2012 British Touring Car Championship season



The 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is a multi-event motor racing championship for production based touring car racing cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of Family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. It is one of the most popular domestic motor racing series in the United Kingdom, with an extensive program of support categories built up around the BTCC centrepiece. It will be the 55th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.

This will be the second season that cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification will be allowed to compete and the third and final season of the phased transition from the Super 2000 specification. The season will see teams compete with car chassis built to either NGTC or S2000 specification. All teams chose to use the NGTC turbocharged engine, even though the S2000 Naturally aspirated engine was still eligible. The phased transition from S2000 to NGTC means that the organising body, TOCA, will maintain a performance equalisation between the two chassis specifications. They will achieve this by monitoring the turbo boost pressures of all cars throughout the season, adjusting the pressure levels after every two rounds to maintain performance parity between all cars. The amount the turbo will be adjusted by will be determined via a mathematical calculation based on race performance. The season will also be the first season without cars built to the BTC Touring specification. A revised championship points system will also be introduced for the 2012 season, in which the top 15 cars will score championship points instead of the top 10 previously.

2011 series champion Matt Neal will defend his title along with Honda, who are defending both the Team and Manufacturers championships. Reigning Independent Drivers champion James Nash will not defend his title after graduating into the World Touring Car Championship. Triple Eight Race Engineering are the reigning Independent Team Champions, but have entered this season with returning manufacturer MG Motor and are thus ineligible to defend the Independent championship.

Season report



 * Round One (Races 1, 2 & 3) — Brands Hatch

Qualifying saw Dave Newsham secure his maiden pole position in the Super 2000 ex-888 Vauxhall Vectra. Defending champion Matt Neal secured the other front row sport in the brand new NGTC Civic. Race one, was won by Rob Collard in his BMW from Neal after Newsham and Jason Plato came together at the top of Paddock Hill Bend. Race two, saw the first win for a car built to NGTC rules. The Honda Yuasa Racing Team's Civic with Neal at the wheel prevailed after a race long battle with Plato's brand new MG6. Plato won an incident filled Race three which saw the race red flagged after a seven car pile up at Druids Bend, caused by oil spilled on the track from the damaged Ford Focus of Mat Jackson.


 * Round Two (Races 4, 5 & 6) — Donington Park

MG scored their first pole position since returning to the BTCC with Jason Plato during qualifying. Mat Jackson lead home the Honda pair in race one, with Gordon Shedden leading Matt Neal and Mat Jackson home in race two, making five different winners from four teams in from the first five races of the season. However, this was not to continue as after a controversial final race of the day, where at the final corner Plato collided with Shedden, sending both cars of the track. This led to Mat Jackson crossing the line first, from Plato, then Shedden. However, Jackson's Focus was excluded from the race after a turbo boost irregularity and Plato was given a two second penalty for his contact with Shedden, promoting Shedden to the race win.




 * Round Three (Races 7, 8 & 9) — Thruxton

Prior to the event, Thorney Motorsport announce that, due to lack of funds for both racing and developmant of their new NGTC Insignia, they were not going to take part at Thruxton. A damp qualifying gave Andrew Jordan and Pirtek their first pole of 2012. But, Saturday success would not convert into Sunday glory as a very wet race one saw Jordan slide into Jason Plato at the first turn, sending Jordan into the wall and out of the race. The race came to an abrupt end, when Liam Griffin crashed his car at turn one, causing a red flag. Mat Jackson therefore took his second win of the season, ahead of Dave Newsham and a recovering Plato. Weather condition had worsened for race two and was therefore started behind the safety car. It was Gordon Shedden who mastered the weather to come through the field to score his third win of the season. By the final race of the day, the condition had significantly improved, but it was still Shedden at the front leading home his team mate for a Honda one-two. All three fastest lap points at Thruxton went to Shedden, showing his speed in the tricky conditions.


