June 8, 2026

Oulton Park tests the resolve, but Laser Tools Racing still adds to the silverware haul!

Oulton Park rarely does anyone any favours, and this year’s visit was no exception. But even on a weekend that demanded patience, resilience and a fair bit of graft, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport still walked away with another Independent victory—and, perhaps more importantly, the sense that this team is learning how to recover when the racing stops being polite.

After a blistering start to the season, complete with two overall wins, a podium and a growing stack of Independent trophies, the trip to the Cheshire hills looked like another chance to keep the momentum rolling. Instead, Oulton Park served up a proper BTCC examination: fast, physical, and determined to make life difficult at every turn.

The good news was that Saturday began with real promise. Both Corollas worked through practice without drama, and then Áron Taylor-Smith turned up the heat in the Qualifying Groups with a lap of 1:24.213 that put him on provisional pole for the Qualifying Race. That was proper pace. The kind that makes the rest of the field pay attention.

And Áron backed it up in style, converting pole into a win on the road and looking every bit in control at the front. It was a strong, assured drive, the sort that says the car is working, the driver is happy, and the weekend might just be heading in the right direction.

Then came the penalty.

A post-race sanction for weaving during the safety car restart dropped him back to fifth, which was a bitter one to swallow after doing all the hard work up front. BTCC weekends have a nasty habit of reminding you that the small details matter just as much as the big overtakes, and this was one of those moments. Frustrating? Absolutely.

On the other side of the garage, Gordon Shedden’s weekend took a much rougher turn. After a solid enough opening spell around the edge of the top ten, “Flash” was hit from behind into Hislop’s Chicane and forced to retire with suspension damage. That was a proper blow, and it meant the three-time champion would have to start Sunday from the back of the grid.

In other words: no easy route forward. Just the kind of situation that tends to bring out what Shedden does best.

Race 1:

Sunday’s opener was all about damage control, recovery and keeping the championship picture intact. Taylor-Smith made a sharp start and used the chaos into Cascades to good effect, slipping past reigning champion Ash Sutton’s Ford on the opening lap and then settling into a measured run to fourth. That was clever racing. No unnecessary heroics, no overreaching, just a tidy, effective drive that kept the result respectable and left the team with a free tyre choice for the next race, as the first three have to run on the hard tyres in Race 2. In a championship as tight as the BTCC, fourth can be worth more than it looks.

Shedden, meanwhile, put on one of those quietly excellent touring car drives that doesn’t always get the biggest headlines but tells you everything you need to know about the man behind the wheel. From the back of the field to 12th, with over 20 years of experience, three titles and a truckload of racecraft to draw on, the Scot picked his way forward with the calm, hard-edged authority of someone who has seen every flavour of BTCC misery and knows exactly how to deal with it.

Race 2:

The second race of the day gave the team another chance to move the story on, and both drivers did exactly that. Shedden was on the charge again, pushing into the top six and looking increasingly dangerous as the laps ticked by. That was a proper recovery from the rear of the grid, and exactly the sort of drive that keeps a difficult weekend from turning into a disaster.

Taylor-Smith was not far behind. Despite damage picked up in the early exchanges and the lingering effects of a podium position that was there for the taking, he pushed on to seventh on the road. A later penalty for contact with Chilton’s Hyundai dropped him back to 18th, which made the final result harsher than the performance deserved. But even then, there was no shortage of commitment in the effort.

Race 3:

The finale was a brutal ending to an already bruising weekend. Shedden’s race came to a stop with a mechanical problem, while Taylor-Smith spun at Old Hall, made contact with another car and then the barrier. Not the ending anyone wanted, and certainly not the kind of final note that reflects the pace the team had shown earlier in the day.

Still, Oulton Park has a way of stripping things back. It rewards precision, punishes mistakes and rarely offers anyone a clean escape. On this occasion, it took its toll.

Despite the setbacks, the broader picture remains a strong one. Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport head into the six-week summer break fifth overall and third among the Independent runners, just 16 points off the top. They also extend their silverware streak to four straight events, which is no small achievement in a series this competitive.

Aron Taylor-Smith (#50) said:

“Our efforts at Oulton Park definitely deserved a bit more, but we have to be encouraged by the performance we had in the car, and to keep the silverware run for Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport going - that’s four in a row now, with an Independent win to show for our efforts.

“What the team gave me over the weekend was a Corolla that was a quick over one lap - hence we were fastest in Qualifying - but also a car underneath me that we could race with, and we proved that by going from lights to flag in the Qualifying Race, before the penalty.

“Even on Sunday, the plan was working perfectly - we opted for fourth in Race 1, so we could stay on the soft tyres for Race 2, but some contact whilst going for a spot on the podium caused some damage, and from there I had to focus on managing that, and bringing the car home as high as possible.

“It’s obviously a bit frustrating - as was Race 3 - but anybody that knows me, knows I’m always looking for the positives, and I’ve already switched focus to Thruxton, and coming back after the break in as good a shape as possible."

Gordon Shedden (#52) said:

“We had an issue during Qualifying, which put me further back for the Qualifying Race, and once you’re in the midfield, with the championship as close as it is, the odds are a little bit higher you might get caught up in somebody else’s accident, which we did, unfortunately.

“That’s frustrating, because we should have spent Sunday up towards the sharp end, based on the Corolla’s performance, rather than mounting a comeback, but it’s still pleasing to have been able to go from the back to the top six across Races 1 and 2, and to demonstrate that the car had good pace, particularly on the soft tyres.

“I think it’s fair to say we deserved a bit more from Oulton Park, but that’s all part and parcel of touring car racing. The important thing now is that we get our heads down, keep working hard and use the summer break to make even more progress before we get to Thruxton.”

Mark Blundell, Sporting Director, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport said:

“It’s clear our performance this weekend was another step in the right direction; we were fastest over one-lap on Saturday, and led every lap in the Qualifying Race to finish first on the road.

“Some small mistakes and a bit of bad luck have cost us a chance at adding to our tally of wins and podiums so far this season, but we do have an Independent win for our efforts, and that keeps us well-placed in both championships as a result.

“But the objectives we have as a team are clear, and they’re a bit loftier than Independent wins; we want to be fighting outright at the front, as we have in previous weekends this season, and as a team in previous years, so there’s a bit of work to be done over the summer break, to make sure we head to Thruxton in better shape.”