[BTCC] Round One, Donington Park 23-24 Apr, Races 1,2&3

[crmalcolm]

The 2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is almost here, and when the lights go out at Donington the grid will once again look a bit different to when we last saw the cars racing. They will also sound different too (in the pit lane at least) as the 2022 season sees the field running Hybrid power. This also shakes up the way handicaps are applied, with the amount of hybrid power available being based on results.

At one point of the off-season, it seemed like we would have a capacity 32-car grid. However, 3 TBLs have since been returned, leaving us with a 29-car field. This field looks like:

NAPA Racing UK.
Probably the biggest story of the winter sees the reigning champion move to a new team, car and even drivertrain arrangement. With new title sponsor in the Motorbase camp, Ash Sutton lines up alongside Dan Cammish in a Ford Focus pair.

Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan.
The other half of the Mortorbase garage sees the other Ford Focus pair being driven by Jackson and Osborne. Osborne will be hoping to claim Jack Sears honours this season as he continues his development.

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK.
Having initially planned a 3-car entry, they team is back to two. Rory Butcher heads the team again and is joined for this season by Ricky Collard in a Toyota Corolla pair.

Team BMW.
Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley are retained by WSR to pilot their BMW 330e pair, and Turkington will be hoping to reclaim the #1 in his familiar surroundings.

MB Motorsport powered by ROKiT.
Joining WSR is Jake Hill in a ROKiT branded 330e. Jake will be hoping a switch of team and drivetrain is not too big a change for him to quickly get to the front of the pack.

Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8 TradePriceCars.com
Team Tom-Tom – Ingram is joined by Chilton for 2022 in the first Hyundai i30 pair. Regular challenging for the crown recently, Ingram will be looking to take the next step in his career and claim an outright title. Chilton will be looking to get on the podium more often than recently, making the move back into familiar FWD machinery.

Excelr8 with TradePriceCars.com
Final team name is still uncertain, but the driver pair of Butel and Lloyd is confirmed. Butel will be hoping for Jack Sears honours in his second season with the team, whilst his stablemate Lloyd will be hoping the move from PMR brings more success.

BTC Racing
Cook and Edwards are retained from the 2021 line-up, however a 4th car didn’t materialise. The signing of Plato will be interesting to watch – with Plato in a car that has proven very successful. Cook will be a strong benchmark to compare with as he strives to get his 100th BTCC career win in what will be his final season before retirement. Edwards will be looking to continue her development, with two experienced teammates to learn from as she looks to get into the points.

Laser Tools Racing
Continuing with the Infiniti Q50, Moffat is joined by series debutant Dexter Patterson. With the departure of Sutton and a rookie teammate, the pressure is on Moffat to deliver for his team.

Upton Steel with Team HARD. Racing
Rick Parfitt Jr moves into RWD machinery for his second BTCC season, in the hope that it will see him get results akin to his previous GT performances. Having spent a season learning touring cars, and back in a RWD, he will look to challenge for points on a regular basis.

Autobrite Direct with Team HARD.
Having spent a season developing their Cupra Leóns, HARD. will hope to move further up the grid. Goff remains with the team and is joined by Bobby Thompson for the 2022 campaign.

Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing
The other side of the HARD. garage sees Taylor-Smith continue with the team, and his teammate is still to be announced.

Halfords Racing with Cataclean
At times, there speculation was that the name Neal would be seen on the side of Honda Civic in 2022, however the return of a TBL confirmed that the 2-car entry would not see a change in line-up. Shedden starts his second season after returning to the BTCC, alongside Rowbottom who claimed the Jack Sears title last time out.

Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport
Adam Morgan continues with the team as expected, and following the departure of Chilton, George Gamble is the second rookie on the grid. Seeing WSR as the benchmark, Morgan will hope that he can be looking at other BMWs in his mirror, not ahead of him.

Power Maxed Racing
With Plato departing, and Crees signing for 2022, many will see PMR as having the most disappointing of all the teams this off-season. Continuing with the Astra for 2022, their second driver is still to be confirmed at the time of writing. If a big name does not appear, a lot of pressure seems to be on Crees to deliver for the team.

Being the first meeting, this is the only time that we see all cars running with full hybrid, and so is the clearest indicator of true pace. All of the teams will hope they have fully integrated the hybrid power into their approach and can extract the maximum race pace.

So, to the venue. Donington Park first made an appearance on the BTCC (BSCC) calendar when it reopened in 1977. Winners that day were Bernard Unett, Brian Pepper, Tony Dron and Stuart Graham.
Donington Park was the setting for arguably one of the most significant moments in BTCC history on April 5th 1999 when British Touring Car Championship supremo Alan Gow dangled the carrot of a £250,000 bonus to the first of the series’ privateers to win a race outright during 1999, veteran independent Matt Neal took the bait.



The circuit has undergone a lot of development off-track, but the national circuit used by the BTCC in 2022 is very similar to the layout used in 1977:


2022:



The first time a full field of NGTC cars competed, seven of the nine podium slots were taken by a Honda Civic, with only Plato in an MG and Turkington in his BMW joining the Honda party.
In 2021, FWD seemed to be the drivetrain of choice again – only two podiums for RWD cars meant that FWD ‘dominance’ was back. Of note though, RWD cars set the FL in all three races in 2021.

Qualifying will [probably] be on the ITV Hub at www.itv.com/btcc, with the Sunday coverage on ITV4.
BTCC races start at 11:50, 14:40 and 17:25.

Saturday 23 April
09.10 – 09.25 Qualifying Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship
09.35 – 10.15 Free Practice Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship
10.35 – 10.55 Qualifying F4 British Championship
11.05 – 11.25 Qualifying Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge
11.35 – 12.05 Qualifying The Quaife MINI CHALLENGE
12.15 – 12.55 Free Practice Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship
12.55 – 13.45 Lunch Break
13.45 – 14.15 Qualifying Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
14.25 Race 1 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship 15 mins
15.00 Race 2 F4 British Championship 20 mins
15.35 – 16.05 Qualifying Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship
16.20 Race 3 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge 20 mins
16.55 Race 4 The Quaife MINI CHALLENGE 20 mins
17.30 Race 5 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship 20 mins laps

Sunday 24 April
09.10 Race 6 The Quaife MINI CHALLENGE 20 mins
09.45 Race 7 F4 British Championship 20 mins
10.20 Race 8 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge 20 mins
10.55 Race 9 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain 23 laps
11.35 BTCC Pit Lane Opens
11.50 Race 10 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship 16 laps
12.30 Race 11 Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship 20 mins
12.55 – 13.50 Lunch break
13.10 – 13.40 Race 12 BTCC Pit Lane Walkabout / Autograph Session
13.50 Race 13 The Quaife MINI CHALLENGE 20 mins
14.25 BTCC Pit Lane Opens
14.40 Race 14 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship 16 laps
15.20 Race 15 F4 British Championship 20 mins
15.55 Race 16 Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge 20 mins
16.30 Race 17 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain 23 laps
17.10 BTCC Pit Lane Opens
17.25 Race 18 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship 16 laps


Early weather forecast shows that the weekend forecast is for 8deg temperatures with overnight frosts and a 95% chance of rain at some point.