BTCC - Oulton Park preview.

The www.theAA.com MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) unveils two new faces this weekend (August 25/26) as it pays its second visit to Oulton Park Circuit, Cheshire.

Tiff Needell, the familiar face behind BBC Top Gear and a former F1 driver makes a welcome return to the BTCC as he joins Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell. Needell, who last raced in the BTCC back in 1998 at Brands Hatch steps into Simon Graves' race boots for this weekend only, and is looking forward to mixing it with the BTCC boys once again commenting:

"I'm very much looking forward to the close competition and it will be great to return to the BTCC. Obviously many things have changed since I last competed in the Formula but it still provides fantastic racing."

Formula 3 driver Andy Priaulx will be standing in for Team Egg Sport's Phil Bennett. Bennett who was banned from racing in this weekend's Sprint Race will be handing over his Vauxhall Astra Coupe to Priaulx for the duration of the meeting, as the team decided that it was not an option to have two different drivers qualifying in one half hour session.

Aside from the new faces, it will be work as usual as the drivers concentrate on claiming every last point as the Championship moves into its final stages. In the BTC Touring Class Yvan Muller holds a slender lead over Jason Plato and the Frenchman will be eager to take home another brace of wins from the Cheshire circuit.

Muller commented: "Yes, the circuit was good to me back in May but there has been so many developments since then it will be a different story for this race. We are now carrying maximum weight and many changes have been made to the car."

Meanwhile Plato will be more determined than ever to win on the 2.36m Cheshire circuit after losing his lead over Muller at Croft before even taking to the track (August 11/12). Plato was given a 30-second time penalty for a driving incident at the previous meeting, relegating him to second place in the driver standings.

With Muller on seven wins, Plato on six and a first and second place finish apiece last time out, only three points separate them with another four race meetings ahead, the Muller vs. Plato battle is far from over and crowds this weekend will no doubt be privy to their superb displays of driving skills and race action once more.

Team Peugeot Sport are confident that their second visit to the Cheshire track will yield a result this weekend as Team Boss Vic Lee explained: "Croft was very much a data gathering exercise for us and as a result we have made adjustments that we feel will be more than beneficial to the team at Oulton Park, with geometry changes made to the front and rear structure of the car coupled with a new development on the dampers we are confident that the overall result will be good."

Meanwhile the ABG Motorsport pilot Tommy Erdos will get his first taste of the Oulton Park circuit in the Lexus IS200 this weekend. Despite not commencing his driving duties until July, the Brazilian has been scoring consistently while gradually closing the gap between himself and the Vauxhalls and is upbeat about the coming weekend.

Erdos commented: "The Lexus finished in fourth position here last time and I am confident that we will once again have a strong showing. We have obviously made many improvements on the car since then, the most recent of which is some alterations to the suspension positioning. This we hope should give yet more grip and some heat in the tyres, all of which we hope will have a significant impact on this weekend's results."

The Alfa 147's of JS Motorsports scored their only podium finish of the season at Oulton Park earlier in the year when Team Manager/Driver Tim Harvey finished in third place. Harvey will once again be heading up the JSM assault this weekend and now the team have solved their engine problems, which have plagued them this season, they are hoping that the track may yield their second podium finish.

Team boss John Sheilds commented: "We have finally turned the corner with the engines. It has been hard work but worth it in the end and It would be absolutely marvellous if we could make our way onto the rostrum at Oulton. The cars ran well last time so who knows we maybe up there once again!"

In the BTC Production class the battle for top spot intensifies as leading protagonist James Kaye (Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell) leads HTML's Simon Harrison by four points. Kaye, who currently has a tally of 155 points, will be carrying 57 kilos of success ballast this weekend while Harrison will be looking to profit with only 42 kilos on board.

Kaye will be hoping that his team-mate for the weekend, Tiff Needell, will do a good job of helping him to defend his line and keep the HTML Peugeots from appearing in his rear view mirror.

Kaye commented: "It will be great having Tiff as part of the team this weekend. Although as a guest driver he is unable to score any points, he will be ballast-free and a great asset to the team. If we both qualify well, and are able to put the Accords on the front row, we should be able to keep the HTML Peugeots at bay."

Harrison, however, will not be deterred by Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell's guest and also has his sights securely fixed on the top spot. Harrison made it to the rostrum in both races at Oulton earlier in the season and knows that the car is more than at home on the Cheshire track.

Harrison commented: "The car will be hugely competitive at Oulton. I would like to take pole position again like I did at the start of the year and gain two strong results. I am sure Tiff is his own man and all of us will be out to get a good result at the end of the day."

There is one team in the Championship that can breathe a little more easily than the rest. Shropshire-based GR Motorsport, which has fielded a four-strong squad of Ford Focuses this season, heads up the BFGoodrich Tires BTC Production Teams' Championship with 160 points, 35 points clear of nearest rival Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell. And if the team continues in its winning vein it may well have the Teams' Championship sewn up two meetings to go. In the Drivers' Championship, two of GR's drivers - Mat Jackson and Gareth Howell - currently lie in fourth and fifth place respectively and may yet make their way into the top three.

Local visitors to the track will be well represented this weekend by two teams from the surrounding area. Runcorn-based ABG Motorsport and the Manchester-based Team B&Q. The latter also boast two local drivers, John B&Q and Nick Beaumont, while Liverpool's Paul O'Neill will be behind the wheel of his Tech-speed prepared Peugeot 306.