Mike Bushell is set to return to Team HARD. Racing for the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign, where he will compete alongside Jack Goff in the Volkswagen CC.

Bushell, who was Team HARD’s top points-scorer the last time he raced for the team in 2018, replaced Sam Tordoff for the final three events of the 2019 championship at Cobra Sport Amd AutoAid/RCIB Insurance, achieving a trio of top 10 results. Out of the driving seat for the majority of the season, the 30-year-old was also able to demonstrate his engineering prowess as he guided Rory Butcher to his maiden Independents’ crown with the team.

With a wealth of experience both in and out of the car, Bushell is hoping to break onto the podium in 2020.

“I am looking forward to returning to Team HARD. Racing for the 2020 BTCC season so I can carry on with the progress that I made during 2018.

“Unfortunate circumstances meant I was unable to take part in the 2019 season and instead I spent my time helping to engineer Rory Butcher to the Independents’ Drivers title. A short spell as a substitute for Sam Tordoff for the last three events in the Honda Civic re-kindled my desire to race.

“With help from Fox Transport, I am able to return to the grid full-time for 2020 and Team HARD. Racing can offer me a chance to be involved in the engineering side as well as driving. A year on the sidelines has helped with my technical understanding and I look forward to extracting the most out of the VW CC once again.”

Tony Gilham, Managing Director of Team HARD. Racing is overjoyed to have Bushell and Goff competing for the team and looks forward to seeing how they develop throughout 2020.

“First and foremost, I am delighted to bring Mike back into the team after a year away. We are good friends away from the track and it was a very difficult decision that we collectively had to make back in March.

“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and to have Jack and Mike as a two-car pairing in 2020 is just fantastic. I’m sure many will join me in thinking that this is one of the strongest pairings that will grace the BTCC grid next season.

“Mike has already been using his engineering prowess and experience from 2019 to push the VW CCs on to the next level. They may have been around since 2013 but there is plenty of speed still to be unlocked and 2020 will see a vastly improved car!”

Goff, Bushell’s team-mate for the 2020 BTCC campaign, is relishing the opportunity to race alongside him in the same machinery. 

“I’m really looking forward to working alongside Mike next season. He is a fast driver and has proven his speed over the years and we had many on-track battles in 2018.

“This motorsport business is a funny one. I replaced Mike in his car at the start of 2019 on the eve of Season Launch which was tricky for everyone concerned for varying reasons. Mike then replaced Sam (Tordoff) at the end of 2019 which was actually my car from 2018 and now we are racing alongside each other. A small and crazy world indeed!

“I believe 2020 is going to be another very competitive year, and I can’t wait to get started with Mike on our winter testing programme and to come out fighting.”

The 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship was yet another fiercely contested affair, with the battle once again heading right to the wire in the decisive closing race of the year at Brands Hatch. Read on and check out the infographic below to find out how each of this year's top ten drivers compare with their 2018 performance...

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington topped the tables, seizing the crown and becoming a record-equalling four-time BTCC champion. Turkington showed a great deal of consistency in his performance, with a 16-point increase on his 2018 score, maintaining his position at the head of the Drivers’ Championship for another year.

Jason Plato showed the greatest improvement on both points and positions gained between the two seasons. He accrued a massive 211-point boost over his 2018 score – lifting him by 20 places in the standings to seventh overall by the end of the 2019 campaign.

Scot Rory Butcher was another driver who had a notable improvement, with a points increase of 167 and 12 positions gained on the previous year. As well as achieving fifth overall, Butcher took the Independent Drivers’ title and Jack Sears Trophy in 2019, which, considering his improvement from last year places him in good stead to be a prominent contender in the future.

Matt Neal takes the title for most consistent, with an increase of nine points and having sustained ninth position in the Drivers’ Standings, the Honda man will be looking for ways to improve in the future.

Comparing the scores overall, it is evident that the level of competition at the top of the tables was considerably higher this year. The top three drivers of 2019 all scored over 300 points, whereas in 2018 Turkington was the only driver to break the 300-point barrier.

Next on the BTCC looks back series, we're on to Donington Park!

The Leicestershire venue hosted a feast of action in 2019, where Team BMW's Colin Turkington took pole position, followed by the first double lights-to-flag victory of the year. 
 
Turkington converted his first BTCC pole position in over two years into a relatively comfortable race one victory as the drama commenced behind him. 
 
