With an eruption of noise at ten o’clock tomorrow morning from the Brands Hatch pitlane marking the start of the British Touring Car Championship season, TouringCars.Net previews the runners and riders that make up the class of 2015.
We may have lost two former champions, but the grid still boasts no less than 13 race winners and has attracted the commitment of a new manufacturer and the brother of a double F1 champion – so if the racing makes for anything close to the buzz that the off-season announcements have done, then we’re in for quite a year.
Regulation changes
Drivetrain parity was without doubt the major talking point of the 2014 season, and championship organisers TOCA have worked diligently over the off-season to ensure that both front- and rear-wheel drive cars are as equal as can be. Cosworth and Xtrac were employed to analyse the start-line performances of the two types of drivetrain, and as a result performances will be equalised through mandatory engine management programming.
While the championship retains its successful NGTC regulations, there have been alterations in other areas; engines have been re-validated and boost levels are now set for an entire season (with one review per car available all season), while specific changes to race weekend proceedings – including significant increases to ballast, the positioning of any additional weight being moved forward in RWD cars and drivers having to use the soft tyres three times in each of the weekend’s races across the season – are also to be employed.
Race Two grids will now be based on a driver’s fastest lap during the first race, while the Jack Sears Trophy will be awarded to the best rookie at the end of the 2015 season. For a full listing of changes, click here.
Calendar
The season’s schedule remains unchanged for a fourth-successive year, with the reversion from Oulton Park’s International to Island configuration the only circuit change for 2015. The championship once again has two long breaks – including the customary mid-season break between Croft and Snetterton – and concludes once more at Brands Hatch on October 10/11.
The circuit
As for the circuit itself, Brands Hatch’s Indy layout is the shortest on the calendar, both in length and in lap time, with Andrew Jordan last year securing pole position with a time of 48.228s. Nevertheless, the nature of the circuit means that the 27-lap affairs are frequently relentless ones, and of course incorporate the venue’s famous Paddock Hill and Druids bends.
Seasons change
The near six-month long break in action proved to be one of the most tumultuous in recent years, with changes aplenty up and down the pitlane – none of which were bigger than the sensational double-signing of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato by Warren Scott’s Team BMR outfit.
The pair were the class of the 2014 field by some distance, with Plato the only man to challenge Turkington for the title as the Northern Irishman secured a second series crown. Much like his first triumph in 2009, however, Turkington found his position with West Surrey Racing in jeopardy after the withdrawal of their title sponsorship while Plato’s relationship with Triple Eight and MG came to an end after three years, with the pair snapped up shrewdly by Scott, who along with Árón Smith completes the team’s line-up.
Testing at Donington Park made for ominous reading for the team’s opposition, with Plato just pipping Turkington – who has driven in rear-wheel drive powered cars in the BTCC since 2007 – to the fastest time in the only official pre-season session. Times during the four hour test are not the definitive guide to how each driver will stack up, but that the team were willing to show their hand having undertaken a rigorous pre-season schedule means that the pair are expected to be in contention. Smith too has pace, having won twice in the Volkswagen CC last season, but despite a strong line-up could having three top drivers come back to bite the team?
If that does indeed have an effect on a team, then stability is something that Honda might expect to work in their favour. For the sixth-successive season, Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden will race for the marque, who have also introduced a new car for 2015 in the form of the much-anticipated Civic Type R. After experimenting with the Tourer model last season – with which the team broke new ground by becoming the first to win a race in the championship with an estate car – the squad already believe their new machine is a force to reckoned with, as they look to win back the manufacturers’/constructors’ trophy.
They face strong competition for that title, though, with four teams battling for the honours for the first time. One of those, current holders MG, have undergone major changes ahead of the 2015 season, most notably in the driver department. Joining the Triple Eight Racing-run team are 2013 champion Andrew Jordan and former Clio Cup champion Jack Goff, who replace the outgoing Plato and Sam Tordoff. The MG6s, which have won more races than any other in the three years to date that they have been campaigned in the championship, also racked up plenty of miles over the Winter break with both Jordan – who has made no attempt to hide his desire to recapture the title – and 23-year-old Goff enjoying reliable running which they believe will allow them to fight for victories.
West Surrey Racing have also joined in on the fun of the fight, with their continued relationship with BMW meaning that theirs is now classed as a constructor entry. Like Triple Eight, Dick Bennetts’ all-conquering team have two new drivers this season, with three-time World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx set to compete in the series for the first time in more than a decade, alongside Tordoff and stalwart Rob Collard, who was the only driver from the team’s 2014 success to retain his drive. Collard returned to form last season, securing a first win in two years, but the familiarities of his surroundings will be of little comfort to him with two class opponents to contend with. Priaulx’s record speaks for itself, but Tordoff has a real opportunity to prove himself this year having been plagued by reliability issues last year.
Although the loss of eBay Motors as a title sponsor meant that Turkington would not attempt a title defence with WSR, with the help of new support the team does at least have the funding for a full campaign, unlike rivals Motorbase who will miss the first half of the season as they search for sponsorship. Having also lost the backing of their title sponsor, Airwaves, the team announced in March that they would wait until Snetterton to make their 2015 debut, with Mat Jackson staying with the team alongside new signing James Cole.
After a successful 2014 season, where Jackson finished fourth in the drivers’ championship, the team’s plight is a sad one for the sport, particularly given Motorbase’s continued commitment to the series.
Behind the established front runners there are those who will be hoping to upset the apple cart this season.
Adam Morgan, having registered a first championship race win in the penultimate race of the 2014 season, will be eager to extract more from his WIX Racing Mercedes A-Class this year. Rob Austin and his teammate Hunter Abbott are two more to keep an eye on in 2015 with their revised Audi A4s having taken shape over the winter, while the impressive Tom Ingram – who is surely destined for great things in the championship – is also optimistic after changes to his Toyota Avensis.
Dave Newsham, who drives this season for Power Maxed Racing, was bullish about his Chevrolet Cruze’s pace, while Aiden Moffat – who has made the switch to a Mercedes A-Class – was very impressive during the official test session last week.
In addition to the more seasoned campaigners in the championship, eight rookies will compete for the Jack Sears Trophy this year.
Mike Bushell, Andy Wilmot and Kieran Gallagher all start their first full campaigns in the championship – despite each having competed in the 2013 season – for AmD Tuning.com, Welch Motorsport and the returning Team HARD. outfits respectively.
Josh Cook makes his BTCC bow as Newsham’s teammate, as does Stewart Lines who replaces Lea Wood at Houseman Racing. Alex Martin, whose Dextra Racing outfit was to be run as a satellite operation to Motorbase’s efforts, will be on the grid at Brands with his entry now to be run by Team Parker Racing.
Two significant projects then complete the grid; Nicolas Hamilton, brother of Formula One World Champion Lewis, will make his debut in the championship, racing for AmD Tuning in an ex-Robb Holland Audi S3. Hamilton, who has cerebral palsy, will drive from Croft onwards but will appear as a guest driver and will not be eligible to score points.
Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing, the fourth competitor for the manufacturer/constructor title, will also make their debut in the championship, when they take to the track this weekend at Brands Hatch. The team, which has employed injured ex-servicemen to engineer their pair of Infiniti Q50s, will make their public bow with Derek Palmer Jr at the wheel of their sole entry this weekend, after technical problems during a shakedown on Wednesday forced the second entry to be withdrawn.
Form guide
As you might expect, Plato has the most victories of any of the current field in the last ten years on Brands’ Indy layout. The double-champion currently has 11 wins to his name at the circuit, with fellow-member of the old guard Neal nearest to him in the winning steaks with seven. Such has been their domination at the track, only three more of the current crop have triumphed on the circuit since 2005, with Jordan – who of course scored a double-win last season – Collard and Turkington amassing seven victories between them.
Plato – 11
Neal – 7
Jordan – 3
Collard – 2
Turkington – 2
Weekend weather
While you might be beaming about the return of touring car action this weekend, the sun doesn’t look set to be doing so all too often. Overcast skies are the theme of the day on Saturday, with a slight chance of rain threatening proceedings in the afternoon. There’s more chance of a break in the clouds on Sunday but even so temperatures are likely to only just hit double figures, though the threat of precipitation will dissipate.
TouringCars.Net will be live and trackside throughout the 2015 British Touring Car Championship season, with coverage, statistics, news and reactions from every round available from @touringcarsnet and www.touringcars.net
Photo courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography.