2015 British Touring Car Championship

2015 British Touring Car Championship

Previous

2014

Next

2016

2015 ToCA Support series:
2015 Ginetta Junior Championship
2015 Ginetta GT4 Supercup
2015 MSA Formula Championship
2015 Porsche Carrera Cup GB
2015 Renault Clio Cup UK

Colin Turkington, the defending drivers' champion.

The 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) is a motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2015 season will be the 58th British Touring Car Championship season and the fifth season for cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification.

Colin Turkington will be the defending drivers' champion. West Surrey Racing will be the defending teams' champion, and MG the defending manufacturers' champions.

Teams and drivers

Team Car Engine No. Drivers Rounds Constructor Entries Team JCT600 with GardX BMW 125i M Sport BMW/Neil Brown 6 Rob Collard 1–5 7 Sam Tordoff 1–5 Team IHG Rewards Club 111 Andy Priaulx 1–5 Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing Infiniti Q50 TOCA/Swindon 22 Derek Palmer Jr. 1–3 84 Richard Hawken 2 85 Martin Donnelly 3 Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R Honda/Neil Brown 25 Matt Neal 1–5 52 Gordon Shedden 1–5 MG Triple Eight Racing MG6 GT TOCA/Swindon 31 Jack Goff 1–5 77 Andrew Jordan 1–5 Independent Entries Team BMR Volkswagen CC TOCA/Swindon 1 Colin Turkington 1–5 39 Warren Scott 1–5 40 Árón Smith 1–5 99 Jason Plato 1–5 Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST Ford/Mountune 4 Mat Jackson TBA 44 James Cole TBA Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis TOCA/Swindon 11 Simon Belcher 1–5 Speedworks Motorsport 80 Tom Ingram 1–5 Welch Motorsport Proton Persona Proton/Welch 12 Andy Wilmot 1–5 13 Daniel Welch 2–5 Dextra Racing Ford Focus ST Ford/Mountune 14 Alex Martin 1–2, 4–5 Laser Tools Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class TOCA/Swindon 16 Aiden Moffat 1–5 Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze 4dr TOCA/Swindon 17 Dave Newsham 1–5 #RacingforHeroes 66 Josh Cook 1–5 AmD Tuning Ford Focus ST Ford/Mountune 21 Mike Bushell 1–5 Audi S3 Saloon TOCA/Swindon 28 Nicolas Hamilton 5 Support Our Paras Racing Infiniti Q50 TOCA/Swindon 22 Derek Palmer Jr. 4–5 71 Max Coates 5 RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis Toyota/Xctechr 23 Kieran Gallagher         1–5 Eurotech Racing Honda Civic TOCA/Swindon 30 Martin Depper 1–5 55 Jeff Smith 1–5 WIX Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class TOCA/Swindon 33 Adam Morgan 1–5 Exocet AlcoSense Racing Audi A4 TOCA/Swindon 54 Hunter Abbott 1–5 101 Rob Austin 1–5 Houseman Racing Toyota Avensis TOCA/Swindon 95 Stewart Lines 1–5

Key Eligible for the Jack Sears Trophy for best rookie of the season Guest driver ineligible for any championship points

Driver changes

Changed teams

• Sam Tordoff, moved from MG/Triple Eight to West Surrey Racing.
• Andrew Jordan, moved to the works MG/Triple Eight team from his family run Eurotech Racing.
• Colin Turkington and Jason Plato, both moved to Team BMR from West Surrey Racing and MG/Triple Eight respectively.
• Dave Newsham, moved from AmD Tuning to Power Maxed Racing.
• Jack Goff, moved from Team BMR to Triple Eight Racing.
• James Cole, moved from United Autosports to Motorbase Performance.

Entering/re-entering BTCC

• Mike Bushell, who raced in the Knockhill round in 2013, will compete in his first full season with AmD Tuning.
• Richard Hawken and Derek Palmer Jr., who competed in the HSCC Super Touring Car Championship for historic touring cars in 2014, will enter the championship with Support Our Paras Racing.
• Jeff Smith will return to the BTCC with Eurotech Racing, having last raced for them in 2013.
• Andy Wilmot will return with Welch Motorsport, having last raced at Rockingham in 2013 for Tony Gilham Racing.
• Triple WTCC champion Andy Priaulx will return with West Surrey Racing, having last raced in the series in 2002.
• Alex Martin, who competed in the Ferrari Challenge in 2014, will enter the championship with Team Parker Racing under the Dextra Racing banner.
• Kieran Gallagher will return with Team HARD, having last raced with the team at Knockhill in 2013.
• Josh Cook, who was runner-up in the 2014 Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom season, will make his BTCC debut with Power Maxed Racing under the #RacingforHeroes banner.
• Ex-motocross rider Stewart Lines will make his BTCC debut with Houseman Racing, having previously raced in the Mini Challenge, Volkswagen Cup and the SEAT Cupra Championship.
• Nicolas Hamilton, half-brother to Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and sometime ETCC competitor, will enter the championship with AmD Tuning.

Leaving BTCC

• Ollie Jackson and Nick Foster announced that they would not be returning to the BTCC in 2015.
• Lea Wood stepped down from his driving duties, to take a management role in his team, Houseman Racing.
• Chris Stockton stepped down from being team owner and driver of BTC Racing, selling the team to Automotive Brands.
• Marc Hynes left the championship to concentrate on the revived Manor F1 Team.
• Alain Menu, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jack Clarke were unable to find a seat after losing their seats at Team BMR and Motorbase Performance respectively.
• Glynn Geddie and Luke Hines left the series after United Autosports left the championship.
• Robb Holland left the championship, having sold his car to AmD Tuning.