A multi-car accident on lap one led to several retirements and heavy damage to a number of cars as Andrew Jordan’s BMW slid sideways following contact on the exit of the Old Hairpin. The Mercedes of Adam Morgan had nowhere to go – making contact with Jordan’s BMW – while Ollie Jackson’s Ford, Matt Simpson’s Honda and Jake Hill’s Audi also crashed out of the action. 
 
Jordan was taken to hospital as a precaution but the incident caused so much damage to his BMW 3 Series that the 2013 champion was unable to take part for the remainder of the day.
 
When the dust eventually settled it was Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Ash Sutton who followed Turkington home, whilst Team BMW’s Tom Oliphant grabbed a first-ever BTCC podium. Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s Tom Chilton was fourth and the top Independent finisher.
 
Turkington had to contend with a further two safety car periods in the next race as the action-packed weekend continued. The then triple BTCC champion took to the challenge with consummate ease as he scampered off into the distance on each occasion.
 
Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal – quietly going about his business on an otherwise dramatic day – made a great move by Sutton on lap 17 of 19 to take second place away from the Subaru star.
 
Ingram then scored an emotional first win in the all-new Team Toyota GB with Ginsters Corolla in the final race, as more than 4,500 Toyota members and their families watched on. 
 
Ingram’s manufacturer-backed Speedworks Motorsport squad began the reversed grid encounter from pole position and last year’s runner-up went untroubled throughout the 19 laps of running.
 
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing’s Rob Collard claimed second after a mid-race pass by the Trade Price Cars Audi of Hill. 
 
Josh Cook took third in the BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R with his own smart move by Hill. Rory Butcher’s Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Honda and the manufacturer Subaru of Sutton eventually finished fourth and fifth respectively, whilst Hill had to settle for a solid top-six finish on the harder Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre compound.
 
Sutton’s two podiums saw him move to the head of the overall Drivers’ standings at this point in the season, although just six points covered the top five drivers with Cook, Turkington, Chilton and Butcher following closely behind.
 
Honda topped the Manufacturers’ order whilst Team BMW led the Teams’ table. Chilton was the man to beat in the Independent Drivers’ field whilst BTC Racing left the Leicestershire venue leading the Independent Teams’ and Butcher extended his advantage in the Jack Sears Trophy.
 
On Tuesday BTCC looks back will focus on the third event of the 2019 season: Thruxton.

 

It's #WinItWednesday week three! This week we're celebrating Rory Butcher's first win of 2019 in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, incidentally his first ever in the BTCC.

Following his win in race three at Brands Hatch Indy, Butcher went on to have an incredible season, taking not only the Jack Sears Trophy but also the Independent Drivers' Championship. Additionally, the Scot only failed to finish in the points on four occasions during the campaign – bettered only by Colin Turkington and Dan Cammish.

Click the image below to download...

The second annual Fans’ Driver of the Year was awarded at the TOCA Night of Champions this past weekend, with Colin Turkington taking the honours.

Throughout October and November, fans were invited to vote for their favourite 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship driver on the BTCC app – available from the App Store and Google Play – and the results were conclusive.

With Turkington taking home the coveted BTCC Drivers’ trophy, he’d be a tough candidate to beat. Similarly, Championship front-runners such as Andrew Jordan and Dan Cammish were also in the running, alongside seasoned drivers such as Jason Plato.

The top three drivers from the vote somewhat reflected the top three in the Drivers’ Standings; Jordan placed third in the voting and Cammish neared the top of the heap in second, but it was Drivers’ Champion Turkington who received the most votes and was consequently victorious.

Turkington provided a plethora of entertainment throughout the season, bringing it down to the wire as he entered the final race of the campaign at Brands Hatch second in the Drivers' Championship, but crossed the line victorious.

🏆 #fansfavourite 🏆

I want to thank all the @BTCC fans who made this season better than ever!

We have ‘the best’ fans & knowing you voted me as the favourite for 2019 is the icing on the cake. 🤩

Thank you for the support through the highs, the lows & the great GB weather 😂 pic.twitter.com/zBul4zW9JP

— Colin Turkington (@ColinTurkington) November 25, 2019

Laser Tools Racing has announced that it is to become a two-car outfit for the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, with 2017 champion Ash Sutton joining the fold to partner Aiden Moffat.

