[BTCC/STCC/TCR etc.] 2023

[DoubleFart]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Anti-climax in the BTCC today.

[erwin greven]

Sutton crowned BTCC champion as Turkington retires

Team BMR Subaru driver Ash Sutton has been crowned BTCC champion after title rival Colin Turkington was forced to retire from the final race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

After winning race two, Turkington began the finale six points behind Sutton, slashing the 24-point margin that had split the pair following the opening race of the day.

The WSR BMW driver started 10th on the reversed grid, with Sutton two places behind, and made a strong getaway to move up to sixth place by the end of the first lap.

He grabbed another place at Jack Goff's expense into Paddock Hill on lap two, and was set to gain further ground as Tom Ingram bumped Mat Jackson off-road at Graham Hill Bend.

However, as Jackson rejoined the track, his Ford clipped the right-rear corner of Turkington's BMW, giving the Northern Irishman terminal suspension damage.

"It's broken the rear upright," Turkington told ITV Sport. "Nothing you can do in that situation. Mat was coming back onto the track, how he didn't see me... one of those things, just unlucky.

"Gutted for the guys because we had good pace, it's just so gutting to retire. That's touring cars, some days it goes your way, some days it doesn't. Really disappointed. We just needed a bit of luck that we didn't get.

"Fair play to Ash, he's driven well all season, congrats to him and the Subaru guys, they've been great competitors. Just wish it was me on the top step, but not this time."

https://www.motorsport.com/btcc/news/su ... es-960266/

[PTRACER]

I watched the Knockhill BTCC races on catchup (haven't seen BTCC for years). It was odd to see a chap called Mike Epps racing down the back of the field. He's friends with a girl I got to 'know' pretty well...if you catch my meaning.

He's done well though, last time I saw his Facebook, he was racing in some insignificant formula.

[DoubleFart]

What was going on at the DTM last week - I saw Super GT cars doing demo laps. Have we finally got a date for the rules merging between the two series?

[Michkov]

What was going on at the DTM last week - I saw Super GT cars doing demo laps. Have we finally got a date for the rules merging between the two series?

No concrete date has been announced but from what I've heard the series rules makers have begun talks again. I wouldn't call it yet but it looks like the rule merger that has been hanging in the air for years now is going to go ahead for 2019. Thanks to Mercedes pulling the plug, DTM doesn't look so healthy anymore. My guess is that is where the renewed interest comes from.

SGTs have been under the DTM times by a good margin on demo laps. Lets hope DTM gets upgraded to that level and not the other way round, that is really my only worry in this whole merger.

Finally DTM is sending some cars to return the favour to Motegi for the SGT finale.

[DoubleFart]

Thanks. Hopefully they'll increase the speed of the DTM cars, it would be a shame to make a series go backwards.

[DoubleFart]

Kals or Ian, any chance of a post on the Autosport Premium about Dan Cammish in and Mat Jackson leaving BTCC?

[kals]

Kals or Ian, any chance of a post on the Autosport Premium about Dan Cammish in and Mat Jackson leaving BTCC?

How aborted Honda dream forced Jackson's BTCC exit

As a rule, the signing of one driver by one team and the departure of another driver from a different squad probably aren't linked. Two British Touring Car Championship announcements last week certainly were

By Matt James Published on Thursday February 22nd 2018

On Thursday morning last week, the bosses of Team Dynamics put out a press release announcing that Porsche dominator Dan Cammish had been signed as Gordon Shedden's replacement in the factory-backed Honda Civic Type R squad in the British Touring Car Championship for the 2018 season.

Less than 24 hours later came a brief statement from the bosses of BTCC team Motorbase Performance, describing that the Kent squad and its stalwart driver Mat Jackson had "parted company".

That was quite a surprise, because 31-time winner Jackson had been paraded at Autosport International in the middle of January as a leading light of the Motorbase attack, with its restyled Ford Focus RS machines, alongside Tom Chilton. The team had also recently been bolstered by the arrival of former championship runner-up Sam Tordoff.

Are the announcements from Team Dynamics and Motorbase linked? Of course they are - although neither party is likely to admit it in an open forum.

Ever since Shedden's decision to leave the BTCC and head off to the revamped World Touring Car Cup this year - a move he finally completed last week by joining the WRT Audi attack - Team Dynamics has been on the prowl for a suitable replacement.

Dynamics was in a tricky position here. Co-owner, driver and three-time champion Matt Neal had done the magnanimous thing by not holding Shedden to his commitments with the squad, and instead let his friend go chase a golden opportunity. But then that left a Scotsman-sized hole in the Honda line up in the UK.

