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Donington drama ahead as BTCC battle resumes

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After an action-packed season opener at Brands Hatch earlier this month, the drama looks set to continue this weekend when the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads for Donington Park for the second meeting of the year.

Three different drivers shared the wins last time out in Kent and there is every chance that three more could visit the top step of the podium in rounds four, five and six of the season, with it already shaping up to be one of the most competitive title battles we’ve seen for some time.

Whilst he failed to secure a win in the season opener, Matt Neal heads the pack going into the weekend at the wheel of his Team Dynamics-run Honda Civic and history would suggest that the three-time champion stands a pretty good chance of staying there – despite the fact he will go into qualifying and race one weighed down with maximum ballast.

Donington has happy memories for the 49-year-old having been the scene of the dramatic maiden win that saw him take £250,000 away from series boss Alan Gow, but it’s also been one of his strongest circuits in recent years – with at least one podium finish in each of the last nine seasons.

Despite his disappointing DNF in race three at Brands, Gordon Shedden heads to Donington as Neal’s closest challenger and is another who is something of a specialist at the circuit, with eight career wins and a run of podium finishes stretching back to 2012.

With Neal’s Honda having topped the times at Media Day, the revised Civic clearly has the speed, although it remains to be seen what impact that maximum ballast will have on the duo.

The chasing pack is headed by Adam Morgan’s Mercedes (a podium finisher at Donington last year), with the WIX Racing man seeking to build on an encouraging start to his season, whilst Aron Smith and Andrew Jordan lie just five points further back.

Smith heads into the weekend buoyed by his impressive podium first time out for newcomers BKR and the Irish racer will seek to make the most of the most of the undoubted speed of his VW CC, a car which won two of the three Donington races last year.

Jordan by contrast fell just short of the podium on his Motorbase debut and will be keen to make amends at his home circuit, as will team-mate Mat Jackson who sits just outside the top ten in the standings.

The BMW challenge is currently headed by Jack Goff after a triple score at Brands Hatch, leaving the IHG Rewards-backed WSR driver in buoyant mood going into his second meeting in the rear-wheel drive car, whilst top rookie Ash Sutton was one of the stars of Media Day and carried that form into the opening meeting of his touring car career.

The MG driver is a good outside bet for a victory this weekend if he can maintain the kind of form he has displayed thus far, with Sam Tordoff, Tom Ingram and Rob Collard – the three drivers who round out the top ten – also keen to fight for the wins.

WSR pair Tordoff and Collard endured mixed weekends at Brands whilst Ingram stormed to victory in race one but then saw things go downhill after early contact in race two saw his challenge somewhat derailed.

The likes of Josh Cook and Rob Austin have early ground to make up in the points whilst it also promises to be interesting to see what progress is made by Team BMR with the Subaru Levorg as the team continues to come to grips with its new machine.

Whilst a win may be out of the question in only the second meeting for the car, the early promise shown at Brands Hatch could well translate into more points finishes – although in Jason Plato and Colin Turkington, they have two drivers more than capable of pulling a rabbit out of the hat if the chance does arise.

British Touring Car Championship Entry List – Donington Park

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
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