Dick Bennetts ‘not expecting’ hybrid era advantage

Team BMW boss Dick Bennetts says he is not expecting Team BMW to have an advantage at the start of the British Touring Car Championship’s new hybrid era.

Several paddock figures have told TouringCars.Net they predict the rear-wheel drive BMW cars to have a slight advantage when the new hybrid era kicks off this weekend.

In part, this is down to the minimum weight having been raised from 1,300 kg in 2021, to 1,375 kg in 2022.

As a multiple championship winning team, West Surrey Racing had previously fine-tuned the BMW 3-Series to be able to handle running at 1,375 kg last year, including the then-maximum 75 kg of success ballast, which has been abolished for this season.

Now, with the entire field running at a base weight of 1,370 kg this year, and the size of the gains from the new hybrid boost system being open to some debate, there has been an expectation of this playing into the hands of the BMWs.

Asked by TouringCars.Net if he felt his outfit might be at an advantage having become so used to running with maximum weight, Bennetts was quick to play down the suggestion.

“No [advantage is expected], because we had the ballast system worked out pretty well to carry weight or not weight, so we might be at a disadvantage now because the good front-wheel drive teams will know how to get their cars working as well.

“It’s down to the driver and how he understands the deployment of it all, so there are still quite a few unknowns.

“When we had 75 kg [maximum success ballast], we had to change the car around a lot to make it work [between races], but then you also had to be more careful with your tyres and the extra weight.

“Now we’ve got that weight all the time, you have to be careful with how you treat your tyres, so there’s a lot to deal with.

“This year we’re working on getting the car working at 1,370 kg all the time, so that’s where the concentration has been through the winter.”

Bennetts admits he is not expecting one team to run away with all of the success in the coming season.

“If they [TOCA] have done their homework right, it should equal out. Last year if you won a race, you carried 75 kg, whereas this year if you win a race you get no hybrid for the next race.

“If you’re tenth and below, it’s the same as with the weight [for winning a race in 2021]. Last year you carried no weight if you were tenth to last, now this year if you’re tenth to last you get 15 seconds [of hybrid boost] per lap, so they’ll have an advantage over us.

“It’s a matter of getting your car working with the weight in and not having to change so much between races – it will be fine tuning.”

Team BMW will be represented by four-time champion Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley once again in 2022, whilst a third WSR-run BMW will be entered for Jake Hill under the MB Motorsport banner.