Touring Car Trophy

Anewtouringcartrophycontestforsaloonsin2019isattractingattention.by Mattjames

For a country with such a strong heritage in touring car racing, the headline British Touring Car Championship is naturally firmly in the spotlight. As it goes from strength to strength, the pathway for drivers aspiring to the category is not quite so well defined.

There are the categories on the BTCC support bill, such as the Renault UK Clio Cup, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, and there is also the JCW Mini Challenge and the VW Racing Cup on the F3/GT package.

Drivers have graduated to the BTCC from each of these classes with varying degrees of success, but the leap up to a 330bhp plus top flight tin-top is still a big jump.

There have been moves to bridge this gap. There was an aborted scheme to start a series for older-spec British Touring Car Championship machines in 2015, which was tabled by several team owners in the category. However, despite initial interest, that competition never got off the ground.

But now there is another plan which has gathered some momentum. The Touring Car Trophy has been devised for 2019 and it aims to collect together older BTCC cars, two-litre turbocharged machines and SEAT Leon Supercopa 2 cars. The Motorsport Vision Racing-run series has revealed a five-meeting calendar which kicks off at Donington Park in April.

The series is the brainchild of Stewart Lines, himself a former BTCC racer. Lines has a successful background in operating race categories through his involvement in the VAG Trophy and with the VW Racing Cup. He has previously raced in the Mini Challenge and the Renault UK Clio Cup, as well as the VW contests.

“I have been through the ranks and I have made it to the BTCC level, but the jump to the BTCC is just something else,” says Lines. “In lower level formulas, you have a small group of guys who are on the pace, and then everyone else. In the BTCC, everyone is competitive and there is nowhere to hide. The commitment you need as a driver is matched by the financial commitment you should make to stay competitive in that arena.

“There is no real stepping stone. VWS and Renault Clios aren’t as close to the BTCC pace as they should be to give you a leg-up, and there needed to be a step in between. We hope this will be provided by the Touring Car Trophy.”

The expected budget for the category is in the region of £50,000, and Lines believes he already has seven people committed to take part in the series in 2019. Among them is Henry Neal, who will be run by his dad Matt’s BTCC squad Team Dynamics in a Honda Civic Type R ( see sidebar).

Team Dynamics team manager James Rodgers says: “The Touring Car Trophy is a fantastic series that has been created by Stewart, providing a perfect stepping stone for young drivers who don’t have the budget to extend into the BTCC but want to move on from junior formulae. It also allows for people who have invested in and have mothballed touring cars to get them back on track and race head-to-head with old and new technology, it has the potential to make for some awesome racing.”

Britcar racer Alex Day has also confirmed that he will take part in the series in an ex-rob Austin Audi A4, christened Sherman, which will be run by HMS Racing. HMS is a racewinning team in the BTCC and is taking a sabbatical from the topflight with its modern Alfa Romeo Giulietta, but it has the potential to run other cars in the TCT, with its BTCC Toyota Avensis available.

HMS boss Simon Belcher says: “TCT is a great stepping stone to the BTCC, and at a fraction of the cost. It’s fantastic to have Alex on board in Sherman and we look forward to working with him. Alongside the Audi, we’re also looking at the possibility of offering our Avensis, in full current RML specification, if we can find a suitable driver.

“Although we switched to the Alfa Romeo in the BTCC in 2018, our Toyota is one of the newest BTCC cars around having been built new in 2016. It offers a great opportunity for a driver to compete in the latest specification BTCC car, but at a significantly reduced budget in TCT.”

Budget is one of the key selling points for the TCT. Lines adds: “There is nothing like seat-time in the British Touring Car Championship, and it is hard – and expensive – to get. Testing is restricted in the BTCC and the minimum requirement for drivers to join is 200 miles in a car. That’s nowhere near enough.

“There are several drivers who are in the position to move up, but they just will not get the experience or mileage to do the job they want to do and that can ruin careers. The TCT platform offers this. I think, if someone drops out of the top-flight BTCC halfway through 2019, whoever is running at the front of the TCT will be in prime spot to graduate.”

As well as HMS and Team Dynamics, other BTCC teams are keen to get involved. Aiden Moffat Racing has kit that is eligible for the new division.

Moffat, a three-time race winner in the BTCC, says: “We have recently acquired the two ex-support Our Paras Infiniti Q50 machines and we would certainly look at the TCT. It would be a perfect fit for the cars.”

Team Hard boss Tony Gilham has Toyota Avensis machines that would fit the series too, and he might even consider driving himself. “Well, I am 40 years old in 2019 so I need to do something special,” he says. “But we have the kit here and this is a category where drivers can move up and learn about the BTCC. We are looking at it closely. What a great stepping stone.”

Lines says that the first season will be the initial steps. The cars will be equalised through a Balance of Performance assessment across the whole grid, which is something that has been a hit in the VW Racing Cup.

“We are starting at a manageable level with five meetings and the competition should be close,” says Lines. “We will look ahead if it is a success, we would look to go on something like the F3/GT package – that is the kind of place that we need to be. We will have a live stream of the races this year, but we want to grow.”

If the interest turns into solid entries, then the seeds will be sown for a competition that could fill a void in the national racing structure. ■