The battle for the British Touring Car Championship goes down to the wire at Brands Hatch this weekend with WSR and BMW determined to win both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles.
Two WSR drivers are among the six drivers in contention for the title with Jake Hill tied at the top of the points table and Colin Turkington 64 points behind with 67 available.
With BMW within four points of the lead of the Manufacturers’ Championship – which they are aiming to win for a record 10th time – there’s everything to play for on the legendary 2.6-mile Kent circuit.
Jake sits at the top of the standings, level on points with his closest rival but ahead on countback as he has won more races – seven – than anybody else this year aboard his BMW 330e M Sport.
The Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver, who lives near Brands Hatch, scored one of the most impressive of his 19 career wins last year in the season-ending event on the GP loop and was a double podium-finisher in 2022.
He is sure to have superb local support willing him on from the grandstands as he seeks to win WSR’s fifth BTCC Drivers’ crown and his first.
Nobody has won the BTCC title more often than Colin Turkington and the four-time champion has come to the season finale in contention for honours in seven of the eight seasons since he returned to the series with Team BMW in 2017.
All four of his championships were won at Brands Hatch with WSR; the drama of his 2009 success only exceeded by that of 10 years later as he went from ‘down and out’ at the start of Race Two to effectively winning the title on Race Three’s penultimate lap.
The Northern Irishman has won five times this year – a total he has beaten only twice in his BTCC career – and has been one of the series’ star performers since the summer break with two pole positions, two further front-row starts, three wins and six podiums.
He is a three-time winner on the longer Brands Hatch layout including a magnificent victory from 15th on the grid in 2017 that kept the title fight alive into the last race.
Colin’s Team BMW team-mate Adam Morgan has happy memories of the GP loop as it was the scene of his first BTCC race win in 2015.
The Lancashire racer, who has since taken his winning total to 11, will be one to watch as he sets his sights on equalling his best-ever seventh place in the points table; something he can achieve by outscoring his chief rivals five points over the weekend.
HOW TO WATCH
While all races will be broadcast in HD on ITV4 on Sunday from 1030, a world-first agreement means that viewers from around the world will be able to watch the races live on the ITV Sport TikTok channel without restrictions, opening up the series to a live global audience for the first time. Qualifying will be broadcast on the ITV Sport YouTube channel.
NEED TO KNOW
To aid overtaking, drivers can access the series’ standard Hybrid Energy Management System, during qualifying and racing, meaning up to a 60bhp increase against cars not using boost.
Because of their championship positions, Jake and Colin will be allowed to use hybrid boost for one and 11 seconds on each lap of qualifying respectively and for one and six laps of Race One. Boost will be available to Jake once he is doing 135kph and to Colin at 125kph.
Adam can access his boost from 115kph, will be able to use it for 15s per lap in qualifying and for eight laps in Race One. Boost allocations will be re-set based on the Race One finishing order.
The ‘Quick Six’ qualifying format debuted at the opening round and features the field split in half for a 10-minute Q1 session with the fastest six drivers from each group progressing to the next stage.
The remaining 12 cars take part in a 10-minute Q2 with the fastest six progressing to the ‘Quick Six’ Q3, in which the fastest driver will take pole position.
At Brands Hatch the medium-compound Goodyear will be the standard tyre while the soft must also be used during one of Sunday’s three races.
WHAT THEY SAID…
Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, said: “This is it. Everything we’ve been working towards all season boils down to one weekend at my home circuit. Last year I came in behind in the points with nothing to lose by attacking. This time we’re tied on points at the top, so there’s more to lose with that tactic, but we’ll just have to see how the races pan out. I’m confident that the BMW is the right car to get the job done and I know that WSR will leave no stone unturned to try and win the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles. We’ll give it our all and what will be, will be.”
Colin Turkington, Team BMW, said: “We have two main jobs this weekend; to win a record 10th Manufacturers’ crown for BMW and to make sure a WSR driver wins the Drivers’ title. The BMW’s always been a great-handling car and that should play to our advantage this weekend. We’ve had great speed since the summer break and we’ll obviously try and be fast straight out of the box. You learn that in the BTCC, it’s never done until the fat lady sings so as a team we’ll do everything we possibly can to come home with the big trophies.”
Adam Morgan, Team BMW, said: “I can’t believe it’s the finale already. The season has flown by and it doesn’t seem like more than a few weeks since we were down here on the Indy circuit. I’m feeling optimistic that we’ll be able to finish the season well. The BMW’s been fast at every circuit since the summer break and Brands Hatch is a real handling track, which should help us get the very best out of the car. The forecast says qualifying will be dry but that we might get a bit of rain on race day, so that could turn everything on its head, but ultimately we’ll do everything we can to make sure BMW and WSR end the season as champions.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “This isn’t our first title-decider and over the past 40-plus years we’ve been through every scenario and can use that experience to help us through what I’m sure will be a rollercoaster of a weekend – this is the BTCC, remember. Jake’s had a fantastic season and is, points-wise, our best-placed title contender, but having three fast drivers and cars near the front of the pack should help us quite a lot as we target the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships for BMW and all of our partners. We’ve won 16 BTCC titles, many of which have come on finals day, and lost a few as well. One thing we’ve learnt is to never, ever, give up – we saw in 2019 in particular how important that is – and that’s a philosophy we’ll take into the weekend.”
