2012 BTCC calendar

The provisional dates for the 2012 British Touring Car Championship have been announced.



As per this season, there will be ten events, each comprising three races. Brands Hatch will get to host both the opening and closing meetings.

2012 British Touring Car Championship - Provisional Calendar
Date	Circuit	Location
1 April	Brands Hatch (Indy circuit)	Nr. Dartford, Kent
29 April	Thruxton	Nr. Andover, Hampshire
10 June	Oulton Park (Island circuit)	Nr. Tarporley, Cheshire
24 June	Croft	Nr. Darlington, North Yorkshire
12 August	Snetterton (300 circuit)	Nr. Attleborough, Norfolk
26 August	Knockhill	Nr. Dunfermline, Fife
23 September	Rockingham	Nr. Corby, Northamptonshire
7 October	Silverstone	Nr. Towcester, Northamptonshire
21 October	Brands Hatch (GP circuit)	Nr. Dartford, Kent
Dates shown are the Sunday of each race weekend.
Donington Park will also be staging an event, but the date is still to be confirmed.

Several teams are also busy preparing their plans for 2012, with Triple Eight Race Engineering and Pirtek Racing already revealing that they are going to field full-NGTC specification cars next year.



Both outfits currently run Vauxhall Vectras in the BTCC, but neither has said yet which make or model will form the basis of their NGTC entries.



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Škoda entry in 2012 BTCC
Avensis NGTC racers debut
2011 BTCC entries

Škoda entry in 2012 BTCC

Hertfordshire-based TH Motorsport has announced that it’ll be entering the 2012 British Touring Car Championship with a Škoda Octavia vRS.



The team’s aim is to get the car, which will be built to Next Generation Touring Car regulations, completed by the end of this year. Matt Hamilton has been confirmed as the race driver for 2012, and he’ll also be involved in developing the Škoda.

Trevor Humphrey, Team Principal of TH Motorsport, said: “We were very disappointed to have to leave the BTCC in 2010, and it was always my intention to return as soon as possible. I considered purchasing an S2000 car to run this year, but for a smaller team like us, it was a ‘no brainer’ to be patient, and go the NGTC route. In the long run, the NGTC car will be much more cost effective to run, and with a structured development programme, I know that we can be competitive.”



And it may take a little while for the full-NGTC cars to make an impression on the BTCC, especially during the current transitional phase for the regulations. So far in the 2011, the results have been dominated by the mixed S2000 chassis / NGTC engine entries, with Matt Neal in his Honda Civic currently heading the championship.



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Turbo cars lead BTCC

200 mph Škoda Octavia vRS

2011 BTCC entries

Turbo cars lead BTCC

The 2011 British Touring Car Championship is now already midway through its season.



So far, it has been rather dominated by the contentious issue of performance parity between the turbocharged and normally-aspirated cars, although another boost reduction introduced for the most recent round at Croft seems to have helped a lot.



That said, the championship table remains dominated by cars running NGTC engines, with sixth-place Jason Plato in his Chevrolet Cruze seemingly the only non-turbo entrant with any realistic prospect of taking the title.

Chevrolet Cruze Super 2000

The series now takes its long summer break, with the next event taking place at Snetterton on 7th August.

