TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA will begin its bid for Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship glory on home soil this weekend (26-27 April), as the country’s premier motor racing series kicks off its eagerly-anticipated 2025 campaign at Donington Park.
The Leicestershire circuit holds happy memories for the Speedworks Motorsport-run outfit. It was at Donington back in 2019 that the race-tuned Toyota Corolla GR Sport – whose road-going cousin is built barely ten miles away at Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK in Burnaston – clinched its maiden BTCC victory in only its sixth start in the championship.
There have been further wins since – another on the ‘National’ layout that will be used this weekend, and one on the longer ‘GP’ loop – raising hopes of similar success in the forthcoming curtain-raising contest, particularly considering the prior records of the four drivers set to take to the track in the Japanese ‘hot hatch’ this season.
Two-time champion Gordon Shedden – returning to the fray for the first time since 2022 – boasts a wealth of experience in the BTCC. Of the Scot’s 52 career triumphs – placing him fifth on the all-time winners list, and first amongst active competitors – 11 have come at Donington, including three from his most recent six races there.
Árón Taylor-Smith counts three podium finishes to his name in Leicestershire, with the reigning Independents’ title-holder approaching his 11th full season in the series, while Ronan Pearson has twice set fastest lap at Donington in the BTCC and reached the rostrum there in just his second race in the championship two years ago, only to subsequently be disqualified due to ride-height failure. The Fife native prevailed at the circuit in the single-make MINI CHALLENGE in 2022.
While all three of his TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA stablemates are race-winners in the BTCC, James Dorlin will conversely be making his touring car debut. The Yorkshireman – who turned 26 last week – claimed a commanding double victory at Donington in the Renault UK Clio Cup in 2018 on his way to sealing the runner-up spoils in the series standings, and has similarly triumphed at the track in both the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB and British GT Championship.
Following Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session at 15:10 – streamed on ITV Sport’s YouTube channel – every moment of Sunday’s doorhandle-to-doorhandle action will be broadcast live and in high-definition on ITV4 and ITVX, beginning at 11:00. The full race day schedule will additionally be streamed live around the globe on the BTCC YouTube channel, with the exception of the UK and North America, where there are existing broadcast agreements in-place with RACER Network.
Christian Dick, Team Principal, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, said: “We’re all hugely excited to embark upon another BTCC campaign – our seventh with the Toyota Corolla and the 15th for Speedworks Motorsport. We’ve had a very good off-season, and in a championship in which preparation and attention-to-detail are the indisputable keys to success, we have left absolutely no stone unturned to ensure we can hit the ground running from the outset.
“The BTCC continues to go from strength-to-strength – as evidenced by the fact that almost two-thirds of the drivers in the 2025 field are race-winners in the series – but in Gordon, Árón, Ronan and James, we have a line-up to rival any other on the grid, and that gives us plenty of confidence as we head to Donington Park. Factor in the support of our new partner, IAA, and our colleagues from nearby TMUK, and we look forward to getting our challenge off to a very strong start this weekend.”
Gordon Shedden, Driver, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, said: “We’re ready to go! I’m settling into the team well and really feel like I’ve been welcomed into the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA and Speedworks family, which is very important. Donington has traditionally been a happy hunting-ground for me in the BTCC, and I’ll certainly be looking to keep that run of form going.
“Having seen what the lap times have been like in testing, I think it’s going to be unbelievably close, but we enter the race weekend aiming to do the very best job we can. Given how new the relationship is, it’ll inevitably take a little while for everything to gel and for me to get the Corolla exactly as I need it, but hopefully we will be somewhere in the mix right from the ‘off’ and can score some strong results sooner rather than later.”
Árón Taylor-Smith, Driver, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, said: “Pre-season testing has been very productive and beneficial, and I’ve spent the past few weeks getting settled into the team – it’s a really competitive but welcoming environment, and I already feel completely at home. I have three extremely strong team-mates and everybody is equally hungry to win, which means we’re all pushing each other hard and driving the whole team forward in the process.
“I’m excited to rock up to Donington this weekend. We’re going up against the nation’s best drivers in the country’s best cars, but I feel we have all the ingredients we need to win, so hopefully the stars will align and we’ll have a fighting chance. Joining TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA unquestionably represents the best opportunity of my career to-date, so I’m feeling more pumped than ever to see what Donington brings and then what the rest of the season has in store.”
Ronan Pearson, Driver, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, said: “It’s been a long winter, with a huge amount of hard work to make this happen, so now I’m really keen to get back in the car and get the new season underway! I’ve been settling in nicely, and all four drivers seem to be bouncing off each other pretty well – so long may that continue. We’re not sure where we are yet compared to the other teams, but we’ve certainly got a good race car so we just need to focus on trying to unlock that outright pace over a single lap, too.
“This season marks my tenth year in circuit racing, which is crazy to think, and as ever, I’ll be giving it my very best shot. Donington is my favourite track on the calendar and I’ve always gone well there, so fingers crossed we can have another strong weekend. Bring it on!”
James Dorlin, Driver, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA, said: “I’m super-excited to finally be making my BTCC debut. I’m absolutely loving being with the team; the Speedworks guys and girls have been amazing and really made me feel like one of their own from day one, and I’ve already spent a lot of time in the workshop getting to know everyone.
“I’ve also been getting to grips with the Corolla and playing around with different set-ups. It’s obviously hard to tell in testing, but our pace has looked reasonable so far and I feel good in the car. I need to be realistic in terms of my expectations for my first weekend; it would be great to be able to battle inside the top ten, but it’s a super-competitive grid so the main focus is on trying to bag some solid points and then build from there. I think we’ve got the recipe for a really successful and enjoyable season.”
