BTCC Oulton Park: Matt Simpson fastest in Honda Civic Type R
Matt Simpson set the fastest time over the two free practice sessions ahead of the qualifying for round four of the 2018 British Touring Car Championship season at Oulton Park
The Honda Civic Type R driver clocked a 1m25.798s (93.40mph) lap in FP2 to finish 0.360 seconds clear of the similar Eurotech Racing Civic Type R of Brett Smith after the two 40-minute sessions on the 2.26-mile track.
Simpson said he was delighted with the handling of his hatchback from the moment he took to the Cheshire circuit.
"The car has been superb right from the word go," said Simpson.
"We hardly made any changes to the set-up and I was able to do quick laps from the start. We aren't going to touch it for qualifying and I am feeling very optimistic."
Smith set his time late on in the session, and team-mate Jack Goff was also inside the top 10 in ninth in his car which is carrying 48kg of championship success ballast.
Third fastest was the HMS Racing Alfa Romeo of Rob Austin, which had topped the timesheets in the morning's first session.
He was not quite able to match that effort in the afternoon but his FP2 time was still within a tenth of his earlier 1m26.300s benchmark.
Second and third spots for Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton in FP1 were enough to give the respective Speedworks Motorsport Toyota and Motorbase Ford drivers fourth and fifth in the combined times.
They were followed by the WSR BMW 125i M Sport pairing of Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan.
Championship leader Adam Morgan was 19th quickest in both sessions in his Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
The 29-year-old, who is suffering from the effects of flu, said he was also struggling with his 75kg of success ballast.
Second place man in the championship Josh Cook had limited running in the second session when the power steering on his Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra failed.
He was 17th fastest in the opening session, but was restricted to 29th in the second timed period.
FP1 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rob Austin | HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo | 1m26.300s | - | 17 |
| 2 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks | Toyota | 1m26.401s | 0.101s | 18 |
| 3 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase | Ford | 1m26.417s | 0.117s | 16 |
| 4 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 1m26.519s | 0.219s | 16 |
| 5 | Chris Smiley | BTC Norlin | Honda | 1m26.545s | 0.245s | 21 |
| 6 | Matt Simpson | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 1m26.551s | 0.251s | 15 |
| 7 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 1m26.597s | 0.297s | 22 |
| 8 | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 1m26.600s | 0.300s | 17 |
| 9 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 1m26.667s | 0.367s | 17 |
| 10 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 1m26.669s | 0.369s | 20 |
| 11 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 1m26.687s | 0.387s | 18 |
| 12 | Tom Oliphant | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m26.696s | 0.396s | 20 |
| 13 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m26.697s | 0.397s | 12 |
| 14 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 1m26.754s | 0.454s | 16 |
| 15 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 1m26.772s | 0.472s | 16 |
| 16 | Sam Tordoff | Motorbase | Ford | 1m26.786s | 0.486s | 16 |
| 17 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1m26.789s | 0.489s | 12 |
| 18 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 1m26.914s | 0.614s | 17 |
| 19 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m26.946s | 0.646s | 20 |
| 20 | Daniel Lloyd | BTC Norlin | Honda | 1m26.979s | 0.679s | 17 |
| 21 | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1m27.066s | 0.766s | 17 |
| 22 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 1m27.074s | 0.774s | 17 |
| 23 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 1m27.214s | 0.914s | 18 |
| 24 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 1m27.265s | 0.965s | 21 |
| 25 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m27.316s | 1.016s | 8 |
| 26 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | MG | 1m27.329s | 1.029s | 11 |
| 27 | Tom Boardman | AmD Tuning | MG | 1m27.371s | 1.071s | 9 |
| 28 | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m27.606s | 1.306s | 8 |
| 29 | Sam Smelt | AmD Tuning | Audi | 1m27.752s | 1.452s | 21 |
| 30 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 1m27.950s | 1.650s | 12 |
| 31 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m28.499s | 2.199s | 9 |
| 32 | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | 1m29.052s | 2.752s | 9 |
FP2 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Simpson | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 1m25.798s | - | 15 |
| 2 | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 1m26.158s | 0.360s | 16 |
| 3 | Rob Austin | HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo | 1m26.383s | 0.585s | 15 |
| 4 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 1m26.496s | 0.698s | 19 |
| 5 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 1m26.569s | 0.771s | 18 |
| 6 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 1m26.570s | 0.772s | 17 |
| 7 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase | Ford | 1m26.594s | 0.796s | 18 |
| 8 | Sam Tordoff | Motorbase | Ford | 1m26.600s | 0.802s | 18 |
| 9 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 1m26.601s | 0.803s | 15 |
| 10 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 1m26.610s | 0.812s | 17 |
| 11 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 1m26.643s | 0.845s | 18 |
| 12 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks | Toyota | 1m26.654s | 0.856s | 19 |
| 13 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 1m26.719s | 0.921s | 17 |
| 14 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 1m26.748s | 0.950s | 20 |
| 15 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 1m26.826s | 1.028s | 20 |
| 16 | Chris Smiley | BTC Norlin | Honda | 1m26.845s | 1.047s | 19 |
| 17 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m26.903s | 1.105s | 19 |
| 18 | Tom Oliphant | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m26.910s | 1.112s | 20 |
| 19 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m26.945s | 1.147s | 19 |
| 20 | Daniel Lloyd | BTC Norlin | Honda | 1m26.965s | 1.167s | 18 |
| 21 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | MG | 1m27.007s | 1.209s | 17 |
| 22 | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1m27.031s | 1.233s | 15 |
| 23 | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m27.155s | 1.357s | 18 |
| 24 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 1m27.169s | 1.371s | 16 |
| 25 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m27.373s | 1.575s | 18 |
| 26 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 1m27.471s | 1.673s | 16 |
| 27 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 1m27.509s | 1.711s | 17 |
| 28 | Sam Smelt | AmD Tuning | Audi | 1m27.733s | 1.935s | 17 |
| 29 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1m27.809s | 2.011s | 11 |
| 30 | Tom Boardman | AmD Tuning | MG | 1m27.902s | 2.104s | 14 |
| 31 | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | 1m28.133s | 2.335s | 16 |
| 32 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | - | - | 2 |
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About this article
| Series | BTCC |
| Drivers | Matt Simpson |
| Teams | BTC Racing |
| Author | Matt James |
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