BTCC prepares to crown its 2015 champion at Brands Hatch

Three races on the legendary Brands Hatch GP circuit are all that stand between five drivers and the 2015 British Touring Car Championship crown, with Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden holding all the aces as he bids to win a second title.

Shedden has taken four wins, three seconds and three thirds in an ultra-consistent season in his new Civic Type-R, with only a disastrous Snetterton weekend blotting his copybook. As a result, he leads Team BMR’s Jason Plato by 23 points heading into a track where both men are historically strong, but where Plato will be doing all the chasing in his Volkswagen CC.

Reigning champion Colin Turkington will be looking to spoil the party from 32 points adrift in the second Team BMR machine, while Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal has pledged to play the team game to help the Scotsman take the title, sitting 37 points back.

Triple Eight Racing’s Andrew Jordan is also a driver to feature based on consistent scoring, as he features in the shake-up despite not having won a race. However, overturning a gap of 64 points with just 67 left on the table will be all-but impossible.

Adding some extra intrigue to the weekend is the return of Alain Menu for Team BMR, to help support the title bids of Plato and Turkington. Menu, who raced for the team last season, sits in for Warren Scott as the team owner/boss recovers from his hefty Silverstone accident.

And a major fly in the ointment is likely to be the form of the local Motorbase Performance team, with Mat Jackson’s recent performances in the EcoBoost-powered Ford Focus ST drawing much praise from observers, as well as criticisms from rivals.

Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan returns to the site of his first win last season, while a number of front-running drivers will be looking to head into the winter break with some strong results under their belts.

Elsewhere, both Rob Austin Racing’s Hunter Abbott and Welch Motorsport’s Dan Welch will be in their spare chassis after their accident at Silverstone, while Tony Gilham will again drive his team’s Toyota Avensis in place of Kieran Gallagher.

So how do the five contenders rate their chances? Here’s what they all had to say ahead of the weekend…

Gordon Shedden – Honda Yuasa Racing – 1st – 325 points

“I’m feeling good. I’m confident our Civic Type R will be awesome again and I’m not feeling any pressure – just excitement. I feel comfortable inside the team and at one with the car. I can draw upon our experience from the last few years, I’m relaxed and I’m in a happy place.

“I’m sure the complexion of the championship will twist and turn quite a bit over the course of the weekend – as it always tends to do – but I’ll just approach it the same way I have all season. That’s worked pretty well so far, so I don’t see any reason to change now.”

Jason Plato – Team BMR – 2nd – 302 points

“We’ve had a bit of shit luck recently, we’ve lost a lot of points to shit luck and that can happen over there [at Honda]. It needs to happen over there [if we’re going to win].

“Anything can happen, but we need something to go wrong [for Honda]. Dynamics have a very good team, a very good car, a very good engine and very good drivers, so they’re not going to be far off.

“Even if I win all the races, they can cruise round to pick up the points as they have a nice buffer.”

Colin Turkington – Team BMR – 3rd – 293 points

“I had wanted to cut the gap to Gordon more than I did [at Silverstone but it wasn’t for the lack of trying. We still go to Brands fighting hard and we’ll have to see what happens.

“I have many, many happy memories from Brands winning two titles there. We’ll go and keep working hard, it’s a long shot but I’ve still got a chance.”

Matt Neal – Honda Yuasa Racing – 4th – 288 points

“I need to back Flash’s push for the top spot in the standings by providing as much support as possible, whilst we’ll be aiming to score the strongest finishes we can as a collective to win the manufacturers’ championship for Honda.

“There are still plenty of points on offer and everyone knows things can switch around on a sixpence in the BTCC, so we have to keep our eyes on the ball and concentrate on bringing home the trophies.”

Andrew Jordan – Triple Eight Racing – 5th – 261 points

“We go into the weekend as one of the championship contenders but there is no real reason for us to think about it; what we need to happen is too much to ask.

“Instead, I’d like to think we can still take third in the standings, but that will be a tough ask. I’ll give it my all because I just want to round out the season on a high. More podiums will be the aim and obviously I’ll be gunning for my first MG win as well.”

BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRY LIST – BRANDS HATCH GP

No – Driver – Team Name – Car – Engine Builder/Marque
1 – Colin Turkington – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
99 – Jason Plato – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
9 – Alain Menu – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
40 – Árón Smith – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
6 – Rob Collard – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
7 – Sam Tordoff – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
111 – Andy Priaulx – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
31 – Jack Goff – Triple Eight Racing – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
77 – Andrew Jordan – Triple Eight Racing – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
25 – Matt Neal – Honda Yuasa Racing – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
52 – Gordon Shedden – Honda Yuasa Racing – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
4 – Mat Jackson – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford EcoBoost
44 – James Cole – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford EcoBoost
30 – Martin Depper – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Hatchback – Swindon/TOCA
55 – Jeff Smith – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Hatchback – Swindon/TOCA
33 – Adam Morgan – Ciceley Racing – Mercedes-Benz A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
54 – Hunter Abbott – Rob Austin Racing – Audi A4 – Swindon/TOCA
101 – Rob Austin – Rob Austin Racing – Audi A4 – Swindon/TOCA
11 – Simon Belcher – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
80 – Tom Ingram – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
21 – Mike Bushell – AmD Tuning – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford Duratec
28 – Nicolas Hamilton – AmD Tuning – Audi S3 – Swindon/TOCA
95 – Stewart Lines – JWT Performance – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
16 – Aiden Moffat – Aiden Moffat Racing – Mercedes A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
17 – Dave Newsham – Power Maxed Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Saloon – Swindon/TOCA
66 – Josh Cook – Power Maxed Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Saloon – Swindon/TOCA
13 – Dan Welch – Welch Motorsport – Proton Gen-2 – Welch/Proton-M
22 – Derek Palmer Jr – Support Our Paras Racing – Infiniti Q50 – Swindon/TOCA
23 – Tony Gilham – Tony Gilham Racing – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA

TIMETABLE (ALL TIMES BST)

Saturday 10th October
Free Practice 1: 09.55-10.35
Free Practice 2: 12:45-13:25
Qualifying: 15:40-16:10

Sunday 11th October
Race 1 (15 Laps) – 11.32
Race 2 (15 Laps) – 14.22
Race 3 (15 Laps) – 17:09