Team Principal Bob Moffat has confirmed that the design and build of two new Infiniti Q50 NGTC cars for the 2020 campaign is underway, and that talks with Sutton have been on-going behind-the-scenes for a good while.

“We have been speaking to Ashley for a number of months now,” said Moffat Sr., “We are delighted to welcome him into the Laser Tools Racing squad. He is going to bring a wealth of skill and experience, and I know that Aiden is already looking forward to working with him.”

Moffat Jr. is relishing the team's growth, and the prospect of joining up with his new team-mate.

“I can’t wait to get going! I think it will be a very exciting year for myself and the team," he said. "We're really looking forward to expanding to two cars and I can't wait to start working with Ash.

"For me, he is one of the best drivers on the grid and I’ll have my work cut out trying to keep up! He's also a friend of mine, and someone I can work with to bring the best out of each other.”

Sutton is equally enthusiastic, having sampled the Infiniti during a test this past summer. The former Jack Sears Trophy champ, and 2017 title-winner, is relishing the prospect of driving the car and hunting down glory. 

"It’s a great pleasure to be involved with Laser Tools Racing and to be working alongside Aiden and everyone else involved in the team," said Sutton. "It’s great to see this combination between the two of us grow.

"I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the Infiniti. Rear-wheel drive is my comfort zone and having run a rear-wheel drive car for the past three years, I feel that we can roll over of our learnings onto the Infiniti.

"What we’ve actually got going on here is very exciting. I haven’t had this excitement since 2017 — it’s giving me butterflies! We’ve got a lot to look forward, too. The car has a lot of potential and I think between us, we’re going to extract some good performance out of it.

“Aiden and I are going to be the team to be reckoned with. The advantage is that we are great friends away from the track. On-track we’ve had our elbows out a few times, but now it’s time to knuckle-down as team-mates and progress. The Infiniti is a great package and to be able to develop this is an exciting opportunity.”

“For the 2019 season, we made the decision to bring all race preparation and design work in-house to Laser Tools Racing," added Bob Moffat. This paid great dividends and gave us the confidence to change cars mid-season.

"We built Aiden’s Infiniti up from a bare shell in just ten days and had it ready for the Snetterton tyre tests in July, and to race at the same venue just two weeks later. The new car proved very quick at Knockhill and then Aiden achieved a worthy second place at Silverstone.

“This accelerated development showed that the Infiniti has considerable potential, so with Ashley joining the team we decided to build two new cars which will be engineered with considerable improvements in weight distribution and stiffness.

"We will also be concentrating on the car’s aero package and indeed the car is booked into the wind tunnel at MIRA in early December for this development.

“The result should be two very competitive NGTC cars and with our ‘dream-team’ of young guns Moffat and Sutton we are all going into 2020 with a sense of great excitement and determination.”

Following another incredible season, over the next few weeks we'll be looking back at each action-packed event to relive every spellbinding, edge-of-your-seat moment of the 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship!

Kicking off the 2019 season at Brands Hatch in April, the Indy layout of the legendary circuit played host to a breathless afternoon of racing, where Josh Cook, Andrew Jordan and Rory Butcher reaped the rewards with a win apiece...

It was Cook who left the Kent venue with the standings lead as he followed up his victory with two solid points finishes in the day’s other contests.

Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Ash Sutton took pole position during qualifying on Saturday, but that counted for very little once the action got underway amid changeable conditions on Sunday.

BTC Racing’s Cook won the opener after getting his tyre tactics spot on, as others switched to the new Dunlop BluResponse wet tyre with fog and drizzle shrouding the circuit.
 
Cook – starting the race in tenth – was the first of many further back to gamble on dry tyres, and it proved to be a tactical master class.
 
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Sutton made a stellar getaway from pole position as a trio of BMWs blasted by the Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall of Jason Plato.
 
Cook dropped back initially as the wet conditions sent cars twitching around the 1.2-mile Indy circuit, but the tide turned on lap five when Cook set the fastest lap in his new Honda Civic Type R (FK8).
 
The 27-year-old began ripping through the order – bringing along a number of other dry tyre runners with him – and in just a matter of minutes he was on to the tail of race leader Sutton.
 
The same two drivers enjoyed a famous battle for victory in the final race of the 2018 BTCC season, but this was a straight forward scrap as Cook scythed by Sutton’s Levorg with consummate ease.
 