 * Round Four (Races 10, 11 & 12) — Oulton Park

In the week leading up to round four, Rob Austin Racing revealed that, former Formula Two driver Will Bratt would make his championship debut in the team's second car. However, Rob Austin would miss the event due to ongoing repairs to his car, after a big crash at Thruxton. A circuit with damp patches made for an exciting qualifying session with several cars drifting and sliding off the track as they went round Cascades. The session belonged to Jason Plato though, setting a time 0.077 seconds faster than rival Matt Neal, making Plato the first repeat pole sitter of the season. Once again, for the second weekend in a row, the pole sitter would not make it past turn one, after Plato's car had a suspension failure on the warm up lap to the grid, causing his MG to be pushed off the grid before the race even begun. That left the door open for Matt Neal to take the race one win after passing the fast starting Rob Collard. The second race of the day, saw Neal's Honda teammate take top honours ahead of Pirtek's Andrew Jordan, with a recovering Plato, who started at the back of the field, finishing third. The final race of the day, saw Neal once again step onto the top step of the podium, making Honda Yuasa Racing the winning team from seven of the last eight races.


 * Round Five (Races 13, 14 & 15) — Croft

In the build up to Croft, Paul O'Neill announced he would make a one-off return to racing in Speedworks Toyota Avensis, substituting for Tony Hughes. The point for pole position went to Matt Neal for the first time this season. Again, as at Oulton Park, Jason Plato was pushed off the grid in an exciting race one which saw Neal recover from a poor start to take his fourth win of the season ahead of eBay Motors BMW of Rob Collard and the second Honda Yuasa Civic of Gordon Shedden. The Honda teammates reversed their positions in race two, with Shedden finishing ahead of Neal. A fantastic drive from Rob Austin, in his NGTC Audi A4, saw him take the last step on the podium. In a reverse of fortune from the first race, Plato took the race three win after some intense on track action. Liam Griffin brought out the safety car, after crashing his Redstone Racing Focus into the wall, causing an engine fire. Andy Neate lead the early part of the race, ahead of his MG teammate Plato. Neate however was unable to fend Plato off and subsequently fell back down the order, giving Plato the race win from Tom Onslow-Cole and Andrew Jordan.

Heading into the mid-season break, Matt Neal leads the drivers’ championship by a single point from his Honda teammate Gordon Shedden, with MG's Jason Plato in third, 29 points behind the leader. Honda Yuasa Racing hold a strong 213 point lead from eBay Motors in the teams championship as well as a 123 point lead from MG in the manufacturers' championship. Pirtek's Andrew Jordan is the leading Independent driver and eBay Motors, the leading Independent team.


 * Round Six (Races 16, 17 & 18) — Snetterton



During the mid-season break leading up to Snetterton, Team HARD. announced that Tony Gilham would step aside to allow American SCCA World Challenge driver Robb Holland to make his series debut with the team. Holland will be the first driver from the USA to compete in the BTCC since Bill Gubelmann in 1975. Following on from this, Thorney Motorsport announced that they would return at Snetterton with Gilham at the wheel, after more extensive development of the Insignia. Liam Griffin pulled out of the meeting due to business commitments linked to the 2012 Summer Olympics, whilst a final surprise was the unveiling of a new NGTC Ford Focus ST, built by Motorbase Performance, to be driven by Mat Jackson.

