Carlisle-based Alex, who is currently eighth in the driver standings ahead of the first of two ‘home’ events for him on the 2011 calendar, came extremely close to achieving his maiden BTCC victory during the corresponding race meeting last year.

Starting the third of the weekend’s races from pole position, a driveshaft failure while leading robbed him of a potential victory – something he aims to rectify next weekend at the picturesque 2.2-mile parkland track.

That said, the 20-year-old British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Superstar knows the task will be even harder this year with the well-documented performance advantage held so far by the turbo-charged Hondas, Fords and Vauxhalls in comparison to his normally-aspirated 2.0-litre Chevrolet Cruze.

He commented: “I feel like I have unfinished business with Oulton Park, I was robbed of a win last year due to the broken driveshaft. I think in qualifying we will be closer to the turbo cars than we have been so far this year but they will still be hard to beat.

“I should have qualified on pole at Oulton last year by 0.4 seconds so if I can produce a lap time like that again, I think I have a good chance of being on the front row. The Chevrolet Cruze is the best overall package on the grid and Oulton is the most demanding track on the calendar. My aim for the weekend is to try and end up seventh in the championship – we’ll be pushing as hard as ever.”

Having scored in seven of the nine races contested so far this season, the hugely talented Cumbrian has been a consistent front-runner but he’s hungry for a return to the podium. The closest Alex has been so far was during round six at Donington Park in mid-April when he finished fourth. Despite starting on pole position, the speed advantage of the turbos was simply too much to overcome.

Free practice at Oulton Park is scheduled to take place at 09.30 and 12.45 on Saturday, 4th June, with qualifying – coverage of which will be streamed live online at www.itv.com/touringcars – set to follow at 15.15. Round 10 will be the opening race of the day on Sunday, 5th June, at 12.15 with round 11 expected to start at 14.30 and round 12 set to begin at 17.10.

As ever, live coverage of all three BTCC encounters will be screened on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4, on the ITV4 HD channel and also streamed online at www.itv.com/touringcars

Provisional 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship Standings (after Rd9):
1st Matt Neal, 90pts; 8th Alex MacDowall, 28pts

Photo by Jakob Ebrey Photography.

The Proteam driver completed a total of fifteen laps which allowed him to start getting to grips with such a technical track and also to continue with the development work on his BMW 320 TC after not having driven it since the first event of the season held in Brazil.

Villa’s laptimes in this session, despite not being especially meaningful, given that it was just his first outing on the track, has already shown the potential of the Spaniard, as he was just over half a second shy of the fastest among the contenders in the Independents Trophy of the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Tomorrow the Spaniard will have two more free practice sessions, of thirty minutes each, before the qualifying due at 2PM.

Javier Villa: “The most important thing I had to do for the half an hour of free practice was to learn Zolder and to continue with the car development. I’d therefore ran quite a lot, a total of fifteen laps, taking the maximum track time available. Laptimes started to be good pretty soon and although we still have a big improvement margin in hand the first sensations have been positive. Tomorrow, in qualifying, the target will be to try to proceed to Q2 which means being among the top ten.”

It was the first time the Chevrolet team had run its new Cruze WTCC race car at the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari near Bologna in Italy, and Rob used the free practice sessions to set the car up. His was no easy feat, as the three mile track contains a mixture of flat-out high-speed sections and slower technical turns, making the perfect technically set-up extremely difficult to find.

Rob qualified as top non-SEAT driver, just half a second behind pole-sitter Gabriele Tarquini. He got through Q1 inside the top 10, despite his best lap being ruined when Andrea Larini (SEAT) went off at the Acque Minerali and caused a red flag. The tactic of slip-streaming with his Chevrolet team-mates worked well, and whilst no other cars were able to match the pace of the dominant diesel-engined Leons, Rob’s 4th best time in Q2 put him in an excellent position for the start of Race 1 the following day.

From the inside of Row 2, Rob made a great rolling start as Round 19 got underway in dry and sunny conditions. He was up to 3rd by the Tamburello chicane, but under braking Rob was hit hard from behind by Jordi Gené. The rear of Rob’s Chevrolet was pushed high into the air and the front rammed into the back of Tarquini’s Leon, but the 29-year old Cambridgeshire driver maintained control brilliantly and continued in 3rd place. Behind, Gené spun across the track and sent a wave of contact down the field, which resulted in the end of the race for several drivers and the deployment of the Safety Car for the debris to be cleared.

Once the race re-started, Rob drove well to keep in touch with the two Leons of Tarquini and Yvan Muller ahead, but unable to get close enough to them to mount a challenge, finished an excellent 3rd.

With the top eight starting the second race in reverse order, Rob lined up 6th on the grid for Round 20 – taking the inside position on Row 3 this time. A fantastic standing start saw him move up two places to arrive at Tamburello in 4th position. Exiting the Rivazza corner on the opening lap, Rob was hit by Tarquini and pushed into the gravel on the outside of the last corner. He regained the track, only for more contact and another trip through a gravel trap a few corners later. Now in last place, Rob pushed hard and worked his way up to 17th by the chequered flag.

Imola marks the end of the European races in this year’s WTCC. Rob’s car now goes directly to Okayama in Japan for the penultimate race meeting (1st November), and it won’t return to the RML team workshop in Wellingborough until after the final rounds of the series in Macau (22nd November).

“It was a very good team effort at Imola and we scored some good points, so we can be happy,” said Rob. “Having never driven the Chevrolet Cruze at the circuit before, we certainly achieved the best we could in terms of performance and set-up and made the most of the race day conditions.”

