Tag: BTCC

TOCA and Cosworth Electronics have claimed first prize for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Motorsport Engineering for their application of Hybrid Technology in the British Touring Car Championship. 

The IMechE’s Automobile Division recently held its annual presentation of the Adrian Reynard Motorsports Medal, an award that recognises an individual or a team of people, working in the field of motorsports engineering, who have demonstrated an outstanding technical achievement or have made a significant contribution to the advancement of engineering in motorsports.

This year saw the award go to both TOCA – who are operators of the BTCC – and Cosworth Electronics Ltd for their joint effort on the implementation of hybrid power into the Championship.

Hybrid technology was introduced into the UK’s premier motorsport series in 2021, before its competitive debut the following season, which now sees each car provided with a certain amount of additional ‘boosts’ to use during qualifying and the races.

“We are extremely proud that TOCA – alongside its trusted partner in Cosworth Electronics – has been recognised for an outstanding achievement in the field of motoring engineering,” said Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive.

“It required a huge effort after announcing the project back in 2018 – becoming the first major touring car championship to do so – with everything that then happened in the world significantly adding to that challenge.

“The introduction of hybrid technology has been widely praised and a huge success and we are delighted that its engineering advances have also been rewarded today. Incorporating hybrid ensures the BTCC remains absolutely relevant to manufacturers, sponsors and the public, as well as further enhancing our great racing.

“It’s important that I acknowledge and thank the outstanding work from Cosworth, the teams, our suppliers and my TOCA Technical Team for playing their part in winning this fantastic award.”

Richard Woodgate, Lead Applications Engineer at Cosworth Electronics, added: “The requirements given by TOCA to Cosworth, to supply the first ever cost-effective Hybrid system for touring car competition was a huge challenge. 

“Using our expertise in the knowledge of drivetrain technology and electronics, we are thrilled to have achieved just that, a turn-key solution that could be used by any formula, with practicality, costs, ease of use and performance at the fore.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship has announced the venue and date for its official 2024 Season Launch, as well as a total of three official test days ahead of the new season commencing. 

Donington Park will play host to the 2024 Season Launch on Tuesday 16th April, with the general public set to be granted free of charge access to the entire day from 10:00.

Television and photography obligations will take up the early morning activities at the Leicestershire venue before the grid embarks on a bumper day of testing made up of two three-hour sessions and a pitlane walkabout during the lunch break. 

Additional off-circuit media duties will take place at the circuit on Monday 15th April for the likes of the championship, ITV and Kwik Fit. 

Prior to the Season Launch, official testing for the ‘Class of 2024’ will begin at Brands Hatch on April 3 before the UK’s premier motorsport series move on to Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on April 10. 

The 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign begins around Donington Park’s National layout on April 27/28.

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship organisers TOCA have today (December 15th) announced the confirmed TOCA BTCC Licence holders for the 2024 season. 

Following yesterday’s entry approval deadline – which had been originally extended by two weeks – the UK’s premier motorsport series is poised to stage an entry of 27 cars for the forthcoming campaign.

Teams will announce full details regarding their respective entries (drivers, team names and sponsors) over the coming weeks and months, prior to the release of the final entry list.

Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive, said: “Given the background of potentially having up to six entries affected within just the last three weeks, the quantity and quality of our 2024 entry further underlines the phenomenal strength and resilience of the BTCC.”

2024 TOCA BTCC License Allocation

Alliance Racing – 4

EXCELR8 Motorsport – 4

West Surrey Racing – 4

Speedworks Motorsport – 4

Power Maxed Racing – 3

One Motorsport – 3

Restart Racing – 2

Aiden Moffat Racing – 2

CBM Racing – 1

The 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign is scheduled to commence on April 27/28 around Donington Park’s National circuit. 

BARC (TOCA) Limited – more widely known as ‘TOCA’ – is the rights holder to the British Touring Car Championship (‘BTCC’).

In May 2020, TOCA entered into an agreement with Motorsport Gaming US LLC – an entity more widely known as ‘Motorsport Games’.

That agreement exclusively licensed Motorsport Games to produce interactive video gaming products relating to the British Touring Car Championship.

