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The 2010 British Touring Car Championship has finally arrived, and the opening rounds of this year's championship will take place at the super-fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire:


Between now and the season finale at Brands Hatch in October, the BTCC will have 30 races across nine venues providing some fantastic racing. This is the 2010 calendar:

Rounds 01,02,03  Thruxton            4th April
Rounds 04,05,06  Rockingham          25th April
Rounds 07,08,09  Brands Hatch (GP)   2nd May
Rounds 10,11,12  Oulton Park         6th June
Rounds 13,14,15  Croft               20th June
Rounds 16,17,18  Snetterton          8th August
Rounds 19,20,21  Silverstone         22nd August
Rounds 22,23,24  Knockhill           5th September
Rounds 25,26,27  Donington Park      19th September
Rounds 28,29,30  Brands Hatch (Indy) 10th October

Lots of changes have occurred in the off-season. Vauxhall ended their long involvement in the BTCC at the end of 2009, but two manufacturers have joined the series, with Honda returning and Chevrolet entering for the first time. 2009 champion Colin Turkington has been unable to come up with enough funding to try and retain his title, so 2010 will see a new champion crowned. Jason Plato in the works Chevrolet must be considered the strong favourite for this year, his Lacetti was by far the quickest car towards the end of last season with Jason only narrowly missing out on the title. This year he and Racing Silverline have stepped up to the new Cruze and with a 19-year-old rookie teammate in Alex MacDowall, Plato can expect the number 1 treatment in the team. Other drivers and teams with a chance including the other manufacturer drivers of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden at Honda and 2008 runner-up Mat Jackson who has joined the Airwaves team. Elsewhere Rob Collard has returned to WSR and the two Ford Focuses of Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole could have some good outings particularly on the faster circuits with their LPG powered car.

Here are the current runners and riders:

Silverline Chevrolet: Jason Plato & Alex MacDowall


Honda Racing: Matt Neal & Gordon Shedden


West Surrey Racing: Rob Collard & Andy Neate


Airwaves BMW: Mat Jackson & Steven Kane


Team Aon: Tom Chilton & Tom Onslow-Cole


Sunshine.co.uk with Techspeed Motorsport: Paul O'Neill & John George


Forster Motorsport: Arthur Forster & Martin Depper


Triple Eight Race Engineering: Phil Glew & Fabrizio Giovanardi


Pinkney Motorsport: David Pinkney


Pirtek Motorsport: Andrew Jordan


Special Tuning UK: Tom Boardman


TH Motorsport: Matt Hamilton


Boulevard Team Racing: Martin Johnson


Central Group Racing: Lea Wood


AmD Milltek Racing.com: Shaun Hollamby



Sunday timetable
10.45 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup
11.30 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship
12.10 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
12.50 Elf Renault Clio Cup with Michelin
13.30 Ginetta Junior Championship
14.10 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship
15.05 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship
15.45 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup
16.25 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
17.15 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship

TV coverage
ITV4 @ 1100-1800, Sunday 4 April (Live BTCC & Supports)
ITV4 @ 1330-1500, Tuesday 6 April (BTCC highlights)
ITV1 @ 0205-0320, Friday 9 April (BTCC highlights)
ITV4 @ 0925-1100, Saturday 10 April (BTCC highlights)

Weather forecast
Saturday: Rain, Temperature 9°C, chance of rain 60%
Sunday: Cloudy, Temperature 10°C, chance of rain 20%
http://www.uk.weather.com

Can't wait

Does Men and Motors even exist any more?

They've taken it off Virgin it seems, to make way for ITVHD, so no more random Out of Control shows and repeats of BTCC for me.

Still, on topic: Yay, my favourite series at one of my favourite tracks

BTCC is always great at Thruxton, can't wait to enjoy every single minute of it!

Predictions: At least 2 race victories for Plato...sadly I can see him having a Yvan Muller year

TRUXTON FEVER

It's going to be a fun day at Club chicane for me. The Porsches should be pretty good now that there are loads of them .

Don't forget about the pick em's competition.

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Check out the Touring Car Driver Database! (if you'd be so kind)
Motorsport playlists on YouTube

Well I included Men & Motors coverage in the opening post because of this in the BTCC press release regarding 2010 coverage:



But it now appears, as you say, that ITV1 HD is replacing Men & Motors, so I'll remove it from the opening post.

really looking forward to this season now that there are less Manufacturers involved throwing millions at their own teams, OK there's still Chevvy and (tenuously) Honda but for me it's looking more like a national championship now with hard working privateer teams...
Personally I'll be cheering on the Sunshine Techspeed team..
A couple of people I know are involved there and it's good to see them on the grid..
Might even be at Thruxton myself.. Spending time in Wiltshire and Oxford this weekend and the team I work for (Solutions Racing, they ran in the Ginetta Jnrs last year) are probably going on Sunday to do some 'networking' so I may tag along!

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I think you should do what you want.

It's your forum and I paid the bills this year..

and if people don't like it they shouldComplain here

Given that the turbo'd cars of Chilton, Onslow-Cole and Jordan were the fastest cars through the speed traps during the Brands test (Pinkney was mid-pack) is anyone going to really be able to challenge them at Thurxton?

i can't wait

i hope the focus do well this year, simply becase they look and sound amazing

I'll be at the complex. And I agree about the Porches. They often have some pretty big shunts at Thruxton. I'll never forget Kelvin Burt's massive crash a few years ago!

Depends....

If they're really hard on their tyres they'll be quick initially and then drop back.

Or maybe it'll be wet where top speed doesn't matter so much...

Plus they might be fast in a straight line, but if they can't hold that speed and grip through Church and the other high speed corners, their top speed might not be such an advantage....

Well, Chilton is very hard on his tyres at Thruxton, usually to the point where they fail. Also, the Focuses aren't handling very well due to the extra weight of the LPG system, so I think they'll be around 4th-8th place. Jordan will be the best turbo runner.

_________________
Check out the Touring Car Driver Database! (if you'd be so kind)
Motorsport playlists on YouTube

I'll probably be there on the Saturday for the practice...
My team, Solutions are helping out with a G50 so we are having a bit of a get together afterwards to sort out this coming seasons escapades!

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I think you should do what you want.

It's your forum and I paid the bills this year..

and if people don't like it they shouldComplain here

Going to miss this because I'm leaving on Sunday for a week in Dorset Will be recording it and watching it when I get back though!

As will I. But thats because I'm working.

Well they were pretty quick around the Brands Indy circuit which is a handling track. I know that was just over one lap so we'll see. As for rain on raceday, that would make an even more epic start to the season.

Wonder if there will be anyone in the second 888 Vectra for this meeting... it's getting late.

*Hopes for a last minute deal for Turk*

I can't wait for this. Thruxton is such a fast big balls circuit. The kind of design Tilke would have nightmares about. Pretty much all the series can put on a good race here. Really looking forward to the Formula Renaults here. Probably the only one who is very excited about the Porsche races as well

AmD Milltek Racing using the Golf? Should use the Scirocco.

Oh God

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011