“Race 1 was good. I had a good start and good pace and it was nice to finish on the podium. In Race 2, I was hit at the end of the first lap and went into the gravel, losing many positions, and then I was hit again by a couple of privateers shortly after. That was a shame, because it dropped us down towards the back of the field.

“We had the pace to score two podium results at Imola and if we’d done that, we’d be two places higher up in the drivers’ standings right now.”

Having qualified on pole at Oschersleben last year, Rob was hopeful of a similar starting position with his new Chevrolet Cruze. The weather made qualifying very difficult, with rain in Q1 making the track increasingly wet, followed by equally challenging drying conditions in Q2. Rob got into Q2 as one of the top 10 fastest driver from Q1, and was on provisional pole for a time. His strategy of using a combination of dry and wet weather tyres was working well, but a misfire saw him pull off to the side of the track before the end of Q2. Rob eventually qualified 6th, but had to take a 10 grid slot penalty when his engine had to be replaced before the first race.

From 16th on the grid, Rob made a good start as the 27 cars headed towards the notoriously tight first and second corners. Unfortunately Jörg Müller spun his BMW right in front of Rob in Turn 2, forcing the 29-year old driver from Cambridgeshire to hit the brakes and stop. A split second later Jordi Gené slammed into the back on Rob’s Chevrolet, causing considerable damage to the rear of the Cruze and pushing it into the back of the BMW. Rob managed to drive the car back to the fits, where the RML team was able to make repairs in time for the second race.

Starting from near the back of the grid, Rob made another good start in the second race and worked his way through the field to finish 9th, just one place away from scoring a WTCC point.

“Unfortunately were didn’t quite manage to score any points in Oschersleben, but it was good fun in Race 2,” said Rob.

“In Race 1, I tried to be as gentle as possible in Turn 1, knowing that there will inevitably be an accident. It went well but when approaching Turn 2, I found the car of Jörg Müller had spun and was facing the wrong way. I had nowhere to go – I couldn’t pass on the right or on the left of him, so I had to stop. As soon as I did I was hit hard at the back by Jordi Gené and pushed into Müller’s car.

“Any hopes of scoring points that weekend ended there, although the boys did a fantastic job repairing the front and the back of my Cruze to let me start Race 2.

“The second race went really well, and with nothing to lose I had some good battles and made some neat overtaking manoeuvres. I didn’t expect to make up thirteen places and come within one position of scoring a WTCC point, and was pleased with the pace and balance of the car.”

Rounds 19 and 20 of the WTCC take place at Imola in Italy on 19-20 September.

Having never driven the new Cruze around the 2.3 mile Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit before, Rob and the Wellingborough-based RML team, which runs the works Chevrolet WTCC outfit, worked hard to find the best technical set-up in the two free practice sessions. The worked paid off handsomely, as the team blocked out the front row, with Rob qualifying 2nd, just 0.097 seconds behind team-mate Alain Menu, in the 27 car field.

“It’s great to have two cars in the first row,” said Rob. “The Cruze was really fantastic today, especially in the high-speed corners. I am very happy with the balance of the car and the last few set-up modifications we made during Q2 paid off.”

Dark clouds and a strong wind made race day conditions unpredictable, as a large crowd – including 300 of Rob’s personal guests – arrived at the famous Kent circuit. Despite a brief shower of rain before the first race, track conditions remained dry all day.

After a textbook start, Rob took the lead with a move around the outside of Menu at the first corner, Paddock Hill Bend. The 29-year old from Cambridgeshire could see in his mirrors that Menu had the quicker car, so Rob let him take the lead on lap five and set-about defending 2nd position from Andy Priaulx (BMW). That battle turned into the race of the day, and after a fantastic fight Rob kept Priaulx behind him to score his sixth podium finish of the season and a magnificent one-two race result for Chevrolet.  What’s more, the eight points scored moved Rob up to 4th in the drivers’ standings.

With the top eight finishers starting Race 2 in reverse order, Rob lined up on the inside of the fourth row of the grid. After a clean start, Rob overtook both Tiago Monteiro (SEAT) and Alex Zanardi (BMW) during the 16 lap encounter to take the chequered flag in 6th place. The three points scored saw Rob leave Brands Hatch 5th and top British driver in the WTCC standings, just one point behind Rickard Rydell (SEAT).

“I’m very happy with my performance at Brands Hatch,” said Rob. “Of course I would have liked to have won Race 1 here at home and in front of my fans, but Alain was faster, so I let him go on lap five and I just focused on protecting a great team result for Chevrolet.

“Andy Priaulx was behind me and had the pace over me. I made his life as hard as possible to keep him behind and was quick enough at certain points of the track to do so. He was quicker coming into the corners but luckily the Chevrolet is faster round the back of the track. I had to work hard for this result.

“I had another good fight with Tiago Monteiro and Alex Zanardi in Race 2 and I managed to pass both of them, finishing sixth and scoring some more good points.”

Rounds 17 and 18 of the WTCC take place at Oschersleben in Germany on 5-6 September.

Rob is extremely sad to learn of the death of Henry Surtees, the 18-year old son of the 1964 Formula 1 World Champion John Surtees, who was tragically killed in a Formula 2 support race at Brands Hatch on Sunday. Rob raced against Henry in a promotional kart race only last Thursday, and would like to pass on his sincere condolences to his family and friends.