2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship: Standings After Five Rounds
Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Points
1	Matt Neal	Honda Racing Team	Honda Civic	140
2	Mat Jackson	Airwaves Racing	Ford Focus	131
3	Gordon Shedden	Honda Racing Team	Honda Civic	120
4	Andrew Jordan	Pirtek Racing	Vauxhall Vectra	111
5	James Nash	888 Racing with Collins Contractors	Vauxhall Vectra	104
6	Jason Plato	Silverline Chevrolet	Chevrolet Cruze	100
7	Robert Collard	WSR	BMW 320si	66
8	Tom Chilton	Team Aon	‘Global’ Ford Focus	64
9	Alex MacDowall	Silverline Chevrolet	Chevrolet Cruze	47
10	Paul O’Neill	GoMobileUK.com with tech-Speed	Chevrolet Cruze	32
11	Tom Boardman	Special Tuning Racing	Seat Leon	31
12	Nick Foster	WSR	BMW 320si	27
13	Tony Gilham	888 Racing with Collins Contractors	Vauxhall Vectra	12
14	Jeff Smith	Pirtek Racing	Vauxhall Vectra	12
15	Tom Onslow-Cole	Team Aon	‘Global’ Ford Focus	10
16	Andy Neate	Team Aon	‘Global’ Ford Focus	9
17	David Newsham	Geoff Steel Racing	BMW 320si	9
18	Lea Wood	Central Group Racing	Honda Integra	4
19	Liam Griffin	Airwaves Racing	Ford Focus	2
20	Rob Austin	Rob Austin Racing	Audi A4	0
21	Frank Wrathall	Dynojet	Toyota Avensis	0
22	David Pinkney	Rob Austin Racing	Audi A4	0
23	John George	GoMobileUK.com with tech-Speed	Chevrolet Cruze	0
24	Daniel Welch	Welch Automotive	Proton Gen-2	0
25	Tony Hughes	Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	0
26	Chris James	Team ES Racing.com	Chevrolet Lacetti	0
27	Shaun Hollamby	AmD Milltek Racing.com	Volkswagen Golf	0

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Avensis NGTC racers debut

2011 BTCC entries

Snetterton corner names

Avensis NGTC racers debut

The two Toyota Avensis racers that’ll be competing in the 2011 British Touring Car Championship have been shown off for the first time.



Both were built by GPR Motorsport in accordance with the new Next Generation Touring Car regulations. Series organisers have introduced these to help keep costs down, primarily through the use of standardised components and robust two-litre turbocharged engines developing around 300 bhp (223 kW / 304 PS).

Car #11 will be run by Dynojet Racing for driver Frank Wrathall, the reigning Ginetta G50 Cup champion. However, as his Avensis hasn’t done any test miles yet, the team faces a challenge to get everything fettled before the first race on the 3rd of April at Brands Hatch.

Speedworks Motorsport meanwhile is looking after the #50 Avensis of Tony Hughes, another ex-Ginetta competitor. Although his pre-season preparations are a little more advanced, teething problems such as fuel and power steering pump failures have slowed progress.



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2011 BTCC Chevy Cruze

2011 BTCC entries

2011 BTCC Chevy Cruze

Silverline Chevrolet, the works outfit run by RML, has unveiled its new livery for the 2011 British Touring Car Championship. The new paintjob is similar to that also being used on the team’s WTCC contenders.

While some BTCC competitors are going to be fielding cars compliant with the new Next Generation Touring Car regulations, the Cruze racers remain in Super 2000 specification for this season.



Behind the wheel of the #1 Chevrolet will be reigning driver’s champion Jason Plato, who has decided to stay with the team to defend his title. Completing the unchanged driver line-up is team mate Alex MacDowall in the #20 car.

Images © GM Corp.



Related post:

2011 BTCC entries

2011 BTCC entries

2011 will see the biggest grid ever for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship since it switched to a two-litre formula. Despite the presence of only two full factory teams - Silverline Chevrolet and Honda Racing Team - ten manufacturers will be represented this season, including newcomers Audi, Proton and Toyota.



The boosted entry list is mainly down to the introduction of the Next Generation Touring Car technical regulations, which have been brought in to slash car development and running costs. Most of those savings will be achieved through the use of standardised parts including brakes, suspension and gearboxes. Using durable two-litre turbocharged engines in the NGTCs should help make the BTCC more affordable, too.



This year starts a period of transition, with the intention being that existing Super 2000-spec cars should have equal performance to the NGTC entries for the next two seasons, after which the latter will become dominant.

Team Aon Ford Focus: S2000 chassis with NGTC engine.

Good news for spectators is that children will get free admission at every round, while pit lane autograph sessions will continue to be a popular feature of race day.



For television viewers, the live package shown on ITV4 and ITV4 HD is going to be six to seven hours long, backed up by a one-hour highlights programme shown later on ITV1 and ITV4. Excellent terrestrial coverage that other championships would do well to emulate (WRC, that means you…).



The opening race of the series is at Brands Hatch on the 3rd of April.