Neal said at the time the team was desperate to get a driver who could hit the ground running, a racer it could "plug in" to what will be a newly built Civic for this season and help the team to wins straight away.

When anyone puts that caveat in their demands for a new driver, the options become narrowed quite considerably.

Despite that, Neal was bombarded by candidates, all of whom fancied what is one of the plum drives on the grid. Shedden had taken three titles with the team and the car has been among the best engineered machines on the grid for nearly a decade. Who wouldn't want to take this golden opportunity?

Now for the sticky bit that ultimately led to the situation that unfolded last week: alongside the avalanche of enquiries that Team Dynamics fielded, there was contact between Neal and Jackson in the aftermath of Shedden's decision to leave.

It is unclear who instigated it, but they did talk about Jackson joining the Honda factory team as Neal's team-mate.

Take into account that Jackson had already agreed a race deal - whether signed or not - with Motorbase, and there was some treading on eggshells to be done.

However, when Motorbase Performance boss David Bartrum was informed, he was furious. He wanted to protect his team, his commercial interests and the line-up he thought he had already nailed down. Things quickly got very heated indeed.

Jackson was always going to be near the top of anyone's list as a BTCC driver. During his 11 years in the championship, he has been a consistent frontrunner. He hates the statistic, but he is the driver in the category who has won the most races without claiming a drivers' title.

He has been around the BTCC block, and helped Motorbase turn itself from a customer team into a car builder in its own right. He has been at the forefront of all its new projects with the Ford Focus, and that has given him a good instinct for developing a car.

However, allied to that, he has never brought the biggest of budgets with him for a drive. There are often drivers out there with deeper pockets, but Motorbase was loyal to his abilities and retained his services for the longer term.

Whatever the background to the deal, an agreement could not be reached between Jackson and Honda, which left Dynamics to secure the services of two-time Porsche Carrera Cup GB title winner Cammish. He is a driver with a huge amount of potential and one who has the ability to step up to the next level in the British Touring Car Championship in terms of his profile.

For Motorbase, there was still a big hurdle to get over: the unsettled driver Jackson. The dust had settled, and surely things would return to normal?

Bartrum says that he wanted to keep Jackson and there was some to-ing and fro-ing. However, the relationship had broken down to such a degree that it all fell apart late last week. The bridges had been burnt and it seems as if there was no way to rebuild them, no matter what the desire from either party.

Whoever was in the right and wrong inevitably depends on who you talk to. That will probably always be the case, and it has left a considerable amount of bad feeling behind in its wake.

What it has also left in its wake is a conundrum of mixed emotions for the fans too.

There is the excitement of seeing Cammish finally flourish on a high-profile platform, but the series will be without Jackson, who has been one of its strongest performers over the last 11 seasons.

It also means Bartrum has a prime drive on the grid to offer in one of his redeveloped Ford Focus cars to the right driver and that could also lead to some exciting news in the future. Expect this to be sorted out very rapidly. This story isn't quite finished yet.

Shedden's depature from the British Touring Car Championship paddock was likely to create a number of ripples, but the water is still unsettled more than a month later.

[DoubleFart]

Thanks, much appreciated. Interesting to see how Cammish gets on, as he has dominated series before but I haven't ever worked out if that's been good or not.

[theracer120]

BTCC 2018 starts in an hour, hopefully I can find a stream to watch the first race.

[Everso Biggyballies]

BTCC 2018 starts in an hour, hopefully I can find a stream to watch the first race.

Any luck? I couldn't find anything.

[theracer120]

This is where I get mine from, someone posted one here (make sure you have an adblocker).

https://www.reddit.com/r/motorsportsstr ... atch_indy/

Hopefully a better one now shows up.

[theracer120]

@Everso Biggyballies Someone just posted a link to a Google Chrome extension which allows you to watch the race on the ITV website (it's on ITV4). It seems to be working for me.

[Everso Biggyballies]

@Everso Biggyballies Someone just posted a link to a Google Chrome extension which allows you to watch the race on the ITV website (it's on ITV4). It seems to be working for me.

@theracer120 I saw that and tried it but cant get it to work, but tbh I didnt try too hard. It just sent me to ITV4 to log in. Now I know it does work I will give it another go. Thanks for the info.

[theracer120]

Yeah I was able to create an account on there no problem, I just had to find a UK postcode.

[theracer120]

Naturally it's raining.