Drama started almost immediately, when Gordon Shedden's Civic caught fire in the first free practice, causing the Scotsman to set no competitive time in qualifying, which belonged to Frank Wrathall, setting his maiden pole position and a new course record. Race one though saw Jason Plato win after starting second on the grid and taking the lead into the first turn. Wrathall managed to bring his Dynojet Toyota home second. Third place went to Andrew Jordan who narrowly beat Dave Newsham to the line after the two drivers came together several times during the final lap. However, Newsham would later be disqualified after being found underweight. This promoted Matt Neal to fourth, whilst his teammate Shedden removed from last on the grid to seventh. Debutant Holland failed to finish the race after crashing at turn one with Adam Morgan. Race two saw old rivals Plato and Neal once again come together amid frantic action for the win. Plato had lead from the start; however Neal took the lead after sending the MG into a large slide coming through the penultimate corner. At the next turn, Plato returned the favour sending both Neal and himself off the track. This promoted Pirtek's Andrew Jordan to his first win of the season and Gordon Shedden up to second with Plato and Neal finishing third and fourth respectively. The reverse grid race three saw the ex-888 Vectra's of Lea Wood and Dave Newsham lead the early laps in first and second respectively, until lap four, where Newsham took the lead where he stayed till the end, taking his first BTCC win. A career first podium wasn't on the cards though for Wood, after a gearbox failure with only three laps to go. This left Tom Onslow-Cole with second place and Shedden crossing the line in third place ahead of Jason Plato. However, post-race scrutineering found that Shedden's Honda had been over-boosting, thus disqualifying him from the results. This promoted Plato to third, whilst Neal recovered from and early spin, which sent him to the back of the field, to finish eighth.


 * Round Seven (Races 19, 20 & 21) — Knockhill

In the run up to the BTCC's only Scottish round, Paul O'Neill announced he would deputise at Speedworks Motorsport, once again substituting for Tony Hughes. Robb Holland again replaced Tony Gilham at Team HARD., whilst Thorney Motorsport, Rob Austin Racing, AmD Tuning.com and Liam Griffin announced they would not be making the trip north of the border, each citing different reasons. Jason Plato took the pole position after a wet qualifying session, with the eBay Motors BMW of Rob Collard starting alongside. Árón Smith took a career best third place with his Redstone Racing Ford Focus.

Race one saw Rob Collard use his fast starting BMW to take the lead into turn one, with Jason Plato, Árón Smith and Tom Onslow-Cole fighting for second. On the second lap however, both MG KX Momentum Racing cars crashed out in separate incidents. Andy Neate came together with Lea Wood, damaging Neate's suspension, whilst Plato and Árón Smith tangled, sending Plato into the tyre wall. This paved the way for eBay Motors to score their first one-two result since 2009 with Collard and Onslow-Cole taking the top two positions from home favourite Gordon Shedden. Frank Wrathall retired his Toyota Avensis with engine issues and would be unable to take that start of the day's remaining races. Race two again went to Rob Collard, winning ahead of his team mate Tom Onslow-Cole with Gordon Shedden again in third. Matt Neal could only manage eighth place, whilst Plato, after starting form the back, finished 11th. There was drama for Mat Jackson after the exhaust on his new NGTC Ford Focus broke, filling the cabin with exhaust fumes, leading to his retirement and a trip to the track medical centre, with only a couple of laps remaining. The final race of the weekend saw Dave Newsham take a lights to flag win in front of his home crowd. Jeff Smith took his first ever podium, finishing a career best second after holding off a hard charging Matt Neal for most of the race. There was further frustration though for Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden. Plato suffered turbo issues on the formation laps meaning he failed to take the start, whilst Shedden retired early on with front end damage, caused by a trip across the grass, in avoidance of an incident between Árón Smith and Paul O'Neill.


 * Round Eight (Races 22, 23 & 24) — Rockingham

Prior to Rockingham, Team HARD announced that VW Cup driver Howard Fuller would make his BTCC debut, replacing Robb Holland, whilst Welch Motorsport said they would miss Rockingham due to budget issues.

Teams and drivers
All cars will use Next Generation Touring Car 2.0-litre turbocharged direct injection spec engines.

Driver changes

 * Changed teams


 * Dave Newsham will move from Special Tuning Racing to drive for Team ES Racing.


 * After debuting for Triple 8 Race Engineering during 2011, both Árón Smith and Ollie Jackson will contest full seasons in 2012. Jackson will join the AmD Tuning.com team, and Smith will join Motorbase Performance.


