set up, if you can
just plod away in race one and two and get a little bit of luck, maybe if the reverse grid and race
three you saw last year of Shedden, if you've not got the best car, you can get to victory. And Cook
is also quite good in the wet conditions as well. And to add even further, if it is wet, that is
always the great level of. It is. It is. You or Jack see his prediction for the weekend then?
James Dolan, he's really impressed me so far. Absolutely commanding that Jack says at the
moment, he is top as we go into this round. And again, he's in the Hyundai, which I think,
okay, it's not the virtue Hyundai. It's the same chassis. And we saw Smiley go well here last year.
I expect a strong performance from Dolan this weekend. I think it's going to be a toss up
between three drivers. So that's half the field. So yeah, okay. So it's just the case of picking
one out and I've gone for Paterson. We know that he's had good early form in Jack Sears.
He's probably been unlucky not to be further up from where he is. Yes, it was a disappointing
weekend last time out of Stesson, but I think he wants to bounce back to the Jack Sears win.
Fair enough. We'll move into our general three predictions then. Would you like to kick things
off? I have gone for PMR to outscore Napa this weekend. So that's all. You really are going
into the PMR. I am. Any hospitality, I'm afraid to take it. I mean, some of our fans will be
very pleased with your PMR predictions here. So yeah, all three Audi's to outscore all four
Napa Fords. I just have a feeling that the Ford might struggle this weekend.
I understand and I kind of agree, which is why I've also gone for an outscoring of Napa
by virtue. A bit more safe. I just think that the only thing that would worry me about the PMR
prediction you've made there is that it just takes an out of control car to slide into the door
handle. Especially in the rain. Exactly. It's a slide into the door handle of one of them.
But it could happen to a Ford as well. And there are more of them on the grid. It's more likely to
happen to them. Statistically speaking, yes. But yeah, I think it's brave, but...
Is it collared about? I think the first one I jumped to, but you are also so far ahead in the
predictions at the moment, you can probably afford to be a little bolder than I. As I say,
I've gone for virtue to outscore Napa, so four V4. I wouldn't actually be surprised if Hamilton
outscores one of the drivers this weekend as well. I think Nick gets points. Fair enough.
And my second prediction is at least two Toyota podiums. So any one of the four Toyota drivers,
or two or three. Yeah. So, to be clear, it's just the Sunday only. Yes, Sunday only.
And it's the main podium only. Correct. Just so we can be absolutely clear. Yep, no problem.
Eight Toyota to finish inside the top three in each race, or not each race, but at least two.
And it can be the same driver. Yes. There's not going to be two different ones. Okay.
It's always good to get these things. I know how you like to clarify.
I'm so far behind. I need to find any loophole I can early. I've gone for the same team,
we'll win all three independent races, not so the same driver, but the same team. So it might
be Rainford and De Leon win all three races between them or three PMRs. Yeah, exactly. Yes.
I don't have to be the same driver, but it will be the same team that wins all three of the
independent races. Okay. And finally, I've gone for at least two safety car periods this weekend.
Entering our races. Entering our races on the Sunday. Good to clarify. I just think with the
possible inclement conditions we're going to have, it's a tight circuit. There's normally
incidents and the barriers aren't too far away, unfortunately. No, you're right. There's a lot
of undulations and there's a couple of gravel traps which suck cars in and in the wet conditions.
Sometimes you get out of them. Sometimes you don't. I just think we'll get a bit of incident.
Yep. Fair enough. My last one is that I think Buxton gets his first points of the season.
I think I considered that I'm leaning heavily into it because of the rain. And again,
I said it before, it's the great leveler. I actually thought,
yeah, I think that he's been a little bit unlucky to a degree. I think the car just
isn't quite there. And I think Cook is massively overperforming it. But I also think this could
be the weekend that can, like last year, kickstarted Toyota's season a little bit. Maybe
they'll be looking for the same here with Buxton. That's the one of the three I'm least confident
on, I have to say. But yeah, I think I can see it happening. Currently the score is 7-4 to me.
7-4 to you. I've got a little bit of work to do.
It's a little bit of a gap, but obviously you've had two non-school weekends in a row,
so you're looking to bounce back and be better.
Yeah, I think that is fair to say. But see if I can get myself back onto the tally. So if I go
three without scoring, then I really am a child. Just a believable player on his day. I think,
yeah, the streets will forget. Just before we start to round up, we'll just bring you up to
speed of where everybody is standing. Not literally, we'll be on the sofa, as I said.
But in terms of the actual competition, Sutton sits atop of the pile on 1-7-4 from
Tom Ingram on 1-1-7, so 57 points back. Massive margin. Big margin. Ingram can
literally win all three races, and it might not still be enough to go top, assuming Sutton scores
once, which is, yeah, yikes. Rainford back in the mix now in third on 106. Dan Kamish,
we're not responding much about him, in fourth on 99. Ricky Collard on 94. De Leon, 92. Shedden,
83. Dobel, 79. Morgan back in the top 10 now on 73, and Chilton rounds off on 68.
The Jack Sears, I'm going to come back to the independence because that one is absolutely mad
at the moment. Jack Sears, Doran leads the way. He's got a 10-point gap on Patterson, 1-4-5,
plays 1-3-5. Osborne not too far back on 1-1-7. Selby only one point behind him on 1-1-6.
He'll be at a really strong stat, a quietly strong as well. Agreed. Nick Hamilton, 94 points. Obviously,
he had a really good stat, and then Max Buxton on 71. Then the independent. This is where it's
getting really interesting. So at the minute, Shedden leads the way on 1-2-3 against Mikey
Dobel. Also 1-2-3. Shedden leads that on races one. De Leon on 1-2-1 from Rainford and 1-20. This
is far ahead of Leon in the overall championship, but obviously the gaps are a lot smaller in the
way the independence is scored. If you're new and don't quite understand the independence,
basically there's nine in here. So if you finish, you'll be scored one to nine. So you can finish
seventh on the road, but first in your independent categories, you'll get your full 25 points for
the independent and your points for ninth in the main. Then we have Moffitt back on 1-11. So not a
million miles away back. Then a little bit of a gap opening up to Smiley, but he's only, what's that,
19 points? No. 9. No, 21 points off. Lead. Oh, off the lead side. Yeah, 1-0-2. You can see why I
missed count last night at Darts as well. Taylor Smith on 99. James Dorn on 87. And Paterson on
82. So that. It amazes me how far down Aaron Taylor Smith and Dorn in R in that championship table,
but we know that everything can change. I think Taylor Smith, it's how bad Snetton was because
going into the Snetton weekend, if I go back, he was fourth in the independent standings on 72.
So he had a pretty poor Snetton and has only scored 27 points at Snetton, which I think in
that series in particular, with how close it is and the fact that you've got the BMW boys in the
independent category this year, it's so hard to call. We're going to see that fluctuate throughout
the season. And I think that that's why if you were to kick up a fuss about my prediction about
all three independent drivers or team, sorry, that's what was going to be my argument back,
but you didn't. So I didn't need to. Just to pick up on something that we've touched on in that May
update as well, we will come back to boost in the summer. It's complicated. Yeah, we're not going
to talk about it apart from if there's an instance this weekend and we'll come back and revisit that
properly in the summer and we can properly sit down and maybe hopefully even speak to a driver
about how it all works so we can be fully across because it is complicated with very similar
wording used across various different systems. So we'll come back to that.
But we will be back obviously on Saturday evening to bring you the update from the qualifying and
also the race to pole and our reactions to that. We will then also bring you an update probably on
Monday evening of the full race day on Sunday and all the action that happens there before we go
into this mid-season break. And just because the break is coming up, it doesn't mean we are stopping.
There'll be content we're looking to really start in earnest the TikTok channel. I know we've said
that before, but we've actually done a planning meeting, which is I made Sam sit down in a pen
to get this looked at properly. I went analogue. I went the old fashion waiver notebook in a pen.
So we will be looking to launch that in earnest in the summer break. And also if there's any
particular content you want us to cover in that period, I think it's a six or seven-week
break. So we'll have with plenty of content we can put in there. So yeah, if you've got any
particular requests, anything you want us to cover, whether that be Java profiles, retrospects,
opinions on anything in particular, drop a comment or drop a certain to our Facebook page,
etc. And we have got a plan for some content in the summer, but we're also flexible and fluid and
change to accommodate if there's anything in particular people want to see.
Yeah, we'll of course bring you news updates at the end of each month as well.
If there are any.
Even if there is the minimal amount, we'll find something to talk about. We always do.
But yeah, until Saturday, we'll be back and see you then.
Bye for now.
About this episode
BTCP’s BTCC round-four preview heads to Oulton Park with a track-and-weekend rundown, from the three-quarter circuit layout to a schedule shaped by likely wet weather. The hosts revisit last year’s Oulton Park storylines—Sutton’s late tyre switch and earlier 2024 damage—then debate engine chatter, including possible NAPA horsepower reduction and M Sport reliability questions. They map out qualifying/sprint and Sunday race scenarios, explain independent scoring, and close with predictions, safety-car expectations, and monthly news updates.
