BTCC – The Season So Far

With just 4 meetings left to run, Joe Ellis looks back on the season so far, the winners and losers, and standout moments before the final push for the title.

Eleven different winners from 18 rounds with a typically unpredictable and competitive field means that once again the BTCC is providing some of the best entertainment in the sport.

Starting with the winners, it comes as no surprise to see the likes of Matt Neal, Colin Turkington, and Tom Ingram having already won in 2018 as well as reigning champion Ash Sutton. The surprises appear when looking at first-time winners Senna Proctor, Matt Simpson and Dan Lloyd. Proctor and Lloyd’s wins arguably have asterisks next to them with Proctor winning that incredible wet-to-dry race at Brands Hatch and Lloyd benefiting from a reverse grid pole at Croft. Simpson, however, pulled off a major shock at Oulton Park not only scoring pole position on Saturday but leading from lights-to-flag on the Sunday, despite what turned out to be a terminal engine issue that kept him from competing in races 2 and 3. Proctor’s Power Maxed teammate Josh Cook also took his first BTCC win at Donington Park before doubling his win tally at Thruxton to now sit fifth in the drivers’ standings.

It’s the Power Maxed Vauxhall’s that I see as one of the biggest surprises this season with both drivers challenging the biggest names in the sport and often coming out on top. 2017 was difficult for PMR and losing their number one driver Tom Chilton to Motorbase could have worried the team, but Cook has adapted fantastically and brought the car on leaps and bounds.

Another pleasant surprise this year has been the BTC Norlin team who took Lloyd to his and the team’s maiden win. The switch from the Chevrolet Cruze to the Honda Civic Type-R has worked wonders for performance and team morale with Chris Smiley’s consistent form helping lay the foundations for another push further up the grid. James Nash didn’t fare as well resulting in Lloyd coming in as a replacement and hitting the ground running.

On the flip side of the coin, some drivers and teams are not having such a good time of it and no more than Jason Plato. The 2-time champion has trundled round at the very back for the majority of the season with the exception of Croft where Subaru miraculously found the speed for a front-row lockout. Plato has been more than vocal in the media complaining about both speed and reliability that has seen BMR go through many engines already. Teammate Sutton has coped much better and sits 7th in the standings following his 3 wins to this point.

Another experienced racer who has disappointed this year is BMW’s Rob Collard. He may have won a race unlike teammate Andy Jordan but that doesn’t disguise the fact that he’s been far from his usual charging self on race day. Rob’s season is getting worse too as he has been ruled out of the next 2 rounds at Rockingham and Knockhill on medical grounds.

Finally, let’s look back at some of the key moments from the season so far starting with THAT race at Brands Hatch. Starting wet, those at the sharp end played it safe and use the Blu-Response Dunlop wet tyres. The likes of Aiden Moffat, Jake Hill, and eventual winner Proctor all gambled on slicks after race one incidents meant they started towards the rear with nothing to lose. They were spot on, the track dried and the slick-shod cars flew by ever-slowing wet tyre runners with Proctor executing an overtake on Moffat to run out as race winner.

The next important moment of the season came in race one at Thruxton. The new shape Honda Civic Type-R (FK8) had yet to win a race after Brands and Donington but Neal was in the mood to change that at the super-fast Hampshire circuit, qualifying on pole and taking the victory with relative ease. Since then the Dynamics team have only won one race, again with Neal, but it was the headline race of the year, the Diamond Double at Snetterton scoring double points and propelling himself to third in the standings.

The 3rd and final standout moment of the season also came at Snetterton but this time in race one. An unbelievable start moved Sutton from 9th to 2nd and he was able to chase down leader Jack Goff for the win. Sutton thought he had it in the bag as he swept around the outside of Goff at Coram on the final lap but he compromise his exit and the Eurotech Honda was able to out-drag the Subaru Levorg to the line in a fantastic finish.

Heading into Rockingham this weekend for rounds 19, 20, 21, it is Tom Ingram who leads the way by just 6 points from Turkington with Neal a further 10 points adrift. Rockingham tends to favour the rear-wheeled drive cars and Turkington especially will be looking to take advantage and overhaul the Speedworks driver ahead of him. This may also be one of the few chances Plato has left to add to his tally of 96 BTCC wins with his and his team’s future uncertain beyond this season.