BTCC BATTLERS GO TOE-TO-TOE FOR THE TITLE
WE LOOK AHEAD TO BRANDS HATCH
The finals day of the British Touring Car Championship is known for twists and turns. There are the traditional extra factors that need to be taken into account by all the leading players – success ballast, option tyres and reversed grids – as well as the usually inclement October weather.
This year, five drivers will head to Brands in with a shout of the crown. Points leader, WSR BMW 330i M Sport racer Colin Turkington, has a 16-point buffer to the Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R of showdown rookie
Dan Cammish. Also in with a serious shout is Turkington’s WSR team-mate Andrew Jordan, just 17 points from the summit. Realistically, it is the top three that have at least one hand on the silverware.
In with an outside chance is Josh
Cook in the BTC Racing Honda
Civic Type R and Tom Ingram in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla.
Since the points allocation was altered for the 2012 season, when the winner was offered 20 points and the top 15 finishers were rewarded, Turkington has been in the title showdown for the past six seasons, every year since he returned to the championship in 2013.
Jordan, who sealed the crown in 2013, has been in the hunt on four occasions. Cammish, on the other hand, is new to the pressure-cooker environment of the shootout. Ingram was part of the showdown last year (and was on the very fringes of it in 2017), while Cook has never been in with a shout before.
The interesting dynamic in this year’s fight is that Jordan and Turkington are battling from within the same team. While that has happened before, with Turkington and Jason Plato going toe-to-toe in 2015 in Team BMR’S VW CCS, it will create even more tension.
It is an aspect that Jordan, whose title came in a Honda Civic six years ago, says he is relishing. “I think it is cool,” says the 30-year-old. “You can feel the tension. I think it is good and it is something new for me. When was the last time Colin had someone from the same team challenging him for the championship? It hasn’t happened for a while. It is good for everyone and it is good for the team, although I am sure it will be tense for the guys on the pitwall.”
There is an extra element for
Jordan too. His long-time backer Pirtek is reversing out of the category at the end of 2019, which means he is likely to be without a BTCC ride in 2020.
The hunger is there, and Jordan knows that the rollercoaster will be in full swing come Brands Hatch this weekend.
“I am going to chuck everything at it, and we have seen that anything can happen in this championship – just look at Knockhill [where both Turkington and Jordan failed to finish a race each],” he says. “Anything can happen. I lost 27 points in the finale the year I won it in 2013. Look how many times it has turned around in the last rounds.”
Turkington knows the situation only too well, and came through one of his most emotional moments at the end of 2018 to claim his third title. The Northern Irishman is gunning for his record-equalling fourth to stand alongside the great Andy Rouse in terms of the crowns won.
But overcoming Jordan will be a tough ask. The two went head-to-head battling for race-three points at Silverstone’s penultimate meeting and very nearly ruined each other’s races fighting for seventh . Turkington knows there could be more of that at Brands Hatch.
“It was a good old ding-dong with Andy at Silverstone in race three,” says Turkington. “He was being very defensive and it was like the last thing he wanted to do was let me through. It was a bit too close for comfort, there was a bit of door-banging and we don’t usually do that, but I am happy with my performance and how I drove.
“I don’t know if it is a help or hindrance being up against someone from the same team when you are going into the showdown. It is every man for himself.
“It is probably easier if you are fighting someone from another team or someone who is not in the same garage because they don’t know what you are doing or what you are thinking. They don’t know what your strategy is. Andy will be privy to all that information, but we are in a positive frame of mind going into that weekend.”
Each driver will assess their own shots at the title, and each will have their own experience of riding the waves of the three races on Sunday. Whoever copes with the tidal onslaught of emotion at Brands Hatch will emerge with the biggest prize in British motorsport.