It's early April, and finally the British Touring Car Championship is back with us. With a strong entry list of 23 cars, featuring 7 previous race winning drivers, seven different makes of car and nine different models the season promises once again to be incident packed and the fastest circuit in the country should provide some great racing.
There's also the prospect of a battle between manufacturers again this year, after Chevrolet and Honda both announced official entries, and with the addition of both the NGTC engine in two Vectras and the turbocharged, LPG powered Focus controversy is bound to happen. Old rivals Jason Plato and Matt Neal will once again be going head to head in their respective manufacturer squads, while Mat Jackson, Rob Collard, Tom Chiilton, and several others will be looking to spoil their party and mount their own challenge on the title. The pundits are all
tipping Plato to win it, but the BTCC is never that simple.
Among the smaller teams, many are suggesting Paul O'Neill will do well with his older spec Honda Integra, which always goes well at the Hampshire circuit - only a puncture last year prevented him getting a potential race win - and he will be looking to run with the big boys from the start, while the Volkswagen name makes a welcome return with new team AmD Milltek. Sadly the Forster Motorsport team are unlikely to race, after they had to send their engines back to BMW following Media Day, and the driver of the second Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra is still to be announced. 2009 champion Colin Turkington will not be on the grid after being unable to secure funding.
Full entry list:
NO | DRIVER | NAT | CAR | TEAM | ENTRY* |
2 | Jason Plato | GB | Chevrolet Cruze | Silverline Chevrolet | M |
4 | Matt Neal | GB | Honda Civic | Honda Racing Team | M |
5 | Mat Jackson | GB | BMW 320si | Airwaves BMW | I |
6 | Robert Collard | GB | BMW 320si | WSR | i |
11 | Steven Kane | GB | BMW 320si | Airwaves BMW | I |
20 | Alex MacDowall | GB | Chevrolet Cruze | Silverline Chevrolet | M |
21 | Tom Onslow-Cole | GB | Ford Focus ST | Team AON | C |
22 | Tom Boardman | GB | Seat Leon | Special Tuning | I |
23 | Tom Chilton | GB | Ford Focus ST | Team AON | C |
27 | Martin Johnson | GB | Vauxhall Astra Coupe | Boulevard Team Racing | I |
28 | John George | GB | Honda Integra | Sunshine.co.uk | I |
29 | Paul O'Neill | GB | Honda Integra | Sunshine.co.uk | I |
30 | Martin Depper | GB | BMW 320si | Forster Motorsport | I |
37 | Arthur Forster | GB | BMW 320si | Forster Motorsport | I |
43 | Lea Wood | GB | Honda Integra | Central Group Racing | I |
44 | Andy Neate | GB | BMW 320si | WSR | I |
52 | Gordon Shedden | GB | Honda Civic | Honda Racing Team | M |
55 | David Pinkney | GB | Vauxhall Vectra | Pinkney Motorsport | I |
77 | Andrew Jordan | GB | Vauxhall Vectra | Pirtek Racing | I |
88 | Philip Glew | GB | Vauxhall Vectra | Triple Eight Race Engineering | I |
98 | Matt Hamilton | GB | Honda Civic Type R | TH Motorsport | I |
99 | Shaun Hollamby | GB | Volkswagen Golf | AmD Milltek | I |
888 | TBA | | Vauxhall Vectra | Triple Eight Race Engineering | I |
* -
M denotes a Manufacturer entry into the Manufacturer/Constructor championship,
C a Constructor
Circuit information and timetable
Weather forecast
Live coverage on ITV4 starts at 11am and runs through to 6pm.