Photo: WTCC Media

Brands Hatch WTCC preview

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The World Touring Car Championship returns to Brands Hatch for the fifth consecutive year this weekend, with five British drivers lining up on the grid for the race.

Season regulars Andy Priaulx, Rob Huff & Harry Vaulkhard will be joined again by Colin Turkington, competing in his second race of the season in the WSR BMW 320si, and returning to the championship for a one off appearance will be Tom Boardman, who raced with the SUNRED Engineering team last year. Boardman will be entering his SEAT Leon TFSI, which he races in the British Touring Car Championship.

Also making a first appearance this season, will be the Polestar Racing Volvo C30 of Robert Dahlgren. The team competed at Brands Hatch last year, and will also be racing in Japan later in the season.

As a new entry, they will be carrying 40kg of success ballast. They’re also not eligible for championship points, nor is Colin Turkington as he’s racing with a non-homologated gearbox.

Chevrolet will be hoping for a strong result this weekend. Though they lead the championship with Yvan Muller, they’ve had a few quiet races in respect of outright victories. Rob Huff also will want to rebuild his championship challenge after being stripped of his podium result in the last race in Portugal.

Huff qualified on the front row here last season, but the Brands Hatch master is undoubtedly Chevrolet team mate Alain Menu, who took pole and victory in race one last year – and has a history of strong results at the Kent circuit – winning a race on every visit in the championship so far. Though Huff won his first ever BTCC race at the circuit in 2004 in a sensational last lap, whilst driving an RML-prepared SEAT Toledo, snatching the win from then team mate Jason Plato & current team mate Yvan Muller as the two squabbled through Druids.

SEAT and BMW are on a bit of a roll though, and local hero Andy Priaulx will be hoping to further advance his championship position – even though his BMW 320si is now carrying the same weight as his SEAT and Chevrolet rivals for the first time since the start of the season.

Despite no longer being manufacturer supported, the SEAT’s continue to challenge and take victories each race meeting.