The
British Touring Car Championship is a
touring car racing series held each year in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland. The Championship was established in 1958 as the
British Saloon Car Championship and has run to various rules over the years – "production cars", then
FIA Group 1 or 2 in the late 1960s and 1970s, and then
Group A in the 1980s, when in 1987, the series was renamed as its current name. (A lower-key
Group N series for production cars ran for most of the 1990s). The championship was initially run with a mix of classes, divided according to engine capacity, racing simultaneously. This often meant that a driver who chose the right class could win the overall championship without any chance of overall race wins, thereby devaluing the title for the spectators – for example, in the 1980s
Chris Hodgetts won two overall titles in a small Toyota Corolla prepared by Hughes Of Beaconsfield, at that time a Mercedes-Benz/Toyota main dealer when most of the race wins were going to much larger cars; and while the
Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s were playing at the front of the field,
Frank Sytner took a title in a Class B
BMW M3 and
John Cleland's first title was won in a small Class C
Vauxhall Astra.
After the domination (and expense) of the Ford Sierra Cosworth in the late 1980s, the BTCC was the first to introduce a 2.0 L formula, in 1990, which later became the template for the
Supertouring class that exploded throughout Europe. The BTCC continued to race with Supertouring until
2000 and has since adopted its own 'BTC Touring' rules. However the S2000 rules will now be observed for the upcoming
2007 season for the overall championship.
Type of cars Main article: 2007 British Touring Car Championship season Current season On the Saturday of a race weekend there are two practice sessions followed by a 30-minute qualifying session which determines the starting order for the first race on the Sunday, the fastest driver lining up in
pole position.
Each race typically consists of between 16 and 25 laps, depending on the length of the circuit. The result of race one determines the grid order for race two (ie the winner starts on pole). For race three, a draw takes place to decide at which place the grid is 'reversed'. This means drivers finishing 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th or 10th in race two could take pole position for race 3 depending on the outcome of the draw. For example, if position 7 is chosen in the draw, the driver finishing in 7th position in race two starts on pole, 6th place starts in second place, 5th place starts in third etc. Drivers finishing in 8th place and beyond would start race three in their finishing order for race two.
Previous to 2006, the driver finishing in 10th place in race two took pole position for race three. This initiated deliberate race 'fixing', whereby some drivers attempted to finished in 10th place during race two to gain pole position in race three. This "reverse grid" rule polarised opinion: some fans enjoy the spectacle afforded by having unlikely drivers on pole position while faster ones have to battle through the field; others feel it detracts from the purity of the racing. For example, some drivers might decide to slow down and let others pass them, thereby improving their own starting position for the "reverse grid" race, which is contrary to the spirit of motor racing – which is to try to come first in every race. This factor contributed the rule change for the
2006 season.
Race format Points are awarded to the top ten drivers in each race as follows: 1st=15pts, 2nd=12pts, 3rd=10pts, 4th=8pts, 5th=6pts, 6th=5pts, 7th=4pts, 8th=3pts, 9th=2pts and 10th=1pt.
An extra point is awarded to the driver who sets the fastest lap of each race.
A bonus point is awarded to each driver who is classified as leading a lap, though no driver may collect more than one point per race no matter how many laps they lead.
A bonus point is also given to the driver who lines up on pole position after the qualifying session.
Previous champions TOCA Alan J. Gow World Touring Car Championship Touring car racing
