When F1 is on a break, like it is now between the Malaysian and Chinese Grand Prix's, there are many things to fuel your Motorsport needs, with the British Touring Car Championship being one of them.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
The BTCC, currently broadcast live on ITV4 (UK only), is one of Britain's finest Motorsport series. There have been some amazing battles and the tin-top racing creates drama at almost every corner. When F1 is not on our TV screens, it is certainly one of the best alternatives to F1.
The opening round of the 2012 season took place at Brand Hatch on the 1st of April. The year before, Matt Neal had taken another championship to add to his tally. He was closely followed by his team mate Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato. 2012 has seen many changes, for example every car now has the NGTC (Next Generation Touring Car) engine, with around half of the field being in full NGTC spec, which they want the whole field to be by next year. Some other changes are the dropping of Chevrolet’s involvement and the Team Aon Ford’s, who have moved to the World Touring Car Championship and nabbed Tom Chilton and James Nash from the BTCC field. Despite this we see Jason Plato moving from Chevrolet to the new MG, while there are new drivers throughout the field. The Pirtek team have new Honda Civic’s while many teams have adopted the Vauxhall Vectra or Toyota Avensis.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
The opening round of racing brought the drama we are used to seeing in the BTCC. With the ability for rubbing, nudging and pushing the BTCC always puts on a show. I have been to a fair few BTCC races and can only say that the spectacle is great, with tickets also not being very expensive. The first race saw Rob Collard win in the EBay Motors BMW ahead of Matt Neal, Tom Onslow-Cole and Jason Plato. Pole sitter Newsham in his Vauxhall Vectra was cruelly tapped out of the race on the run to Paddock after an over ambitious move by Plato to pass both Newsham and Neal. There was a big crash on the first lap after Adam Morgan crashed his brand new Toyota Avensis on his debut. There were 2 safety cars, for the 2 above incidents, which halted Collard’s charge to pull away but he managed to stay ahead of Neal.
The 2nd race saw Neal win in his NGTC Honda Civic, the first for the car, after yet another dramatic race. Pole sitter Collard was chased down in the early laps by Neal and Plato before they both got by. There was another safety car after Nick Foster rolled his BMW at the exit of Druids. At the restart Plato took the lead with a wheel rubbing pass, before Neal subsequently passed him again. After that Plato seemed to be struggling with damage, dropping back and being passed by Andrew Jordan. So Neal took his maiden 2012 victory, while Jordan and Plato gave their cars a podium finish. Matt Jackson, Rob Austin in his Audi A4 and pole sitter Collard rounded out the top 10. The new points system, from 1-15 now, meant that just 2 finishers did not score.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
The last race of the day was an interesting one. It was eventually won by Jason Plato after a brief Red Flag. This red flag arrived after Matt Jackson’s Ford Focus had an engine failure and dropped fluid at Druids. Unaware, drivers behind the duelling Jordan and Plato spun on the oil with lack of grip. A total of 7 cars landed in the gravel trap, including Onslow-Cole and Daniel Welch. Other driver’s like Frank Wrathall and Andy Neate narrowly avoided retiring too. After the restart Collard led from Austin and Jordan. Plato moved up to 4th after re-passing Dave Newsham and then overtook Austin and Collard, after Jordan had done the same. As the laps moved on Plato closed in on Andre Jordan and overtook the Honda Civic driver at Clearways, a typical Jason Plato move. He went on to win from Jordan, Newsham, Jeff Smith, Austin, Collard and Matt Neal who had a moment at turn 1, falling to the back of the field. His team mate Shedden retired with Electrical problems, something that had hampered him all weekend.
Overall I would say the 2012 season is shaping up to be very dramatic and exciting, both in the BTCC and the support races. It is a must watch if there is no F1 on, what do you think of the series? Comment your thoughts below.
1 comment:
It is very entertaining to watch BTCC and is a good alternative to the British audience. However, I tend to find racing such as the GT1 World Championship really engaging. Of course this is a higher strand of competitive racing but because competition is so close, it makes the hairs on the back of your head stand up - similar to Formula 1. Other big events such as the 24H Le mans and the 24H Nurburing also provides some great entertainment, in addition to that Eurosport has made a sterling effort to include all coverage for these big events. Racing also varies between track, off road (sand dunes, gravel, snow)and also water. So there are a massive variety of motorsports held all around the world, some of which appeal to different groups of people. Therefore meaning "BTCC, the best alternative to F1" is both true and false depending on media coverage, location and down to pure taste.
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