2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship: Entry List
Full S2000 Specification Cars
No.	Driver	Team	Car
1*	Jason Plato (GBR)	Silverline Chevrolet	Chevrolet Cruze
20*	Alex MacDowall (GBR)	Silverline Chevrolet	Chevrolet Cruze
8	Robert Collard (GBR)	WSR	BMW 320si
18	Nick Foster (GBR)	WSR	BMW 320si
17	Dave Newsham (GBR)	Geoff Steel Racing	BMW 320si
28	John George (GBR)	GoMobileUK.com with tech-Speed	Chevrolet Cruze
29	Paul O’Neill (GBR)	GoMobileUK.com with tech-Speed	Chevrolet Cruze
78	Chris James (GBR)	Team ES Racing.com	Chevrolet Lacetti
43^	Lea Wood (GBR)	Central Group Racing	Honda Integra
S2000 Specification Cars Using NGTC Engines
No.	Driver	Team	Car
2*	Matt Neal (GBR)	Honda Racing Team	Honda Civic
52*	Gordon Shedden (GBR)	Honda Racing Team	Honda Civic
5**	Tom Chilton (GBR)	Team Aon	‘Global’ Ford Focus
44**	Andy Neate (GBR)	Team Aon	‘Global’ Ford Focus
TBA**	TBA	Team Aon	‘Global’ Ford Focus
7	Mat Jackson (GBR)	Airwaves Racing	Ford Focus
66	Liam Griffin (GBR)	Airwaves Racing	Ford Focus
14	James Nash (GBR)	888 Racing with Collins Contractors	Vauxhall Vectra
34	Tony Gilham (GBR)	888 Racing with Collins Contractors	Vauxhall Vectra
22	Tom Boardman (GBR)	Special Tuning Racing	Seat Leon
55	Jeff Smith (GBR)	Pirtek Racing	Vauxhall Vectra
77	Andrew Jordan (GBR)	Pirtek Racing	Vauxhall Vectra
99	Tom Onslow Cole (GBR)	AmD Milltek Racing.com	Volkswagen Golf
Full NGTC Specification Cars
No.	Driver	Team	Car
11	Frank Wrathall (GBR)	Dynojet	Toyota Avensis
12	David Pinkney (GBR)	Rob Austin Racing	Audi A4
13	TBA	Rob Austin Racing	Audi A4
42	Daniel Welch (GBR)	Welch Automotive	Proton Gen-2
50	Tony Hughes (GBR)	Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis
* Eligible for Manufacturer and Constructor championships. All other cars eligible for Independent championships.
** Eligible for Constructor championship.
^ BTC specification.

BTCC-inspired Civic Ti

A major appeal of touring car racing is that the machinery used is similar - at least in looks - to the models that the public can buy from their local showroom.



Honda has decided to capitalise on this association by launching the limited edition Civic Ti. Unashamedly inspired by its own British Touring Car Championship contender, the Ti is based on the five-door 1.4 i-VTEC SE and 1.8 i-VTEC SE. Production will be restricted to just 500 examples.

A marketeer’s dream, the Ti builds on relationships already forged by the Honda Racing Team. For starters, the 17” wheels are supplied by Team Dynamics, and their dark finish undoubtedly looks good against the Premium White Pearl paintwork - the only colour choice available for the Ti.



There’s also a navigation system from Pioneer which, conveniently, is the company that has just been announced as title sponsor for Honda’s 2011 BTCC campaign. Featuring a 3D graphical touch screen, the Pioneer hardware includes mapping for 44 countries, incorporates a hands-free phone system and supports playback for CDs, DVDs and USB devices.



The package is completed by a fairly subtle ‘GP’ body kit.



According to Honda, all of that extra specification adds up to £3,700, but the good news is that the cost hasn’t been reflected in the Ti’s pricing.



In fact, the on the road prices for the Ti variants are over £300 less than their equivalent SE models. That makes the £15,995 1.4 i-VTEC Ti and £16,995 1.8 i-VTEC Ti rather a bargain. Both will go on sale in March.



Meanwhile, Honda Racing has made its intentions for the imminent BTCC season very clear, stating that the target is to win the Drivers’, Teams’ and Manufacturers’ titles.

Team Dynamics will again be running the cars, although a big difference for 2011 is that they are going to be powered by NGTC-spec turbocharged engines. Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden continue as Honda’s works drivers.