BTCC Media Launch 2015

After the engines were turned off in the gathering gloom and rain at Brands Hatch at the end of the 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championships, the speculation started about 2015. The ITV4 coverage was already in place, Dunlop were confirmed as sponsor, the calendar had been published and some rule changes announced, but many of the driver and team backer contracts had come to an end.

The 888 Team of MG6 cars had won the Championship for Manufacturers, but Jason Plato had just missed out to Colin Turkington in the race to be top driver. It was clear that big changes were on the cards for the team. The first piece of great news was the announcement that MG Motor was going to continue to race in 2015. The next piece of the jigsaw was the news release at Autosport International of 2013 champion Andrew Jordan as a team driver bringing his “Pirtek” sponsorship and his race engineer to 888. The car took pride of place on the BTCC stand resplendent in the new blue livery which really suited the MG6.

There was then a time gap before the second driver was revealed as Jack Goff. Jack’s car is painted in blue with a multitude of sponsor’s logos adorning every panel. Jack will be well known to MGCC members because he started his race career driving a ZR190 in the Trophy Championship. He then became Renault Clio Champion before moving into the BTCC with a Vauxhall Insignia which was then re-bodied to become a VW Passat.

Sadly, Marc Hynes announced that he would not be competing in a third MG6 in 2015 because he would be spending his time helping to revive the Manor Formula 1 Team.

The clear aim for 888 in 2015 is to retain the Manufacturer’s Championship for MG and to have both Andrew and Jack as contenders for the driver’s crown.

Meanwhile, there have been huge changes in the teams that MG will have to beat. The Yousa Honda team retain the same driver line up in Matt Neal and Gordon Sheddon, but have a new car, the Civic Type R. The BMW Team have a number of new sponsors and two new drivers in former World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx and ex MG driver Sam Tordoff. These two are backed up by Rob Collard in a third car. There will be four VW Passats on the grid driven by Jason Plato, Colin Turkington, Aaron Smith and Warren Scott. The Mercedes team expands to two cars with Adam Morgan being joined by young Aidan Moffat who drove a Chevrolet Cruze in 2014. “Sherman” will be back, the Audi having Rob Austin at the wheel for another year. Although Matt Jackson and James Cole were announced as the drivers of the Ford Focus cars, the inability of the team to find a new sponsor means that they will not be contesting the full championship.

The remainder of the grid is made up of a mixture of experienced drivers and six newcomers to the BTCC who will compete for the Jack Sears Trophy. Tom Ingram, who has also raced an MG ZR is continuing in a Toyota for a second season. A late announcement was that Nicholas Hamilton, brother of Lewis, would be driving the Audi piloted by Robb Holland in 2014 in a part season campaign starting at Croft.

There are also some changes to the rules. The main alteration is that the amount of “success balance” will be significantly increased. The teams had found ways of working around the handicap of small amounts of additional weight and so the level has been increased. The top ten finishers at the end of each race will have to carry ballast in the next race with the winner saddled with 75 kg. There will also be no changes to the turbo boost limits during the season.

The Championship will continue to use Dunlop tyres, but some changes have been made to the construction and compound. There will still be a requirement to use the “soft” tyre in one of the three races at each meeting except at Thruxton where, due to the nature of the circuit, there will be a special tyre. Each driver will have to use the soft tyre in three first races, three second races and three third races during the season. They are expected to give a one second per lap advantage.

There will also be a change to the way in which the grid for race two at each meeting is formed. It will now be based on the fastest lap that each driver achieves in race one. To qualify, the driver must finish the race and cover 90% of the race distance. Any non-finishers will have to start from the back of the grid. The third race grid will still be based on a draw which will give pole position to a driver finishing in the lower part of the top ten and then reversing the finishing positions of drivers with a higher finishing position in race two.

The BTCC will visit the same circuits in 2015 as it did in 2014. The only change is that at OultonPark a revised version of Island Bend will be used rather than the full International Circuit which was raced around in 2015. The great variety of circuits poses a real challenge to the engineers and the drivers. The short tracks like Brands Hatch and Knockhill require a car that can grip and turn in to the corners, but top speeds are low, so aerodynamic performance is of less significance. On the other hand, Thruxton is a high speed circuit with a significant reliance on downforce to enable the cars to stay on the track.

So, another close season of racing is keenly anticipated. The rules ensure that no one team or driver will be dominant. The scores from all 30 races count towards the Drivers and Manufacturers Championships, so consistent finishing is important, but race wins are essential in order to clock up a significant points total.

You can follow the BTCC on ITV4 live on race days and with mid-week highlights. Qualifying sessions will be web cast on www.itv.com and the circuit commentary can be heard via the Championship web site www.btcc.net. Live timing will be shown on the TSL Timing web site www.tsl-timing.com. In addition, all the teams use social media and their own web sites to keep you up to date.

The MGCC will be supporting the MG6s, run by the 888 Team, throughout the season. Hopefully, after the last race at Brands Hatch on October 11^th, there will be celebrations for MG retaining the Manufacturers Championship and either Jack or Andrew will be Champion Driver!

 

Words by Paul Goodman
Photos by Aaron Lupton | raceteamimages.com