Battle lines drawn as BTCC heads for Brands Hatch opener

A total of 171 days have now passed Gordon Shedden was crowned as the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Champion, but only a handful remain before the Scot gets the defence of his title underway at Brands Hatch.

And with a bumper field – hitting the magical 32 – set to do battle around one of the shortest circuits on the calendar, there promises to be an action-packed start to what looks set to be another enthralling title fight.

With only one official pre-season test going into the first three races of the year, and no guarantee that anyone was prepared to actually show their hand during it, it’s hard to make too many predictions about the weekend ahead, with the number of potential winners running easily into double figures.

Of course Shedden is the man they will all want to beat, with the Scot looking to kick-start his season in style at a venue that hasn’t always been kind to him in the past.

Given the fact the Honda driver has now passed the 40 victory mark in his BTCC career, it’s hard to believe that he has just win on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit to his name; that win being the first for the Honda Civic Type-R twelve months ago.

The Civic proved to be the class of the field last year, and revisions over the winter by Team Dynamics – most notably under the bonnet – should ensure that Shedden and team-mate Matt Neal are right in the mix from the outset. Neal is particular should be one to keep an eye on given his record during the season opener, as you’d have to go all the way back to 2003 to find a campaign where he didn’t take at least one podium finish from the first meeting of the year.

Andy Neate in the third car makes his return to the championship and whilst he is unlikely to join his team-mates at the sharp end of the grid as he gets up to speed after time away from the grid, he should be pushing for points in what will be his first BTCC event since Silverstone 2013.

Now back in Halfords orange, the factory Honda team has been busy totting up the miles during the off-season in stark contrast to Team BMR; which will heads to Brands Hatch with minimal running under its belt with the new Subaru Levorg.

Although Colin Turkington completed a shakedown of the first car at the Millbrook Proving Ground, the team is still hard at work making sure that all four of the rear-wheel drive estates are ready for the first round of the year – with the promise of the midnight oil burning in Buntingford as the cars are completed.

It would be easy to suggest that Brands Hatch will be little more than a test session for the team, but the reality is that the experience within Warren Scott’s outfit is more than enough to see the distinctive cars on the pace from the outset.

In Jason Plato and Carl Faux in particular, the team has a partnership with previous experience of turning up at Brands Hatch with a car that shouldn’t have been anywhere near the top of the pile but that comes away with silverware – something that could very much be repeated this weekend.

That car, back in 2012, was the MG6 and Triple Eight will hope that a new look line-up of Josh Cook and Ash Sutton can fight towards the front from the outset. Both were on the pace at Donington Park and have the talent to challenge the big names on the grid, although a lack of pre-season testing may hamper them in the early rounds as they get fully acclimatised to their new surroundings.

The fourth of the manufacturer/constructor teams, WSR, should also be firmly in contention, with the proven package of the BMW and a familiar driving pairing of Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff making the JCT600-backed cars amongst those that should be more than capable of fighting for the podium positions, whilst Jack Goff in the IHG Rewards entry may face more of a challenge in what will be his first weekend in a rear-wheel drive BTCC car. Despite that, he should still be a firm fixture inside the top ten.

Elsewhere, Motorbase are another team more than capable of winning, with Mat Jackson having shown his pace through the second half of 2015 and Andrew Jordan being arguably the Brands Hatch Indy expert, with two of the last three pole positions at the circuit and an impressive finishing record that includes half a dozen podium finishes in the last four years.

With the likes of Toyota pairing Rob Austin and Tom Ingram, WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan and Aron Smith – armed with a proven package in the VW CC despite his BKR team’s rookie status – also hoping to shine, it’s clear to see that the fight for victory is one that will be far from straightforward.

Further down the grid, expect plenty of interest in how local outfit Team HARD performs with its new-look, three-car line-up of Jake Hill, Chris Smiley and Michael Epps, whilst there is sure to be plenty of attention on the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet of Kelvin Fletcher as the Emmerdale actor makes his series debut.

In fact, the Brands Hatch weekend is set to mark his first opportunity to sample the Chevrolet Cruze after filming commitments meant he had to sit out the Media Day test.

For the 32-year-old, it promises to be very much a baptism of fire…

British Touring Car Championship Entry List – Brands Hatch Indy

No – Driver – Team – Car – Engine
52 – Gordon Shedden – Team Dynamics – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
25 – Matt Neal – Team Dynamics – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
57 – Andy Neate – Team Dynamics – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
99 – Jason Plato – Team BMR – Subaru Levorg – Mountune/Subaru
4 – Colin Turkington – Team BMR – Subaru Levorg – Mountune/Subaru
39 – Warren Scott – Team BMR – Subaru Levorg – Mountune/Subaru
20 – James Cole – Team BMR – Subaru Levorg – Mountune/Subaru
66 – Josh Cook – Triple Eight Racing – MG MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
116 – Ashley Sutton – Triple Eight Racing – MG MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
100 – Rob Collard – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
31 – Jack Goff – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
600 – Sam Tordoff – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
33 – Adam Morgan – Ciceley Racing – Mercedes A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
16 – Aiden Moffat – Aiden Moffat Racing – Mercedes A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
7 – Mat Jackson – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford EcoBoost
77 – Andrew Jordan – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford EcoBoost
54 – Hunter Abbott – Power Maxed Racing – Chevrolet Cruze – Swindon/TOCA
84 – Kelvin Fletcher – Power Maxed Racing – Chevrolet Cruze – Swindon/TOCA
80 – Tom Ingram – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
303 – Matt Simpson – Speedworks Motorsport – Honda Civic Type-R – Swindon/TOCA
30 – Martin Depper – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Type-R – Swindon/TOCA
55 – Jeff Smith – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Type-R – Swindon/TOCA
12 – Michael Epps – Team HARD – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
48 – Ollie Jackson – AmD Tuning – Audi S3 – Swindon/TOCA
14 – Alex Martin – Dextra Racing – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford EcoBoost
11 – Rob Austin – Handy Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
22 – Chris Smiley – Team HARD – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
24 – Jake Hill – Team HARD – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
17 – Dan Welch – Welch Motorsport – Proton Gen-2 – Swindon/TOCA
95 – Stewart Lines – Maximum Motorsport – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford EcoBoost
40 – Aron Smith – Team BKR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
38 – Mark Howard – Team BKR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA