A long track after a long break: BTCC is back

The BTCC returns this weekend to a track almost as long as the summer break which preceded it, with everything still up for grabs in the title race.

Snetterton is the traditional post-holiday venue for the series, now on the much longer 300 layout which sees a World Touring Car-esque 12 lap-race distance and technical circuit configuration.

The break saw series leader Colin Turkington tie the knot and reigning champion Andrew Jordan announce the impending pitter-patter of tiny feet, but little racing news of note surfaced until this week.

The announcement that Team BMR was to switch to an all-Volkswagen outfit was an emotive one, spelling the end as it did of the Vauxhall marque’s 25-year history in the BTCC.

But there will be little time for sentiment once the action starts, with the newly married Turkington looking to protect his hard-earned lead in the West Surrey Racing BMW 125i, with 2012 champion Gordon Shedden and Jordan chasing him down.

WSR boss Dick Bennetts told TouringCarTimes that he was unsure how his cars will fare at Snetterton, but given the under-developed 125i was in contention for two wins last year, the team will undoubtedly be entering the weekend full of confidence.

Shedden has already declared himself confident of a good showing, while there has been fighting talk from fifth-placed Jason Plato about his championship hopes, despite sitting 49 points off the lead.

The Triple Eight driver said: “This championship is nowhere near over yet, we’ve got plenty of races left to play with. While Colin is a bit up the road, all it takes is one bad weekend, and he hasn’t had one yet, and it can all turn on a sixpence.”

Elsewhere down the pitlane, there are a brace of milestones being marked. The trip to Norfolk is a significant one for Rob Austin, who will compete in his 100th BTCC race in his popular Audi A4 “Sherman.”

Austin, who joins AmD Tuning’s Dave Newsham in the ‘100 club’, said: “Let’s get to 100 first! Then I’ll have a think about it. But it’s fair to say that the difference comparing where we are now to where we were when we first arrived in touring cars in 2011 is immense in every aspect. Let’s hope we have a nice result to talk about.”

Motorbase Performance recently celebrated their 250th race in the BTCC, an achievement which will be matched by long-serving driver Mat Jackson in the second Snetterton race.

He said: “We’ve had some great results here in the past; the Focus made its debut here in 2012 which was the first time that Motorbase became a constructor and it was fantastic to be part of that. Hopefully we can add to those successes on Sunday.”

After a clean opening half of 2013, Snetterton was something of a season nadir when it came to driving standards. With the Croft weekend hopefully out of the drivers’ systems, a weekend of fair racing hopefully awaits us this time around, to kick off another tense title run-in.

And if some of the drivers don’t extract the maximum from their cars this weekend, they won’t have long to wait for another go. The official Dunlop mid-season tyre test day takes place at Snetterton on Tuesday, August 5.

BTCC Round 6 Snetterton – 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 – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
31 – Jack Goff – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – 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 – Neil Brown/Chevrolet
16 – Aiden Moffat – Aiden Moffat Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Saloon – Neil Brown/Chevrolet
20 – James Cole – United Autosports – Toyota Avensis – Xctechr/Toyota
21 – Glynn Geddie – United Autosports – Toyota Avensis – Xctechr/Toyota

Success Ballast

Driver – Ballast
Colin Turkington +45kg
Gordon Shedden +36kg
Andrew Jordan +27kg
Jason Plato +18kg
Rob Collard +9kg

Timetable (All times BST)

Saturday
Free Practice 1: 09:25-10:05
Free Practice 2: 12:00-12:40
Qualifying: 15:20-15:50

Sunday
Race 1: 12:02 (12 Laps)
Race 2: 14:35 (12 Laps)
Race 3: 16:57 (12 Laps)