Goodyear returns to Oulton Park this weekend as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship continues for rounds 10, 11 and 12. The circuit is one of the most demanding on tyres on the calendar, as drivers face the undulating Cheshire track’s blind corners.
At Oulton Park, drivers will have access to the Goodyear Racing Eagle Hard compound for the first time this season. This will be the optional tyre while the Goodyear Racing Eagle Soft compound will serve as the standard tyre across the weekend. As well as the slick tyres used in dry conditions, teams also have access to Goodyear Racing Eagle Wet tyres, designed to disperse surface water and provide grip in wet racing conditions.
As was the case at Brands Hatch Indy and Snetterton, regulations permit teams to deploy a maximum of two sets of their carryover tyres from previous rounds.
Oulton Park’s notoriously narrow, undulating layout features high-intensity sections, such as the plunge down The Avenue through Dentons and into Cascades, putting increased loads through the left-hand tyres. Getting superb traction out of the hairpin and Knickerbrook will also be crucial for drivers to gain vital fractions of a second for the climbs through Hilltop and Clay Hill.
“Oulton Park remains a famously unforgiving circuit, with little respite for our Goodyear Racing Eagle tyres,” explains Michael Butler, Goodyear’s BTCC event leader. “Teams will need to carefully think about tyre temperatures and traction around the lap to optimise their race strategies.
“For the first time this season, teams have the option to use all three compounds across the weekend. This will enable more complex and diverse tyre strategies to unfold in all three races. Teams will need to use the Goodyear Racing Eagle Hard compound in one race, which means we will see a lot of soft compound running in other sessions. This will create an interesting contrast for drivers racing each other on two very different tyres.”
Goodyear Racing Eagle tyres are also in action this weekend in the NASCAR races at Michigan International Speedway, and at the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway.
