Ahead of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, btcc.net caught up with ITV's David Addison to discuss the 2019 campaign and how things are looking for the upcoming season.
See below for the full interview…
Still need your BTCC fix in the run-up to the 2020 season opener at Donington Park? Head to itv.com/btcc/races for all the 2019 race action!
The official BTCC website caught up with reigning Champion Colin Turkington to discuss his aims for the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.
“I’m just hungry to get out and get driving again," said the Northern-Irishman. "That’s the bit that we all love. Obviously last year was the first season with the new [BMW 3 Series] so I’m looking forward to having some testing pre-season and seeing if we can understand the car a bit more; trying to fine-tune it, trying to make it faster and better.
"Obviously the competition will rise again, I won last season but only by the skin of my teeth. I finished two points ahead of both Dan Cammish and Andrew Jordan so it was so so close at the end; the margins between winning and losing are very fine. I know how hard I’ll have to work to do it all again. And it was so important for us to have some time off to get a break and build up the energy to go and do it again.”
See below for the full interview…
The official BTCC website caught up with Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat to discuss how his upcoming season is looking ahead of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship.
“This is the most excited I’ve been for a race season before,” said Moffat. “Working with Ash (Sutton) and the knowledge and experience he has is going to be massive for bringing me on. Obviously I’ve still got some learning to do in a rear-wheel drive touring car but I’m confident in myself and working as a team – I know how beneficial that can be. It will be the first time having a proper team-mate in the BTCC which will be a massive aid and on top of that we’ve got two brand new Infiniti Q50s. With the car I brought out [in 2019] we were getting there by the end of the year, but it was a 2014 shell I was in, it had a lot of issues which is natural because things have moved on. The cars you build today are superior, so I think with the package we’ve got it’s going to be a special year for us.
“We’ve got testing planned, both the cars are still being built just now, but they shouldn’t be too long. The nice thing is, with the work we’ve done in the latter part of last season in the old spec car, we’ve still learnt a lot, so it’s given us a little head start. We’ve managed to skip a lot of waiting time that we would have had if it weren’t for the way we went about things which is why we made that decision last year. We had to take it on the chin and drop down the order but that’s given us a big head start to build something special for 2020 and that’s what we’re aiming to achieve.
“It reminds me of my early days. First getting into racing, as a young kid you couldn’t wait to go racing and you were desperate for the season to arrive and to get back in the driving seat – it’s given me that feeling again this year. I know we’ve got something quite special to build on and it’s got my love and hunger for BTCC back again which I lost at points last year. It was frustrating turning up knowing that if you have an excellent weekend with reverse grids you might get into the top ten in race three... it’s not really something that excites you. But having a project that could be a race-winning car and who knows what else that makes you very excited to get going.
“In having a team-mate, you half the time you need for development. You can back-to-back things, you can have two setups on the track at the same time meaning you’re avoiding trying a new setup when the track has actually changed conditions, so you can sometimes chase your tail a bit. I know Snetterton test days are hard work, the track changes that much throughout the day that just looking at the times isn’t enough because is the car better or is the track better. You can overlay data, so it takes a lot of the doubt out. You can work together in terms of driving and car development and I think a couple of heads going towards it is always going to be beneficial.
“I’ll always be myself and I’ll always race for me, if there’s a sniff of a win I’ll do everything I can to get it, regardless of who’s around me and what the situation is, I’m always going to do everything I can. But at the same time, with me and Ash together, I’m very confident of how well we can work as team-mates and hopefully make this a very exciting project for Laser Tools Racing, but again I’ll be out there to try and make sure I’m winning races.
“[With the addition of the Silverstone International layout] there’s a new track layout so the concern is figuring out which way to go – I should really look into that for a start! It’s always exciting to do something different; change is nice. The BTCC is never repetitive as anything can happen at any given point, but it’s always nice to change it up a bit; a slightly different calendar, a new track, it’ll make things interesting.
“My main aim is to be consistently at the front and up there in the championship, meaning there will be points where I’ll perhaps need to look at the situation rather than doing anything daft. For argument's sake, there’s Turkington who won the championship with one win when Ash had six wins. The points and consistency are always going to be my aim. Obviously you want to win but I wouldn’t go doing something daft to achieve that, I want to make sure I’m up there in the championship for myself and to get Laser Tools Racing up there in the Teams’ Championship with Ash.
“It’s very exciting times for us, I can’t wait to get going.”
See below to hear the interview…
This week the #WinItWednesday spotlight falls upon Halfords Yuasa Racing's Dan Cammish.
The Yorkshireman's first victory of 2019 saw him take the top spot in Round 21, at Thruxton.
