Category: Touringcar

Rast switches brand

Jens Jensen

Rene Rast will switch to a different car brand for the 2023 season. The 35-year-old German racing driver has been racing in Audis since 2011, doing pretty much every series and car that they participate in. But when 2022 is over, he will switch the four rings to another Bavarian car manufacturer – BMW. Rast has been pretty much synonymous with the VW Audi Group throughout his career. He did however do Formula BMW in 2003 and 2004, before moving into Volkswagen Polo Cup, which he won in 2005. He…

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BTCC Snetterton, Turkington, Sutton & Ingram shine in Snetterton sizzler.

Stephen Hodges

The 2nd round of the 2021 BTCC championship see’s the series move to the challenging flatlands of Snetterton; more significantly, it is the first time fans have been able to attend a BTCC race event since the Brands Hatch season finale in October 2019. 4000 fans were permitted entry to the event, in line with the most recent easing of Covid19 restrictions in the UK. The championship would also welcome a new driver to the series for the Snetterton race weekend, Jessica Hawkins replacing Andy Neate in the Motorbase Ford…

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BTCC Thruxton, double bubble for Josh Cook & victory in the rain for Ash Sutton in BTCC curtain raiser.

Stephen Hodges

After an eventful off season, with plenty of changes up and down the grid, the 2021 BTCC season kicks off on the high speed sweeps of Thruxton. Qualifying on the high speed venue was a tricky affair with rain falling for the duration, a handful of people switched to slicks at the end of qualifying but to noneavail. 2020 BTCC champion Ashley Sutton clinched pole position for the opening race of the season in the difficult conditions. The 2021 season burst back into life in race 1, pole sitter Ash…

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Audi changes focus

Jens Jensen

There is a lot of changes coming in the Audi concern. The German car manufacturer made an announcement early this afternoon, that Dieter Gass will leave Audi, having worked for them since 2012. He previously worked at Audi from November 1994 until March 2001, where he was engineer and race engineer, including their sportscar programme. After just over 10 years in Formula 1 at Toyota and Lotus, he returned to Audi in 2012, where he worked as the right hand to Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, and went on to replace him…

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BTCC Brands Hatch finale, Ash Sutton crowned BTCC champion. Dan Cammish, Ash Sutton & Rory Butcher claim race wins.

Stephen Hodges

The final round of the 2020 BTCC season wraps at the short, quickfire Brands Hatch Indy circuit with Colin Turkington entering the final round as the championship leader with Ash Sutton in close contention. Dan Cammish & Tom Ingram stand a chance of taking the championship, both requiring race victories to bring themselves into contention while Rory Butcher, very much a wildcard is mathematically in with a shout of the title providing he wins and those ahead of him come to grief. Coming into the weekend news was already breaking…

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BTCC Snetterton, back to back wins for Colin Turkington as Ollie Jackson picks up race 3 victory.

Stephen Hodges

The penultimate round of the 2020 BTCC rolls into Snetterton in the South East of England,once again held behind closed doors without spectators. Colin Turkington snatched pole position for race 1 on Sunday, needing a good weekend of results to strengthen his championship defence, Starting from the pole, Turkington put the rear wheel drive traction of his BMW to good use off the line, leaping away from Jake Hill’s Honda who lost ground and was swallowed up by Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla, who then attempted to pass Turkington but was…

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BTCC Croft, Josh Cook doubles as Tom Ingram triumphs in race 3.

Stephen Hodges

Croft plays host to round 7 of the BTCC, seeing the championship heading north once more. Josh Cook stormed to a commanding pole position in his FK8 Honda Civic Type R for race 1 on Sunday, but not after drama, with Tom Ingram initially taking pole, but losing it due to a ride height infringement. The Saturday morning saw drama as Jac Constable, slated to drive the PMR Vauxhall Astra fell ill overnight on Friday and as a result withdrew from driving duties, leaving the grid one car down. Racing…

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BTCC Silverstone thriller, redemption for Cammish & Turkington, victory for Ollie Jackson.

Stephen Hodges

The BTCC moves from the high speed sweeps of Thruxton to the stop start Silverstone National circuit. Silverstone is a real power circuit, the slow corners leading onto long straights favouring the manufacturer backed entries with their torquier & more powerful engines from the likes of BMW, Ford & Honda. Dan Cammish clinched a second pole position in a row in his FK8 Honda Civic Type R, hoping to further bolster his championship challenge after a strong weekend at Thruxton. Dan Cammish made a strong start in race one, leading…

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BTCC Thruxton, Tom Ingram scores double; Josh Cook breaks victory duck.

Stephen Hodges

BTCC once again visits the fastest circuit in the UK, the fearsome Thruxton. The weekend would see a returning BTCC stalwart, Tom Onslow-Cole racing for Team HARD & in the following round at Silverstone. Onslow-Cole more recently has plied his trade in GT3 cars, competing with plenty of success with Ram Racing in recent times. The big driver news was fan favourite Jade Edwards. Jade has worked tirelessly for many years with plenty of success in junior formulas, but finally Jade realises her dream of becoming a BTCC driver. Jade…

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Goodyear blimp returns to Europe

Jens Jensen

The iconic Goodyear Blimp will be present in Europe once again. It will gets its debut this weekend at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and will then fly on to the 24 hours at the Nürburgring next weekend. It’s been 35 years since it has last flown in Europe. Since then it’s primarily been present at NASCAR races, where they are the tire suppliers. It even made an appearance in the Disney movie Cars – without Goodyear branding though. The Blimp itself is made by Zeppelin and is 75…

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BTCC Knockhill, Ash Sutton claims back to back wins; Rory Butcher wins on home turf.