It is with regret that TOCA now advise that it has been forced to terminate that agreement forthwith, due to ongoing fundamental breaches of the agreement by Motorsport Games. Having been given sufficient latitude to rectify those contractual breaches, unfortunately Motorsport Games has failed to do so.

In order to protect the reputation and intellectual property of the BTCC, including those of its participants and partners, TOCA had been left with no option but to terminate the agreement and immediately withdraw all licensed BTCC rights that were provided to Motorsport Games under that agreement.

TOCA is aware that this news will come as a huge disappointment to our hundreds of thousands of fans, many of whom were eagerly anticipating the release of a new BTCC game… and we very much share that frustration, due to Motorsport Games being unable to fulfil its contractual commitments.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship has announced that all cars will receive double the power via its hybrid-turbo boost system from next season onwards. 

Becoming the first touring car series in the world to introduce hybrid power back in 2022, the BTCC has meticulously evolved its deployment and have now decided to continue its development with a further focus on overall performance.

Known as the Hybrid Energy Management System (HEM), drivers have had the ability to deploy the hybrid-turbo for a dedicated amount of time per lap in qualifying and for a number of laps in races – all of which is dependent on their championship position and race finishing position on race day.

From 2024, drivers will have double the amount of power output, with increased power levels coming via a combination of both hybrid and turbo boost. The final figure being double of that available during the 2023 season.

As has been the case since its inception, drivers will control where and how much they choose to deploy the hybrid-turbo – via a button on the steering well – provided they have reached the minimum required parameters.

“With the hybrid system now proven to be extremely reliable, the time is right to further develop its overall performance,” said Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive. 

“As we said last week with the introduction of ‘Quick Six’ qualifying, we are always looking to bring further energy to the championship and this latest development quite literally does just that.”

The 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season is set to begin at Donington Park on April 27/28.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship has announced an exciting change to its qualifying format, which will be in operation at all ten race weekends of the 2024 season and beyond. 

Similar to what is currently being used in IndyCar, the format – titled the ‘Quick Six’ – will see qualifying feature three short segments and it’s expected to promote plenty of excitement for fans and competitors alike. 

Following Free Practice 2, cars will be divided into two groups. Those that finished FP2 in odd position numbers (one, three, five and so on…) go into one group and those that finished FP2 in even position numbers (two, four, six and so on…) go into the other group.

Qualifying 1

• Each of those two groups contest a separate ten-minute session
• The fastest six cars from each group advance to Q2 ‘Top 12’

Qualifying 2 

• The ‘Top 12’ cars qualify together in a ten-minute session
• The fastest six cars advance to the Q3 ‘Quick Six’ final qualifying

Qualifying 3 

• The ‘Quick Six’ qualify in a ten-minute session to set the top six grid positions

Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive, said: “We’re always looking to bring further energy to the championship, but it’s also important that the competitive integrity remains. 

“So, I believe our new ‘Quick Six’ format will bring a heightened blend of competitiveness and intensity to BTCC qualifying. As well, it helps the drivers by reducing the amount of cars on track during all three of the qualifying segments.

“I’ve long admired the way IndyCar use this system for its road courses – it’s ideal for the BTCC and in keeping with our policy of providing short, sharp and intense action. The pressure will certainly be on the teams and drivers, more than ever before, to quickly ‘nail’ their qualifying laps in each short segment.”

Ash Sutton has shared his delight at after being crowned champion of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for a record-equalling fourth time at Brands Hatch this past weekend (October 7/8).

The NAPA Racing UK driver entered the final meeting of the season holding a commanding 45-point lead and victory in the opening encounter around the iconic Grand Prix circuit was enough for him to clinch the coveted crown.

With the title secured, the 29-year-old then went on to win the penultimate race of the season before concluding a quite incredible campaign with a points-paying finish in the finale.

Adding to the titles that he won back in 2017, 2020 and 2021, Sutton’s latest championship triumph has now seen him draw level with Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington on the all-time winners list – cementing him as one of the greatest ever touring car drivers.

In addition to tying the all-time record, the Ford Focus ST driver has also become the first driver in the series’ illustrious history to lift the biggest prize in UK motorsport in both front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive machinery.