Cook never looked back and it was merely a case of who would join him on the podium as the Dunlop SportMaxx-shod dry tyre runners began surging up the leaderboard.
 
It was local man Jake Hill who made his way into second in the TradePriceCars.com Audi, much to the delight of the partisan crowd, and Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s Tom Chilton followed him home. 

Other standout displays included points-paying results for Team HARD’s Michael Crees and former F1 driver Mark Blundell. Nic Hamilton also ran well to finish inside the top 20, as his brother and five-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis, watched on.
 
Andrew Jordan then scored the first victory for the all-new BMW 330i M Sport as he surged his way through from 15th on the grid in race two.
 
Changeable conditions again greeted the grid ahead of the race, but unlike the first contest, all 30 drivers chose to start the race on the Dunlop SportMaxx dry tyre.
 
After myriad overtaking manoeuvres up and down the order in the early running, there was a three-way tussle for the lead – between Cook, Sutton and Jordan – midway through the race.
 
The ballast-laden Honda of long-time leader Cook couldn’t hang on as Sutton made one of his textbook moves at Graham Hill Bend to snatch the lead. Jordan immediately put him under pressure, however, and the 2013 Champion eventually cruised by the 2017 Champion on lap 16 to take the first win of the season for the Bavarian marque.
 
Sutton held on to second but not before withstanding an almighty effort from Adam Morgan, Jake Hill, Tom Ingram and Stephen Jelley.
 
It was Morgan’s Mercedes running side-by-side with Sutton’s Subaru as the quintet approached the chequered flag. A photo finish confirmed Sutton’s second place by just 0.022s from Morgan.
 
Cobra Sport AmD Autoaid/RCIB Insurance’s Butcher claimed victory in the final encounter after Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher’s Chilton was handed a post-race penalty.
 
Chilton crossed the finish line first on the road but in a post-race appeal was adjudged to have gained an unfair advantage during contact with Matt Neal’s Honda. The Surrey man failed to give the position back during the race itself and was therefore penalised by the addition of five seconds being added to his overall race time, handing Butcher his first ever BTCC win.
 
Chilton’s Ford Focus had seemingly clinched first as he got by Neal across the start/finish line on lap 13, but not before the contact was made resulting in the post-race penalty.
 
Neal’s speed continued to dip and it all came to head when contact with Jelley’s BMW sent the Honda sideways through Clearways, allowing the charging Butcher past both of them in the older shaped Civic Type R, a move that would ultimately reward him with victory.
 
Jelley and Neal continued their scrap and the latter faced last lap heartache when a wheel problem forced him to slow dramatically. Jelley went on to grab a hugely popular podium – his first since winning at Rockingham in 2009 and the first ever for Team Parker Racing in the BTCC.

Josh Cook and BTC Racing topped the Drivers’, Independent Drivers’, Teams’ and Independent Teams’ tables at this early stage of the season, whilst Honda and BMW shared the lead of the Manufacturers’ standings. Race three winner Rory Butcher led the Jack Sears Trophy at this point in the season, a title he would go on to claim by the end of the year.

Head to btcc.net on Thursday to look back on rounds 4, 5 and 6 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship from Donington Park on 27/28 April.

The final curtain came down on an action-packed season in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship as the paddock reconvened for the annual TOCA Night of Champions on Saturday (23 November).

Honouring not just the racing stars but everyone that contributed to Britain’s premier motorsport championship in 2019, the event once again provided a fitting end to a year of hard work and dedication.

The BTCC celebrations began with the Engineer of the Year, an award first introduced in 2016. Having previously achieved the title in 2017 while working with Ash Sutton and Subaru, West Surrey Racing’s Dan Millard attained the honour once again, for his work on Colin Turkington's all-new BMW 3 Series.

The Dunlop #ForeverForward honours went the way of Adam Morgan, as the Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport man produced a number of stellar attacking drives.

Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing scored a total of four victories and a further six podiums on its way to the Independent Teams’ Championship and third place in the overall Teams’ standings.

Halfords Yuasa Racing ended Team BMW’s three-year reign at the top of the Teams’ table and claimed the championship for the first time since 2013. Matt Neal and Dan Cammish went head-to-head with the BMW drivers throughout 2019, before clinching the Teams’ title at the end of a remarkable and memorable battle.