Cammish may have achieved the fewest first-place finishes of the top five drivers but, through achieving rostrums in almost half of all races during the campaign, he rocketed himself into contention – concluding the season on equal points to runner-up driver Andrew Jordan.
Official pre-season test day to take place at the Home of British Motorsport
The 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Season Launch will again be held across two days following the huge success of last year’s event, with the official pre-season test day taking place at Silverstone on 17 March.
A full entry of 30 cars will take to the Silverstone International circuit – a track configuration being used for the very first time by the UK’s premier motorsport series – with some six hours of testing scheduled.
Silverstone will be open to fans free of charge from 0930 on the day with a pitlane walkabout also planned during the lunch break.
The Season Launch test day offers the public an action-packed taster of what to expect when the championship gets underway at Donington Park on 28/29 March, before Britain’s biggest and best motor racing spectacle travels the length and breadth of the country across ten exhilarating race weekends.
Silverstone fans will get a double dose of BTCC action following the Season Launch, with the championship visiting the National circuit in late April for Round 7, 8 and 9 before returning to the venue for its competitive International circuit bow in September – the penultimate race weekend of the season.
An exclusive evening event on 16 March will officially kick off this year's Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship proceedings, with ITV filming duties and photography set to take place there, as well as a number of other media interviews and activities.
Media accreditation will be opened in due course, for both the official Season Launch test day and for BTCC Season Media Passes.
Following a year of getting to grips with the new-for-2019 Toyota Corolla in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, btcc.net caught up with Tom Ingram ahead of the 2020 campaign.
See below for the whole interview...
The official BTCC website has been catching up with numerous 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship drivers to get their perspectives on the year ahead. Firstly, AmD's Jake Hill discusses his excitement to be driving for the Essex-based squad, his friendship with team-mate Sam Osborne and the learning curve that is the BTCC.
“I feel like more than ever I’ve got the best chance possible to fight for my first Independents’ Championship," said the 25-year-old. "Rory did it last year and I'm hoping I’ll scoop up a few wins and a couple of podiums along the way and just enjoy it.
“My experience is ever-growing; I’ve learnt a tremendous amount this year fighting with the best and most fierce. There are things I won’t do again, things that I might do more of and just generally learning when to fight and when not to. That’s the biggest thing because that leads to consistency which ultimately leads to a championship being won or not. I’m learning that now.”
See below for the whole interview...
For the final memory in Motorsport News Editor Matt James' top ten moments of the decade, James reminisces about an achievement that clearly had a profound impact on him, resulting in a title which reflects the level of respect the MN editor has for this particular driver and his endeavours: Austin the Maestro.
When: September 15, 2013
Where: Rockingham
OK, so this is a very personal memory, but the roar of approval that went up from the packed Rockingham grandstand as Rob Austin took his Audi A4 across the finish line to claim his first British Touring Car Championship victory in 2013 is something that will stay with me for a long time.
There was as much emotion among the massed ranks of fans as there was from inside the team itself. It was, in part, down to his persona, and in part down to the team’s inclusive attitude when it came to the fans, which quickly earned him a sizeable following.
Austin had made his BTCC debut in 2011 but, far from doing things the easy way, he decided to embrace the new NGTC regulations and run his own team. The crew designed and built the Audi, and took on the job of fielding two cars. It was an almost vertical challenge for the small operation.
There were plenty of stumbles, particularly in the early days when Austin was engineering the car as well as driving it. It was all hands to the pump.
Austin and I had history: I had reported on him in the formative years of his single-seater career in Formula Renault in 1998 and 1999. When rating my top six drivers of 1999, I failed to put Austin in the top six despite the fact he had finished second in the standings – a fact he constantly reminds me of this.
A huge crash at the opening meeting of the 2013 season at Brands Hatch had put a sizeable dent in Austin’s budget for his third campaign at BTCC level, but he launched a T-shirt selling scheme which his fans embraced and that gave him the funds to continue. Later, supporters also the chance to buy a slot on the roof of the German car and have their own message or mugshot (most chose the latter) emblazoned on the machine.
That is why the redemption at Rockingham was so well received and the tears among the team members were genuine.
Austin, who had taken a fifth career podium in the opening race at Rockingham that weekend before blasting into a lead he wasn’t to lose at the start of the second encounter, dedicated the victory to his supporters. He said at the time: “There have been times where we nearly jacked it all in, not through choice. We have been on the verge of bankruptcy and they, the fans, have saved us.”
It was humbling for me too, because I had the real inside story of how hard Austin and his crew had worked to achieve just one win. Nothing comes easy in the BTCC, and being this close to the effort and the dedication involved in success was a real eye-opener.
