Morgan and Chilton enjoy solid Oulton Park BTCC weekend
A fantastic weekend of consistent pace netted a tremendous haul of point for Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park.
On home soil and in front of a massive and enthusiastic crowd, Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton worked wonders in their BMW 330i M Sports to take a brace of podium finishes and two further top 10 results.
Qualifying netted sixth for Adam while Tom struggled in traffic on the narrow Cheshire circuit and wound up 22nd but up for the fight come raceday. Race one was a tense affair, interrupted by a multiple accident that caused the race to be stopped and re-started. When the race resumed, Adam was eager to repeat his Oulton Park win of 2020 and chased Gordon Shedden’s Honda Civic as he tried to wriggle by for second place. Triple champion Shedden was able to preserve the place and deny The Morganator second, but Adam was happy with his podium finish, running on the harder medium tyre which was regarded to be slightly slower than the softer tyre used by the two winning Honda Civics.
“Oulton tends to be a bogey circuit for us, apart from last year’s win, so I am really chuffed to be on the podium in our first race here in the BMW. Gordon just had the edge on the soft tyres but a podium was a really good start to the day, especially as we were ahead of the works cars. Our Bowker BMW guests are over the moon!”
Adam started race three from third on the grid, now with 57 kilos of success ballast and running the softer tyre. As race leader Dan Rowbottom tried to defend from his Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden, Rory Butcher’s Toyota Corolla took the lead and Adam nipped ahead of Shedden for third place. As Butcher edged away, Rowbottom kept Accrington-based Adam at bay, with the Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW having to fend off the quick Ford Focus of Jake Hill which was lighter from race one.
“That was tough,” reckoned Adam. “I was busy trying to get past Dan and needing to make sure Jake didn’t get by so it was a busy race but a second podium of the day is really satisfying and the points are very welcome as well.”
For race three, with the semi-reverse grid, Adam started seventh again with 57 kilos of success ballast and with the slower medium tyre again. It as always going to be a tough race and it was one that was punctuated by a number of accidents on the crowded track. Adam finished fifth after losing out to a forceful Aiden Moffat on the opening tour, the Scotsman being uncompromising in his efforts to get by in his Infiniti. “Aiden was a bit keen and the rub just affected the car a bit but the weight and the tyres were the main factors for pace in that race. To be honest though, after years of bad luck here, two thirds and a fifth and no real dramas is bliss! We can go home with the knowledge of a job well done and not having to rebuild or repair anything so we are really happy.”
After his troubled qualifying, Tom Chilton’s second Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW just missed out on points in race one to finish 17th, but Tom bagged 13th in race two and kept clear of strife in race three to take ninth place for his best result of the season.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Commercial Director Norman Burgess said: “We have had a fantastic day with some great results in front of a proper crowd for the first time since 2019. Our Car Gods Engineering team and both drivers have adapted to the cars and rear wheel as opposed to front wheel drive at a quite unbelievable rate. Tom’s pace and top ten finish in race 3 has us hoping that he has found that tiny little piece of his jigsaw that was missing, he’s a class act and once he gets fully to grips with the car, we will all be a real force to reckon with. All our guests have loved being back at a BTCC event and they have been treated to plenty of drama as well! Adam drove really well all day and two podium finishes are a great reward for all the effort that the team is putting in and we just keep getting stronger. With the results we are achieving as an independent team, outscoring the works cars again, we are really buzzing.”