For the third successive year, the Manufacturers’ title was claimed by BMW, no mean feat considering the West Surrey Racing team readied the brand new and striking BMW 3 Series on the eve of the 2019 season. They were pushed all the way by the opposition but eventually, it was the German marque that came out on top once again.

The Independent Drivers’ Championship saw Tom Chilton and Josh Cook take third and second, respectively, before Rory Butcher took the 2019 title. Alongside this, the Scot also claimed the Jack Sears Trophy as well as being in overall title contention until the penultimate event of the season at Silverstone.

Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan and Honda man Dan Cammish secured second and third place in the Drivers’ Championship, having both put up a strong fight for the title, adding to the dramatic finale at the Brands Hatch GP circuit.

The presentation was rounded off with the most coveted prize in British motorsport, the Drivers’ crown. This past season saw one of the closest fought BTCC title races in history with the top three separated by just two points when the final chequered flag fell. The phrase ‘it’s not over until it’s over’ rang true at Brands Hatch, with the title being decided with minutes left to run. One man eventually rose to the top of the pile, however, with Colin Turkington became British Touring Car Champion for a record-equalling fourth time, drawing level with the great Andy Rouse.

“By far, that one was the hardest to get and means the most because I thought I’d lost it after Round 29; I really thought it was beyond us,” said Turkington. “I’ve never been so emotional in my life. When Dan came on the radio and said that I was Championship leader on the penultimate lap, it was the shock that made this one even sweeter.

“Even two weeks after I was just in the clouds. The BTCC has been such a huge part of my life, for 17 years now I’ve been in the championship. Your first goal is to get a podium, then you think ‘I’ll go for a win’, then you target a championship and the first one is obviously very tough to get. To think I now have four is difficult for me to believe, but I can only achieve these things being with an amazing team like West Surrey Racing.

“I want to say congratulations to Dan (Cammish) and Andy (Jordan) because that last race could have gone one of three ways, it went my way this time, but those two would have been deserving winners as well. The cards fell my way this time and I’m truly thankful for that. Another person I’d like to thank is my engineer, Dan Millard, it was a big change for us both this year and I think when you change something fundamental like an engineer, I was nervous going into the season.

"Obviously, I knew that Dan had won the championship before with Ash (Sutton) but from day one we gelled, we were a team and we worked really hard together. For round 30, before he left the grid, he said to me ‘you can still do this, if anybody can win, you can’. When somebody tells you something like that you can tell that they have total belief in you, so Dan thank you so much.”

Who were the drivers to be reckoned with during the 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship? Our Accolade Tracker reveals all – every driver who’s achieved a podium, pole position, fastest lap or points for leading a lap is included.

Champion Colin Turkington and runners-up Andrew Jordan and Dan Cammish are expectedly near-on inseparable at the sharp end of the tracker, with Turkington’s fastest lap tally outstripping Jordan by a couple – a factor which contributed to his record-equalling title win.

Between Turkington’s top tally for fastest laps and stablemate Jordan’s number of wins, it's clear why the BMW’s topped the standings, showing just how potent the 330i M Sport is in BTCC trim.

Josh Cook, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram notched the most points for leading a lap, excluding the BMW pair who topped the order, while Honda man Cammish attained the highest number of podiums, with both the most second and third-place finishes under his belt. Sutton and Sam Tordoff’s high number of accolades is testament to their strengths throughout the season, despite some drivers having placed higher in the standings with fewer accolades.

Champion Colin Turkington joins Louise Goodman to look back at how he rose to victory in the 2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Season Review, which also includes exclusive interviews with other key players and the best of the action from an extraordinary season, in an unmissable two-hour extravaganza.

A full complement of 30 cars made the grid last season, with 11 different marques represented. The balance achieved between manufacturer-backed outfits and independent teams created superb racing right through the field and left pundits and fans alike guessing as to who would come out on top right until the very last round of the season.

The momentum swung back and forth throughout the year, with no fewer than 13 different race-winners, before the most coveted title in British motorsport was clinched by Turkington – a move which saw him become a record-equalling four-time BTCC champion.

Indeed, the 2019 campaign was one which will live in the hearts of many for years to come, especially its dramatic finale around Brands Hatch’s legendary GP layout providing a multitude of nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat moments.

All of the unmissable action will be available on ITV4, Sunday 24 November 1045-1245, with the BTCC television treat also available subsequently on the ITV Hub.