 * Andy Neate and Jason Plato will join MG KX Momentum Racing, having left Team Aon and Silverline Chevrolet respectively.


 * Tom Onslow-Cole will move from Team Aon to eBay Motors.


 * Having started the year as a pundit for ITV Sport, Paul O'Neill will make a one-off return to racing with Speedworks Motorsport at Croft.


 * With Robb Holland racing the Honda Civic for Team HARD. at Snetterton, Tony Gilham will drive the second Vauxhall Insignia for Thorney Motorsport.


 * Entering/re-entering BTCC


 * Matt Hamilton will return to the BTCC driving TH Motorsport's NGTC Škoda Octavia vRS.


 * Mark Hazell was going to join the series, driving an Audi A4 for Rob Austin Racing. He failed to participate at the season-opening round at Brands Hatch; giving his car up to team boss Rob Austin as the second A4 was not ready. He later announced that he would not compete in the series due to personal reasons.


 * Rob Hedley will enter the series during the 2012 season, with Thorney Motorsport.


 * Adam Morgan will enter the series after winning a fully paid drive as a result of winning the Ginetta GT Supercup. He later joined Speedworks Motorsport in a second Toyota Avensis.


 * Former FIA Formula Two Championship driver Will Bratt will make his series debut with Rob Austin Racing at Oulton Park.


 * American SCCA World Challenge driver Robb Holland will make his series debut with Team HARD. at Snetterton and Knockhill.


 * Leaving BTCC


 * Tom Chilton and James Nash both left the series to race for Arena Motorsport in the WTCC.


 * Tom Boardman left the series to race for Special Tuning Racing in the WTCC.


 * Alex MacDowall left the series to race for Bamboo Engineering in the WTCC.

Team changes



 * TH Motorsport are due to re-enter the BTCC running a NGTC Škoda Octavia vRS, but due to a lack of budget, the team have yet to take part in the season.


 * The Honda Racing Team will swap to the brand new ninth generation Honda Civic built to full NGTC spec. They are the first Manufacturer backed team to run fully to the Next Generation Touring Car specification.


 * On 20 September 2011, Triple 8 Race Engineering announced that they are going to swap to a new car built to full Next Generation Touring Car spececification for 2012. On 25 January 2012, they announced that they will enter two NGTC MG6 GT cars for Jason Plato and Andy Neate under the MG KX Momentum banner with works support from MG Motor.


 * On 21 September 2011, Pirtek Racing announced that they are going to swap to a new car built to full NGTC spec. On 6 October 2011, the team announced they would run Honda Civics as a satellite team of Team Dynamics.


 * On 18 October 2011, Welch Automotive announced they are expanding their team to 2 cars for the 2012 season.


 * On 5 November 2011, Team ES Racing announced that they will switch to NGTC cars. However, on 21 January 2012 it was announced that they will use ex-Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra with NGTC engines for drivers Chris James and Dave Newsham, with the possibility of a third car running later in the season.


 * On 26 January 2012, Lea Wood announced that he will compete with an ex-Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra with a TOCA NGTC engine.


 * On 1 February 2012, RML announced that they would not enter a team in the 2012 championship, opting instead to focus on the WTCC and the team's championship defences. Team AON also left the series in order to concentrate their efforts in WTCC.


 * Special Tuning Racing also moved to the WTCC, and it has been reported that the team will run a pair of cars in the BTCC.

Race calendar and results
The provisional calendar was announced by the championship organisers on 20 September 2011, with no major changes from 2011.

Championship standings
The 2012 season introduced a revised championship points system in which the top 15 cars will score championship points.


 * No driver may collect more than one "Lead a Lap" point per race no matter how many laps they lead.


 * Race 1 polesitter receives 1 point.

Drivers' Championship
(key)


 * Note: bold signifies pole position (1 point given in first race only, and race 2 and 3 poles are based on race results), italics signifies fastest lap (1 point given all races) and * signifies at least one lap in the lead (1 point given all races).