Donington Park a most unpredictable race

The BTCC heads to Donington Park this weekend for the circuit’s first major championship event since its reconstruction. The circuit is a very mixed track playing to the strengths of many teams, making it hard to predict who will be on top.

The circuit, near Derby, will host the penultimate round of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, and in another close BTCC season, it’s unlikely to see the championship settled early here.

Silverline Chevrolet driver Jason Plato has a 20 point lead over Honda’s Matt Neal in the drivers’ championship. Jason can of course theoretically wrap up the title here, but he would need to outscore his rivals by at least 32 points to do so, and with the best points gap result within the top four drivers this season being 24 points, by Tom Onslow-Cole over Plato at Team Aon’s dominating weekend at Silverstone, the chances of that happening are slim.

The three races after the mid-season break have seen different teams in charge at each circuit, and it’s difficult to predict which team will be strongest at Donington. Chevrolet came out at full attack at Snetterton, a circuit where everyone expected Ford to reign, but the Ford’s came back to have the strongest weekend of the year for anyone at Silverstone. Then Honda were the ones to beat at the Knockhill circuit, with Matt Neal taking the highest points haul.

Neal now returns to a circuit where he took a famous victory in 1999, the first independent victory for Team Dynamics, then racing the Super Touring Nissan Primera. Matt expects Donington Park will be well suited to the Civic as well, which took two wins here last year in the hands of James Thompson.

“I have got to grab every opportunity that comes my way, so there will be no backing off,” says Matt.

“The Civic has a particularly strong chassis and that helps around the long, long corners at Donington Park. We need to work on making the most out of that to give us enough in hand to fend off the rest. But this season has been so competitive that finding an edge is virtually impossible.”

Tom Onslow-Cole, ahead of title rivals Plato & Neal at Croft

Team Aon’s Tom Onslow-Cole knows he needs a strong weekend here to keep his championship chances alive, the chance for both his and Arena Motorsport’s first ever in the BTCC.

“Donington Park is one of my favourite circuits in the country, it is right up there with Thruxton for me,” said Tom.

“I love the flowing nature of the layout, which should also really suit my Ford Focus. Looking at the championship standings this is really a make or break weekend! I will need another points haul similar to Silverstone’s if I am going to remain in contention and push Jason and Matt for the title.”

The overall title isn’t the only thing in play. The independents drivers’ title, won for the past three years by West Surrey Racing with Colin Turkington, is looking like a five car battle. The two Team Aon Focuses are the most likely candidates to win it, but Airwaves BMW drivers Steven Kane and Mat Jackson are second and fourth in the category, and can still take advantage if any misfortune comes Team Aon’s way.

Mat Jackson said:
“At the start of the season not throwing points away is very much in the minds of the drivers but at this stage that no longer matters so much, it’s all about results. We have to score big points and wins but Donington gives us a real shot in a BMW, last year proved that”

Steven Kane’s BMW 320si at Knockhill, battling with Chilton

In 2009, Airwaves BMW took at that point only their second ever overall victory in the BTCC at Donington Park with Rob Collard, and now Kane and Jackson have won a race each this year with the team. Just three points behind however in the independent standings is the Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed driver Paul O’Neill in the ageing Integra, not to be ruled out.

“I’m not going to be holding back at all and, as always, I will be racing to win,” said O’Neill.

“Tech-Speed has given me a phenomenal car all year and it will be a travesty if it doesn’t get a win before the end of the year. The Integra has arguably been the best car of its era and I’d love to give it one last victory in the final rounds and reward a team that deserves it more than most.”

After missing Knockhill, several cars return for the race weekend at Donington Park. The two Forster Motorsport BMW’s of Martin Depper and Arthur Forster are back after skipping the trip to Scotland to work on accident damage after Silverstone.

Martin Johnson returns in the Boulevard Team Racing Astra, as does Lea Wood in the Central Group Racing Honda Integra – and one new addition, is the WRC Developments/Barwell entry of a fourth Honda Integra Type-R for James Kaye, the 1994 Independents’ (then known as Privateers) champion.

Triple Eight are yet to confirm if they will again be fielding two cars at this event, or just the one for James Nash – which could mean a season best entry of 23 cars for the penultimate round of the championship.

Entry List for Donington Park

No – Driver – Team – Car – Penalty Weight
2 – Jason Plato – Silverline Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze [+45kg]
4 – Matt Neal – Honda Racing Team – Honda Civic [+36kg]
5 – Mat Jackson – Airwaves BMW – BMW 320si
6 – Rob Collard – West Surrey Racing – BMW 320si
11 – Steven Kane – Airwaves BMW – BMW 320si
14 – James Nash – Triple Eight Race Engineering – Vauxhall Vectra
20 – Alex MacDowall – Silverline Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze
21 – Tom Onslow-Cole – Team Aon – Ford Focus ST [+27kg]
22 – Tom Boardman – Special Tuning UK – SEAT Leon TFSI
23 – Tom Chilton – Team Aon – Ford Focus ST [+9kg]
27 – Martin Johnson – Boulevard Team Racing – Vauxhall Astra Coupe
28 – John George – Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed – Honda Integra Type-R
29 – Paul O’Neill – Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed – Honda Integra Type-R
30 – Martin Depper – Forster Motorsport – BMW 320si
37 – Arthur Forster – Forster Motorsport – BMW 320si
43 – Lea Wood – Central Group Racing – Honda Integra Type-R
44 – Andy Neate – West Surrey Racing – BMW 320si
46 – James Kaye – WRC Developments/Barwell – Honda Accord Type-R
52 – Gordon Shedden – Honda Racing Team – Honda Civic [+18kg]
55 – David Pinkney – Pinkney Motorsport – Vauxhall Vectra
77 – Andrew Jordan – Pirtek Racing – Vauxhall Vectra
99 – Shaun Hollamby – AmD Milltek Racing – Volkswagen Golf Mk.V