Stephen Hodges

The fifth round of the 2020 BTCC championship sees the sole Scottish round on the championship, at the undulating Knockhill circuit. Race 1 would see Ash Sutton from pole position, the Laser Tools Infiniti working well on the undulating rollercoaster that is Knockhill. The race start saw Sutton leap away from Jake Hill’s FK2 Honda Civic Type R which qualified in second place, a fast starting Colin Turkington was able to leapfrog Hill’s Honda.  Hill was able to challenge Turkington’s BMW 330 for second position briefly, but a charging Dan…

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BTCC Oulton Park – 3 winners and a disqualification

Stephen Hodges

The third round of the 2020 BTCC season fires into life at the beautiful parkland circuit of Oulton Park in Cheshire. Once again, the BTCC being held behind closed doors due to the ongoing Covid19 restrictions. The weekend also saw the return of the PMR Vauxhall Astra to the grid, PMR announcing prior to the start of the post covid season they would only contest selected events. Mike Bushell fills PMR’s sole seat for the weekend. Saturday saw a mix or wet and dry running, with Rory Butcher clinching a…

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BTCC Brands Hatch. Cammish, Turkington and Oliphant victorious in blistering brands heat.

Stephen Hodges

The second round of the BTCC’s condensed schedule gets underway this weekend at the Brands Hatch GP circuit. It marks a change to proceedings, the precovid BTCC calendar would have seen round 2 taking place on the quickfire Brands Hatch indy layout; instead, the weekends racing will take place on the fast, flowing GP layout. Saturday saw Rory Butcher clinch pole position for Race 1 on Sunday, giving the new Ford Focus ST its maiden pole position and continuing to show the strong potential of Motorbase’s new chariot. Race 1,…

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BTCC Donington Park, Cammish, Turkington and Sutton triumph.

Stephen Hodges

294 days, that’s how long it has been since the last BTCC race meeting. The recent, and continuing Covid19 has pushed back the start of the BTCC season by over 4 months, but finally, it’s back for the opening round at Donington Park. There was drama before the weekend began however. A late decision by the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports saw fans denied the opportunity to attend the season opener. Fans were disappointed, but due to a resurgence in Covid19 cases, Toca & MSV had…

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BTCC Snetterton test & news round up, Rory Butcher fastest as a new age dawns.

Stephen Hodges

The 7th and 8th of July saw the first track running for the BTCC since the Covid affected media day at Silverstone on March 16th, yes it really has been that long. It was also the dawn of a new age in the BTCC, whilst much has been made of the upcoming hybrid regulations, the two day test was the first running of the new Toyota Corolla Hybrid. Whilst the car is at the beginning of a long and exhaustive development programme, it was a historic moment being the first…

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M-Sport announced as new BTCC control engine partner.

Stephen Hodges

After a long period of conjecture as to who would be selected to provide the coveted TOCA control engine in the BTCC, we finally have the answer. M-Sport, the group behind Ford’s WRC programme and Bentley’s GT3 programme have been selected to provide the TOCA control engine.  M-Sports announcement comes amid news that they will also cancel their Intercontinental GT Challenge programme with Bentley with immediate effect, this piece of news breaking shortly after the TOCA engine deal being announced. M-Sport’s new engine will compete from 2022-2026, which will also…

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Revised BTCC 2020 calendar unveiled.

Stephen Hodges

In a day wrought with motorsport announcements, some good; Formula 1 targeting a return to racing at the Red Bull Ring in July and some not so good; Audi departing DTM after 2020, leaving DTM with a calamitous situation to deal with from 2021 onwards. One of the biggest pieces of news though; Toca, organisers of the BTCC announced a revised calendar which will hopefully see the first race action for the series in 2020. The news followed shortly after the announcement that the British Grand Prix is slated to…

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Audi ends DTM commitment after 2020

Jens Jensen

After many months of speculations, it’s now official: Audi Sport will pull out of DTM following the 2020 season. It’s been on the cards since August 2018, where they aired some discomfort about the series, and put its organisation, ITR under a lot of pressure. The announcement followed Mercedes-AMG pulling out of DTM at the end of 2018, with Audi putting out the ultimatum of a third constructor had to be entered at the start of the 2020 season, or they would be gone too. R-Motorsport appeared for the 2019…

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Kubica in private BMW

Jens Jensen

Robert Kubica will be running in the DTM 2020 in a private BMW M4 DTM. The 35-year-old Polish driver will race for ART Grand Prix, entering a single car, so we get to a total of seven BMW cars this year. Kubica has most recently raced in Formula 1 for Williams F1 Team, after being out of single-seaters for almost ten years due to his series accident in a rally car. While Kubica hasn’t raced in DTM previously, he did two seasons for Formula 3 Euro Series, which was a…

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BMW signs sixth driver for DTM

Jens Jensen

BMW has signed their sixth driver for the DTM 2020 season. That will be South African racer Jonathan Aberdein, who will make the switch from Audi Sport Team WRT last year, into the BMW M4 DTM for 2020. He will race for the Bavarian car manufacturer alongside Timo Glock, Marco Wittmann, Philipp Eng, Lucas Auer and his fellow countryman Sheldon van der Linde. There were rumours about Robert Kubica getting the last seat, after he tested for BMW in December, but that won’t happen – at least not for now.…

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