Matt Neal has today (17 January) confirmed that he will be contesting the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, alongside Halfords Yuasa Racing team-mate Dan Cammish.
In what will be his record-breaking 30th campaign in the series, Neal holds the accolade for most seasons of any driver in the history of the championship.
“I can’t believe it’s my 30th year!” said 53-year-old said. “It seems like only yesterday that I was competing in my first championship race and winning my first race. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the years, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. The championship continues to grow in stature, both in the UK and on a world platform and I take my hat off to Alan Gow (Series Chief Executive) for making that happen. The evolving regulations and the adoption of new technologies, like hybrid, fill me with excitement for what is coming downstream.
“Personally, I look back on my years in the BTCC and reflect a little on what could have been —several years I’ve missed out on the title by only a few points, but that’s racing for you!
“Overall, I look back with a wry grin on my face and feel honoured to have raced against some of the best drivers in the world, there are just too many to mention, but we have been graced with some amazing names and personalities over the years and I have gone head-to-head with them all.
“I go into 2020 as hungry as ever to win my fourth BTCC title and take it to Colin (Turkington), and of course my own team-mate Dan, who continues to impress me with his driving aptitude. We work well as a team and I’d hope that I have played an influential part during his BTCC career in developing him to be the driver he is today. Dan is undeniably quick and the old adage in motorsport is that you always have to beat your team-mate first. So that will be the challenge this season.
“The Honda FK8 Type R is now a pretty potent package in its third season and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel testing again next month. With Honda, Halfords and Yuasa all partnering us again for another season, as well as all our other supporting sponsors, we have the ingredients in place for an exciting year ahead. But will it be my last? We’ll have to wait and see!”
Honda UK Managing Director David Hodgetts is similarly enthusiastic for the forthcoming campaign, as the Japanese manufacturer seeks to build upon its glittering record in the series over the last decade.
“Matt continues to be a fantastic ambassador for Honda and our company philosophy where innovation, teamwork and a ‘challenging spirit’ remain at the heart of our business,” said Hodgetts. “We have developed a great relationship with Matt during ten consecutive seasons together in the BTCC and I very much look forward to more success for the Civic Type-R in 2020."
For the penultimate episode of Motorsport News Editor Matt James’ top ten memories from the last ten years of the British Touring Car Championship, we’re looking back to 2018, when Senna Proctor produced an impressive drive at Brands Hatch, from 27th on the grid to the top step of the podium!
When: April 8, 2018
Where: Brands Hatch
There was unbounded joy on the podium for the second British Touring Car Championship race of the season at Brands Hatch in 2018. All three of the men who scaled the rostrum were doing so for the first time after a truly bonkers 27 laps.
They had been the brave ones, the guys with nothing to lose. The wet-but-drying circuit played perfectly into the hands of those who wanted to gamble.
Eventual winner Senna Proctor started 27th on the grid in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra. Second place finisher Jake Hill began the event in 25th in his Team Hard Volkswagen CC, while Ollie Jackson – who completed the podium – had started the race in 12th position.
They all knew it was a risk to opt for slick tyres, but one that paid the ultimate reward, and just 11 of the 32 starters went for dry Dunlops.
Proctor’s engineer Rob Peacey steered the tyre decision. “I started on the 14th row of the grid and it was definitely pretty hard from back there,” Proctor explained. “I went out and there were a few drying patches. I had watched the Renault Clio Cup race and the race before that and there had been quite a bit of spray, but when we went out there was much less so I could see that it was drying quite rapidly.
“I said over the radio that there were a couple of drying patches and my engineer said, ‘the slicks are going on, it is non-negotiable’. That was it: he made my decision for me. I questioned it, but by the time the red lights went out, I thought ‘well, we are here now, let’s just do it’.”
It took a while to come to him though. It wasn’t until eight laps to go that the train of slick-tyred cars had climbed into the top 10.
Aiden Moffat (similarly slick-shod) got caught out going into Clearways and slewed sideways, which allowed Hill and Proctor to assume the charge of the dry-tyred racers.
Proctor managed to overhaul Hill (who was struggling with a broken radio and no communication with the pits), but Moffat wasn't out of the picture.
On lap 22, it came to a head: Proctor got inside leader Jack Goff’s Eurotech Honda coming out of Paddock Hill Bend and took the lead, but he only had it for a few seconds as the recovering Moffat jumped them both up the inside a few hundred yards later at Druids.
Even then, the action wasn't done. Proctor got underneath Moffat coming out of Druids on the penultimate lap and the pair made the slightest of touches. Moffat fired hard into the bank, but remarkably the car held together, and he came home in fifth spot.
But the ultimate joy belonged to Proctor in what had been one of the British Touring Car Championship’s blockbuster races.