Michael Bentwood’s ruinous luck continued at a sun-baked Oulton Park in the Green Flag British Touring Car Championship, but he shrugged it off to finish 7th in the final race.

A catastrophic oil leak spoiled his qualifying on Saturday. The 26-year-old was only able to do 3 laps and forced to start the first race in 15th and it was an uphill struggle from there. Michael said "I really couldn't believe my eyes when the car filled with smoke" "I tried to keep going but the car was a real handful because I was driving on my own oil"

Bentwood qualified on the front row at Brands Hatch in April, but has struggled to repeat that form due to technical problems that have prevented him from unlocking the potential in the Vauxhall Astra.

“I’m pretty disappointed,” says Bentwood, “we’re not going to mix it with the front guys until we qualify properly.”

“But we didn’t give up and we worked our way back, 13th in the first race, 11th in the second, and 7th in the third,” says Bentwood, but it was scant reward for all the hard work.

Next race - Mondello Park in Ireland 12th/13th June

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