[BTCC] BTCC Rounds 1, 2 and 3 - Thruxton - 03/04 April 2010

[gregc]

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.