Soft tyre allocation deciphered for BTCC title decider

With just one round remaining in the 2015 British Touring Car Championship, the soft tyre strategy for each of the championship contending drivers are known based on their choices earlier in the year.

Three of the five championship contenders, Gordon Shedden, Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan, have opted to save the soft tyres for race two for the final meeting of the year, with the Team BMR pairing of Jason Plato and Colin Turkington set to run the soft tyres in race one and three respectively.

With the softer rubber having a visible effect at Brands Hatch at the start of the season, notably costing Andy Priaulx victory in the opening round of the year, Jason Plato could see his title hopes fade away in the opening race if the soft tyres fall away and Shedden scores highly.

The chances of Shedden clinching the title in race one are slim, however, needing to secure all 23 points for the race win, pole and fastest lap, have both Team BMR drivers non-score and Neal finish no higher than third.

Away from the championship battle, the majority of the field will be running the soft tyre in race two, with only four drivers slated to run the tyre in races one and three respectively.

Joining Plato in race one on the soft compound will be Derek Palmer, Stewart Lines and Tom Ingram, while Jack Goff, Jeff Smith and Mike Bushell will join Turkington in race three.

Mat Jackson, who comes to Brands Hatch on a run of outstanding form will find himself on the soft tyre in race two, and assuming the pace shown at the previous two meetings continue, race one could once again be the Motorbase/Mat Jackson show while James Cole has a choice of either race two or race three.

The weather forecast for race day currently is for a dry day, meaning 2015’s run of unused wet tyres on race day is set to continue.