Photo: PSP Images

BTCC field ready to stretch its legs at Donington Park

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After a winter loaded with expectation, the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship didn’t fail to deliver, with barely the proverbial cigarette paper between the cars.

Now the hubbub has died down somewhat, there is the feeling that this weekend’s action at Donington Park may paint a fuller picture of how the 2014 field is shaping up.

The tight confines of the Brands Hatch Indy layout invariably leads to accidents, incidents and drivers not being able to unleash the full potential of their cars. This is unlikely to be the case with the wide sweeping turns of Donington Park, a track which often appears in the drivers’ favourites list.

Traditionally, the Leicestershire circuit is a happy hunting ground for Honda. Since the BTCC switched to a three-race format in 2004, only in 2008 has the Japanese marque failed to win a race.

This should play into the hands of the two local drivers, Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal, who head into the weekend first and second in the championship.

Eurotech Racing’s Jordan started the defence of his title with two commanding wins at Brands Hatch, while triple champion Neal was delighted with his consistent start at the wheel of his new Honda Civic Tourer.

But it is extremely close behind them, with West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington on the pair’s coat tails in third, as he returns to the venue where he gave the BMW 125i its maiden win last year.

Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden, and Triple Eight’s Jason Plato follow, after both making confident noises about their chances this weekend.

And all eyes will again be on the returning pair of Alain Menu and Fabrizio Giovanardi, who will both be looking to string together an incident-free meeting after Brands Hatch.

The promised 31-car grid should be reached this weekend, with a season debut for Dan Welch in the Proton Gen-2, with the Welch Motorsport man having to miss the Brands Hatch round due to a parts shortage.

As ever, all three races will be broadcast live and in high definition on ITV4, from 10.30 BST on Sunday.

Round 2 – Donington Park Entry List

No – Driver – Team Name – Car – Engine Builder/Marque
4 – Matt Neal – Honda Racing Team – Honda Civic Tourer – Neil Brown/Honda
52 – Gordon Shedden – Honda Racing Team – Honda Civic Tourer – Neil Brown/Honda
88 – Sam Tordoff – Triple Eight Race Engineering – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
99 – Jason Plato – Triple Eight Race Engineering – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
888 – Marc Hynes – Triple Eight Race Engineering – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
1 – Andrew Jordan – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Hatchback – Neil Brown/Honda
30 – Martin Depper – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Hatchback – Neil Brown/Honda
5 – Colin Turkington – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M – Neil Brown/BMW
10 – Rob Collard – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M – Neil Brown/BMW
18 – Nick Foster – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M – Neil Brown/BMW
6 – Mat Jackson – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford
7 – Fabrizio Giovanardi – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford
44 – Jack Clarke – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford
33 – Adam Morgan – Ciceley Racing – Mercedes-Benz A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
80 – Tom Ingram – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
11 – Simon Belcher – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
101 – Rob Austin – Rob Austin Racing – Audi A4 – Swindon/TOCA
54 – Hunter Abbott – Rob Austin Racing – Audi A4 – Swindon/TOCA
39 – Warren Scott – Team BMR – Vauxhall Insignia – Swindon/TOCA
31 – Jack Goff – Team BMR – Vauxhall Insignia – Swindon/TOCA
9 – Alain Menu – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
40 – Aron Smith – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
48 – Ollie Jackson – Welch Motorsport – Proton Gen-2 – Welch/Proton-M
12 – Daniel Welch – Welch Motorsport – Proton Gen-2 – Welch/Proton-M
43 – Lea Wood – JWT Performance – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
17 – Dave Newsham – AmD Tuning – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford
67 – Robb Holland – Rotek Racing – Audi S3 Saloon – Swindon/TOCA
28 – Chris Stockton – BTC Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback – RML/Chevrolet
16 – Aiden Moffat – Aiden Moffat Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Saloon – RML/Chevrolet
20 – James Cole – United Autosports – Toyota Avensis – Xctechr/Toyota
21 – Glynn Geddie – United Autosports – Toyota Avensis – Xctechr/Toyota

Success Ballast

Andrew Jordan +45kg
Matt Neal +36kg
Colin Turkington +27kg
Gordon Shedden +18kg
Jason Plato +9kg

Timetable (All times BST)

Saturday
Free Practice 1: 10:00-10:40
Free Practice 2: 12:30-13:10
Qualifying: 15:40-16:10

Sunday
Race 1: 11:37 (16 Laps)
Race 2: 14:27 (16 Laps)
Race 3: 17:15 (16 Laps)