Adrian Flux Subaru Racing, run by Team BMR, travels to Oulton Park this weekend for the next three rounds of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship, with the first race of the meeting being Subaru’s 100th race in BTCC.

A fortnight ago a weather-beaten Croft circuit in North Yorkshire offered a variety of challenges for all teams, with Ash Sutton collecting enough points to leave the meeting third place in the championship standings, now 13 points behind championship leader Colin Turkington, despite Croft traditionally being a very strong track for the BMR team.

BMR’s chief engineer Antonio Carrozza explains more:

“Croft was a disappointment for the team in all honesty. In previous years, it had always been the strongest hunting ground for the Subaru, but the track resurfacing and a qualifying session with five red flags meant that the cars qualified out of position on Saturday and struggled to make significant progress on Sunday.

“That being said, both drivers did make progress on Sunday, especially in the wet race 3 and we left with Ash still in a very strong championship position. Croft was very much a ‘what could have been’ weekend.

“The team, drivers and cars performed pretty much faultlessly all weekend, the circumstances just didn’t fall in our favour.”

Ash Sutton reflected on a solid weekend, “Croft was a little disappointing compared to the last few years,” he admits, “I feel we maybe went into that weekend with expectations set a little too high, but still we managed to pull some solid points out of it and leave there third in the championship.”

Ash’s teammate Senna Proctor, driver of car 18, reinforced those feelings too. “We had a good weekend at Croft with three points-scoring races,” he said, “I think we could have qualified higher if it wasn’t for the five red flags, but it was the same for everyone and I did a reasonable job in qualifying.”

Oulton Park

Oulton Park is marketed as “the UK’s most picturesque circuit”, sent in the Cheshire countryside. The track itself lies around 13 miles from the centre of Chester and boasts a mix of different types of corner with plenty of elevation changes.

Antonio Carrozza explains more:

“I think Oulton could be another weekend defined by qualifying. History has shown that to win at Oulton you need to start from the front, so the entire team’s focus will be on getting both Subarus at the sharp end of the grid on Saturday afternoon.

“If the cars qualify well, I think we will be able to race at the front, making the most of the Levorg’s strengths in braking and cornering performance.

“The forecast currently looks dry all weekend, so we could have the first race weekend of the season with consistent conditions!”

Ash told us more about Oulton Park’s challenges.

“Oulton Park hasn’t always been my strongest of tracks but that doesn’t mean we can’t go hunting for trophies and more points.

“People say that Oulton Park is a RWD track but I disagree and I feel it does favour the FWD cars, especially through the high speed corners. But anyone that knows me knows I will be fighting all the way!”

Senna is relishing the chance to race again and grab more points this weekend. He had this to say:

“I think Oulton Park should be strong for us, it’s a track that is notoriously heavy on the brakes and this is where I think the Subaru should be strong.

“I enjoy driving Oulton, it’s one of the best circuits in the country! We won’t know where our pace is until after qualifying so we will have to wait and see. As always, the Adrian Flux Subaru Racing team will be working flat out to make sure we are in the best position possible going into the weekend.”

A change of venue for rounds 13,14 and 15

Last year, rounds 10,11 and 12 of the BTCC were held at Oulton Park whilst 13-15 were at Croft.

Ash scored just a handful of points at Oulton Park in 2018, with Senna performing slightly better in a Vauxhall Astra, but both drivers will be hoping to get their hands on silverware before they leave this famous Cheshire circuit.

Watch it on TV

If you’re unable to find your way to the circuit to experience BTCC in the flesh then don’t despair, ITV4 will once again be showing live coverage (available in HD) of 2019 BTCC rounds, with extensive coverage of the support races.

Qualifying will be live online on Saturday (June 29, 2019) at http://itv.com/btcc.

Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the BTCC (as well as coverage of the support races) will be shown on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, Sunday (June 30, 2019) from 11:30am.

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Photo credits (including header photo): Jakob Ebrey