BTCC: Rainford wins final race of the day at Oulton Park

Charles Rainford wins the final race of the day at Oulton Park to take second win of the season.

Chris Smiley would start on pole ahead of Sam Osborne and Charles Rainford while Dexter Patterson and Ricky Collard completed the top five on the grid. Further back would see Dan Cammish, Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton sitting in ninth, tenth and eleventh place looking to find their way through the pack in the final race of the day.

Rainford would get the best start of the front three before contact between them on the run into turn one almost ended in calamity. However, all three drivers got away with only minor damage and still in the lead positions before Osborne had to take defensive action against Collard, who made a move around the outside of the hairpin to try and take third place but to no avail after a Safety Car would be deployed for an incident between Aron Taylor-Smith and Adam Morgan sending them both spinning into the barriers after Taylor-Smith was in the middle of a slide which caught the Mercedes.

The race would get back underway on lap five with Smiley trying to defend against Rainford but with the BMW on the softer compound of tyres, he manages to take the lead around the outside of Cascades. Osborne would lose out on three places dropping behind Collard, Cammish and Ingram who came charging through. Collard would continue to make progress, passing Smiley into the final corner to take second place all while Ingram moved passed Cammish to take fourth away from the NAPA driver.

Ingram would be the next to pass the hard tyre running Smiley who was dropped to fourth on lap seven. Smiley would continue to drop positions to the soft running cars with Cammish using the superior tyre grip much like Ingram, to move into fourth place to the first turn.

Further behind, Osborne would be fighting of Dexter Patterson at Hislop, defending the position on entry allowing Josh Cook to find his way passed on the exit of the chicane. Cook would continue to make his way up the order, passing Osborne on the run into the final corner to move up to sixth place.

A Safety Car would have to be called on lap nine with Lewis Selby and Tom Chilton in the barriers at Cascades after Chilton got on the curb at Denton’s unsettling the car and hitting Selby and sending both off the circuit.

The race would get back underway on lap thirteen with Rainford managing to keep Collard at bay for the time being while Dan Rowbottom would make his climb up the order, passing Osborne for seventh place. Rowbottom would continue his fight up the order in this time, constantly pressuring Smiley at every opportunity. He would finally get his chance on the final lap to make his way passed the Hyundai, using the better run out of the first turn to take the outside line into the second braking zone and swoop around the outside to take sixth place after spending multiple laps looking for a way by.

Up at the front of the field, it would be Rainford who would take victory for the second time this season at the final race of the day in Oulton Park. Collard would finish second ahead of Ingram and Cammish while Cook completed the top five. Rowbottom finished sixth ahead of Smiley and Patterson while Sutton finished in ninth after having to race with only one lap of boost on the hard tyres. Aiden Moffat would complete the top ten.

Sutton continues to lead the championship by 48 points over Ingram while Cammish sits a further 12 points back in third. Rainford sits fourth in the championship 83 points behind Sutton while Collard completes the top five in the standings, only 13 points behind the BMW.

The Independent driver’s championship sees Doble narrowly leading by five points over Daryl De Leon while Rainford sits seven points off of the Audi. Moffat sits in fourth 18 points behind his teammate while Gordon Shedden sits one point off of Moffat in fifth in the standings.

The Jack Sears Trophy sees Patterson lead by seven points over James Dorlin while Sam Osborne sits 22 points further back in third. Nic Hamilton sits fourth in the standings ahead of Lewis Selby and Max Buxton.