Ashley’s path to a fourth championship has been nothing short of sensational with six pole positions, 12 wins and a further eight podium finishes being tallied over the course of the ten round schedule.

Along the way, the BRDC Member smashed a number of records including scoring the most wins, podiums, pole positions, fastest laps and laps led in a single season in the modern era. He also became the first driver since Alain Menu in 1997 to win four consecutive races in a season.

“It feels pretty surreal to be standing here as a four-time champion,” Sutton said. “At the moment the magnitude of what we’ve achieved hasn’t fully sunk in but I’m sure over the next week or so I’ll start to take stock of what this all means – it’s just phenomenal!

“For me personally, one of the biggest things I wanted to do was to become the first person to win the title in both front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive cars. To have done that is really something.

“This year is going to be hard to beat. My little boy Sonny arrived just before the season started and it’s been the best thing that has ever happened to me. Becoming a Dad changed my approach and I’ve just been focused on making both him and my fiancé Ellie as proud as possible.

“To have claimed the records that we have this season is a real testament to everyone at NAPA Racing UK and Alliance Racing. So much development has gone into the Ford Focus for this year; we opened every drawer and lifted out every tool to improve the whole package.

“It goes without saying that my engineer Tony (Carrozza) has been instrumental in all of this too. He’s really helped me to dial into the car and without him by my side this would have been hard to do as he is something special.

“I’ve made no secret that I want to go down in the history books as the one of the best-ever touring car drivers so the aim is clear moving forward; to come back and try to win more races and titles. We’ll enjoy this and then it’ll be about resetting and coming back in 2024!”

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship brought the curtain down on its 2023 season in style at Brands Hatch this past weekend (October 7/8) as NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton was crowned champion for a record-equalling fourth time. 

On what proved to be a momentous final day of the season around the Grand Prix circuit, the Ford Focus ST driver held his nerve in front of a capacity crowd to cement his place as one of the greatest ever drivers in the UK’s premier motorsport series. 

Arriving at the Kent venue holding a commanding 45-point lead, Sutton stormed to victory in the opening encounter around the iconic Grand Prix circuit, which was enough for him to clinch the coveted crown.

With the title secured, the 29-year-old then went on to win the penultimate race of the season before concluding a quite incredible campaign with a points-paying finish in the finale.

Sutton’s path to a fourth title has been nothing short of impressive with six pole positions, 12 wins and a further eight podium finishes being tallied over the course of the ten event campaign. 

In addition to now tying Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington for the most BTCC titles ever, Sutton has also become the first driver to win the prestigious accolade in both front and rear-wheel-drive machinery. 

Whilst being unable to stop Sutton from triumphing, outgoing champion Tom Ingram ultimately settled for runners-up laurels whilst Jake Hill, Turkington and Josh Cook completed the top five in the standings.

Elsewhere, NAPA Racing UK and Ford claimed the Teams’ Championship for the second season in-a-row and they were also able to overhaul BMW to wrap up the Manufacturer-Constructor Championship for the first time too.

Cook retained his Independent Drivers’ title in comfortable fashion, and his performances also played a critical role in helping his One Motorsport with Starline Racing squad go back-to-back in the Independent Teams’ category. 

Rounding out this year’s title winners was CarStore Power Maxed Racing’s Andrew Watson who triumphed in the Jack Sears Trophy ahead of his Vauxhall Astra team-mate Mikey Doble.

Sutton’s charge to the coveted crown began on Saturday afternoon as he scooped a sensational sixth pole position of the season. Pacing the opposition by more than two tenths of a second, that success also clinched him the Goodyear Wingfoot Award.

In a season in which he has largely reigned supreme, it was somewhat fitting that Sutton became the youngest ever four-time champion with a superlative lights-to-flag victory in the opening contest.

Blasting away from the front row, the Alliance Racing driver was wheel-perfect throughout the 18-lap bout as he led home his chief championship rival this season, Ingram.

With the championship secured and the pressure off, Sutton then produced a carbon copy performance in race two as he charged to an unprecedented 12th victory of the year – which tied the record set by fellow multiple champion Alain Menu more than two decades ago.

Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Hill then brought the curtain down on the season with victory in a thrilling finale, as he came out on top of a captivating battle for the lead which inclued Honda ace Cook and BMW stablemate Stephen Jelley.

To view the full classification of results from all BTCC sessions at Brands Hatch, as well as the final championship standings, CLICK HERE.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship will return in 2024, with the start of the brand-new season poised to start around Donington Park’s National layout on April 27/28.

Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram will head into the final three races of the 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship in contention to be crowned champion next month following an action-packed weekend (September 23/24) at Silverstone. 

Brands Hatch’s world-famous Grand Prix circuit will once again provide the setting for this year’s closer in less than two weeks’ time with three-time title winner Sutton heading there with a commanding 45-point lead at the top of the standings. 

With 67 points set to be on offer at the famous Kent venue, reigning champion Ingram now remains the only driver in mathematical contention to capture the biggest prize in the UK motorsport. 

The penultimate event of the season at the Home of British Motor Racing saw its fair share of thrills and spills as Sutton, Jake Hill and Colin Turkington shared the spoils on what proved to be a spectacular race day in Northamptonshire. 

Running under the ‘Top Ten Showdown’ format for the final time this season, qualifying on Saturday proved to be ultra-competitive with less than a tenth of second blanketing the top five. 

Following a frenetic opening segment it was anybody’s guess as to who would grab pole position but CarStore Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble duly stepped up the mantel to blast his Vauxhall Astra to the top of the timesheets.

Team BMW’s Turkington came to within 0.012 seconds of Doble’s pole time but the rear-wheel-drive ace had to settle for runners-up laurels whilst championship protagonists Ingram, Hill and Sutton completed the top five.

Doble’s delight sadly turned into despair in race one as a miscommunication by the team led to him completing an additional green flag lap, which relegated him to the rear of the field.

With drizzly conditions throwing a spanner in the works, tyre strategy proved crucial and it was Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Hill that rolled the dice correctly to leave his rivals in his wake as he claimed a commanding victory. 

Blasting into the lead off the line, Hill was in a league of his own out front whilst Dan Rowbottom and Andrew Watson diced for second and third all the way to the chequered flag. 

Further down the order, both Sutton and Ingram found themselves in the thick of the action as they tumbled backwards before pitting for wet tyres. The pair would ultimately go on to finish the race in 22nd and 23rd. 

That result set up two of the finest performances that the BTCC has seen in recent years as Sutton and Ingram carved their way through the order in race two, with NAPA Racing UK’s Sutton clinching a famous tenth win of the season.

As soon as the lights went out the champion duo were on the move and whilst they progressed forward, Hill looked to be cruising to victory out front. That was until a safety car neutralised proceedings. 

On the restart, a mechanical issue appeared to hamper Hill’s pace and he soon began to drop places, which promoted Aron Taylor-Smith into the lead. Holding firm out front for a number of laps, the Vauxhall driver soon had Sutton bearing down on him and the inevitable happened.

Sutton’s move for the lead came on the penultimate lap as he bravely dived down the inside of the Irishman at Woodcote and once clear, he cruised home to notch yet another win whilst Taylor-Smith and Ingram completed the podium. 

Four-time champion Turkington then brought the curtain down on the weekend in style as he scored BMW’s 150th victory in the BTCC. 

Starting fifth, the rear-wheel-drive ace wasted no time in making progress and he soon hauled himself into a lead that he was ultimately never challenged for. Behind, Ingram and Sutton had everyone on the edge of theirs seats again as they clawed their way onto the rostrum.

Turkington’s win ensured that BMW remain on course to secure the Manufacturer-Constructors for an eighth consecutive season whilst NAPA Racing UK are holding firm at the top of the Teams’ Championship.

Josh Cook has provisionally wrapped up the Independent Drivers’ Championship for the second year in succession whilst his One Motorsport with Starline Racing squad have edged closer to retaining their Independent Teams’ crown. 

In the Jack Sears Trophy, Watson now sits on the cusp of clinching the title after enjoying a stellar weekend which saw him extend his lead over the chasing pack.

To view the full classification of results from all BTCC sessions at Silverstone, CLICK HERE.

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship will bring the curtain down on its 2023 season at Brands Hatch on October 7/8.