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According to Autosport, Andy Neate (who had that horrific crash at the Britcar 24 hours race last year that left him in a coma) will race a third Team RAC BMW in next year's championship (funding-pending)

I thought that crash ended his career.

If all of the drivers in your list race next year kart99, we have 35 drivers

So did I. He seems to be fit enough to return, although he is still struggling with his neck.

Which is too many. The maximum entry is 32.

And the most astonishing rumour is that Fabrizio Giovanardi may remain in the series next year at Team AON alongside Tom Chilton.

"Well, this was going to be a terrible year – we were in the midst of the worst recession we will probably ever witness, things were looking really bleak and we would struggle for competitor and spectator numbers. Or so the experts said. But, instead, look at what happened. Our TV broadcast hours reached new highs, our TV audience figures went up, our trackside spectator figures set new records and our grid numbers were up.

And, just as importantly, the excitement level in the championship was up. It was a fantastic title-fight that culminated in that amazing last round in front of a record crowd. In short, we had a sensational year. But at the same time we all know it was also a bloody hard year. In these challenging economic times, teams and drivers had to do extraordinary things in order to pull their budgets together and keep their cars on the grid.

And for that I sincerely thank you because through it all you demonstrated your very deep commitment to this championship. Yes the economy will still challenge us all for a bit longer, but as we demonstrated this year the BTCC is such a strong and iconic championship that it can weather these storms a lot better than most.

My great thanks go to our good friends at HiQ and Dunlop – not just for their valued sponsorship, but also for their great tyres and their incredibly enthusiastic and unwavering support for the championship. Also to our associate partners Holiday Inns as well Dennis Publishing, Fujifilm, Dread and Porsche.

To ITV, all the crew from ITV Sport and to Steve Rider, Louise Goodman, Ben Edwards and Tim Harvey for making our TV coverage the envy of all the others. This year ITV broadcasted a massive 116 hours of action in the UK – that is a truly phenomenal and unprecedented amount of coverage.

To Porsche, Renault and Ginetta for providing some fantastic racing and for being an important part of our success. My personal congratulations go to all the championship winners from those series.

To Dennis Carter and his team at the BARC (British Automobile Racing Club) for running the superb race meetings for us and also to my own TOCA team whose effort, expertise and enthusiasm make my job look easy.

But most of all my thanks go out to every one of our competitors for contributing to one of the most enthralling, exciting seasons ever...and that even includes David Pinkney."