BTCC reveals revised points format for 2012

The British Touring Car Championship has announced the new points system which will be used from the 2012 season, with the top 15 drivers scoring points in the latest revision.

With the grid size increasing in recent years with 30 cars entered for the 2011 season finale at Silverstone, the series has decided to revise the points system with cars in the top 15 scoring points in both the overall and independents systems.

The new scoring system is:

Position – Points
1st – 20
2nd – 17
3rd – 15
4th – 13
5th – 11
6th – 10
7th – 9
8th – 8
9th – 7
10th – 6
11th – 5
12th – 4
13th – 3
14th – 2
15th – 1

The points system still includes the additional bonus points applied for pole position for the first race of the weekend, as well as a point for leading a lap and setting the fastest lap in each round.

“Fundamentally, the new system doesn’t really change that much as we’ve maintained the same spread of points between the top-ten placings as before,” said BTCC Series Director Alan Gow.

“However, what this does is to give drivers outside the top ten something extra to go for and is thus an extra reward for their efforts.”

Under the new system, applied to the 2011 drivers’ standings, Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal would have still been champion but by just three points from team-mate Gordon Shedden.

Triple Eight driver James Nash would have been classified fourth instead of Motorbase Performance driver Mat Jackson, with Chevrolet’s Alex MacDowall and West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard swapping positions with MacDowall ending up eighth.

Six drivers that scored no points in the 2011 season would now have picked up points under the new system, with Tech-Speed’s John George gaining the most, collecting 19 points, Triple Eight’s late season entrant Ollie Jackson on 13, Chris James on seven and AmD Milltek Racing’s drivers Shaun Hollamby and Martin Byford both on four points.

2011 British Touring Car Championship standings with revised points system applied

Pos – Driver – Points – Gain/Loss Pos
1 – Matt Neal – 382
2 – Gordon Shedden – 379
3 – Jason Plato – 356
4 – James Nash – 326 – (1)
5 – Mat Jackson – 294 – (-1)
6 – Andrew Jordan – 262
7 – Tom Chilton – 259
8 – Alex MacDowall – 209 – (1)
9 – Rob Collard – 208 – (-1)
10 – Paul O’Neill – 188
11 – Tom Onslow-Cole – 165 – (2)
12 – Tom Boardman – 156 – (-1)
13 – Nick Foster – 153 – (1)
14 – Frank Wrathall – 120 – (-2)
15 – Dave Newsham – 107
16 – Andy Neate – 86 – (2)
17 – Jeff Smith – 83
18 – Rob Austin – 71 – (-2)
19 – Tony Gilham – 70
20 – Liam Griffin – 23 – (1)
21 – Daniel Welch – 19 – (1)
22 – John George – 19 – (5)
23 – Michael Caine – 18
24 – Lea Wood – 17 – (-4)
25 – Ollie Jackson – 13 – (1)
26 – Árón Smith – 9 – (-2)
27 – Chris James – 7 – (1)
28 – Shaun Hollamby – 4 – (1)
29 – Martin Byford – 4 – (1)
30 – Tony Hughes – 2 – (1)
31 – James Thompson – 1 – (-6)
32 – Chris Swanwick – 0