BARC championships battle mixed conditions at Oulton Park

The British Automobile Racing Club officially kicked off the 2018 season on track this past Saturday (March 17) with four championships doing battle around Oulton Park.

Marking the start of a new campaign, competitors and spectators were met with all manner of weather conditions as sun and snow battered the Cheshire venue.

Edge-of-the-seat thrills were delivered in droves from the Legends Cars National Championship with MRF Tyres as a 33-car entry list duked it out across three encounters.

Will Gibson snatched the early advantage as he stormed to victory in the opening race of the day, pipping reigning champion John Mickel and the ever-impressive Jack Parker. Gibson was unable to repeat his performance in the second race however as Steve Whitelegg surged to victory, with Parker and Miles Rudman in tow.

Come the final at the end of the day, Connor Mills proved to be the man to beat as he led home Parker, who made it a trio of podium finishes, and race one winner Gibson to take top spot.

Like Legends, the CNC Heads Sports/Saloon Car Championship also boasted a bumper grid of more than 30 cars of all makes and models. Just one race instead of the timetabled two was run though and following a restart, Paul Rose emerged as the victor.

At the wheel of his Saker RAPX S1-400, Rose was in a league of his own as he took the chequered flag by more than 20 seconds. The battle for the remaining podium positions proved to be a lot closer though with just three tenths of a second separating David Harvey and Danny Bird.

The APL Health Caterham Graduates Championship also roared into life at Oulton Park with a host of new and old faces going wheel-to-wheel.

In the amalgamated Mega/Classic/Sigma/Sigman VCT races Declan Dolan continued his fine form from 2017 to take a brace of victories. The reigning Mega champion swept his way to a dominant double as Ben Winrow shadowed him in both races. Kevin Barrett and Roger Ford each picked up a third place each too.

Lee Collins was equally as dominant in the two Sigmax/Sigmax VCT races as he topped the rostrum in both. Collins led Oliver Gibson and Jamie Winrow in the opener before Winrow led the charge to try and beat him along with Ben Gillias in the second.

Rounding out action at the weekend was the Lancaster Insurance MG Owner’s Club Championship. In two frenetic races, some of the most iconic machines from the popular brand put on a show for those in attendance.

Piloting his MG ZR, David Mellor picked up victory in race one ahead of Martin Wells and Stuart Plotnek before Simon Kendrick, driving a MG F VVC, took the win in race two ahead of Plotnek and Stuart Philps.

For the full classification of results from all championships, click here.