Team changes

• Infiniti entered the championship, offering factory support and the Infiniti Q50 as a base model. The cars are being run by Pro Motorsport under the banner of "Support Our Paras Racing".
• Aiden Moffat Racing switched from a Chevrolet Cruze to a Mercedes-Benz A-Class, built by Ciceley Racing.
• After initially announcing a return in 2015, BTC Racing was sold to title sponsor Automotive Brands in February. The team switched to a saloon version of the Chevrolet Cruze for 2015, having bought Aiden Moffat's 2014 car.
• Team HARD re-entered the series having bought a single Toyota Avensis, previously owned by United Autosports.
• United Autosports left the series after only a single year of participation having sold their licences to Team HARD and Power Maxed Racing respectively.
• Motorbase Performance withdrew from the first half of the season, but aimed to rejoin the series from the Snetterton round onwards.
• Team Dynamics switched from the Honda Civic Tourer to the Honda Civic Type R.

Rule changes

Organisers outlined a series of rule changes for the 2015 season in October 2014:

• The amount of success ballast is now implemented to the top ten drivers on the grid and the championship heading into a weekend instead of five. With more drivers now carrying ballast, the weight has been increased with the maximum being 30 kg (66 lb) heavier than in previous years. The maximum success ballast is 75 kg (165 lb) for the championship leader, down to 9 kg (20 lb) for tenth place. Rear-wheel drive (RWD) cars carry their success ballast as far forward in the cabin as possible, in order to better equalise the front to rear weight balance between both drivetrain formats.
• Cosworth and Xtrac independently analyse the start-line performances and in-gear acceleration of front and rear-wheel drive cars with a view to more equalising them through engine management programming.
• All engines have now been re-tested and re-validated by both TOCA and an independent specialist company – resulting in a boost level being set for each car and engine type for the season. As the larger amount of success ballast has a greater effect than before, the lap-time boost level adjustment can be dropped.
• Each car must still use the Dunlop soft tyre for one race at nine events – the Thruxton event does not apply as the soft tyre is not used at the venue – but each car must use them three times in race 1, three times in race 2 and three times in race 3 during the course of the season.
• The grid for race 2 at each event is set in the order of the fastest lap times achieved in race 1. If during race 1 a driver changes one or more tyres of the same type then any quicker lap time (if achieved) after that tyre change is discounted.
• The Jack Sears Trophy will be awarded to the top 'Rookie Driver' of the year.

Race calendar and results

The provisional calendar was announced by the championship organisers on 18 August 2014. After using the "International" circuit configuration in 2014, the Oulton Park round will revert back to the "Island" layout.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning independent	Winning JST
1	R1	Brands Hatch (Indy Circuit, Kent)	5 April	Andy Priaulx	Jason Plato	Rob Collard	Team JCT600 with GardX	Árón Smith	Josh Cook
	R2				Jason Plato	Gordon Shedden	Honda Yuasa Racing	Colin Turkington	Josh Cook
	R3				Gordon Shedden	Matt Neal	Honda Yuasa Racing	Árón Smith	Mike Bushell
2	R4	Donington Park (National Circuit, Leicestershire)	19 April	Colin Turkington	Gordon Shedden	Jason Plato	Team BMR	Jason Plato	Josh Cook
	R5				Colin Turkington	Colin Turkington	Team BMR	Colin Turkington	Josh Cook
	R6				Aiden Moffat	Matt Neal	Honda Yuasa Racing	Aiden Moffat	Josh Cook
3	R7	Thruxton Circuit (Hampshire)	10 May	Árón Smith	Jason Plato	Gordon Shedden	Honda Yuasa Racing	Adam Morgan	Josh Cook
	R8				Matt Neal	Jason Plato	Team BMR	Jason Plato	Kieran Gallagher
	R9				Adam Morgan	Adam Morgan	WIX Racing	Adam Morgan	Josh Cook
4	R10	Oulton Park (Island Circuit, Cheshire)	7 June	Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Jason Plato	Team BMR	Jason Plato	Josh Cook
	R11				Sam Tordoff	Jason Plato	Team BMR	Jason Plato	Alex Martin
	R12				Andy Priaulx	Sam Tordoff	Team JCT600 with GardX	Jason Plato	Josh Cook
5	R13	Croft Circuit (North Yorkshire)	28 June	Sam Tordoff	Sam Tordoff	Andy Priaulx	Team IHG Rewards Club	Colin Turkington	Josh Cook
	R14				Gordon Shedden	Sam Tordoff	Team JCT600 with GardX	Jason Plato
	R15				Matt Neal	Rob Collard	Team JCT600 with GardX
6	R16	Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit (300 Circuit, Norfolk)	9 August
	R17
	R18
7	R19	Knockhill Racing Circuit (Fife)	23 August
	R20
	R21
8	R22	Rockingham Motor Speedway (International Super Sports Car Circuit, Northamptonshire)	6 September
	R23
	R24
9	R25	Silverstone Circuit (National Circuit, Northamptonshire)	27 September
	R26
	R27
10	R28	Brands Hatch (Grand Prix Circuit, Kent)	11 October
	R29
	R30

Championship standings

Points system
1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	R1 PP	Fastest lap	Lead a lap
20	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	1	1	1

Notes

• No driver may collect more than one point for leading a lap per race regardless of how many laps they lead.

Drivers' Championship

Pos	Driver	No.	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts
1	Jason Plato	99	3	Ret*	16	1*	5	8	4	1*	7	1*	1*	5																				157
2	Gordon Shedden	52	6	1*	NC	2	14	3	1*	3	5	6	2	4																				154
3	Matt Neal	25	8	8	1*	17	2	1*	2	Ret	6	2	4	3*																				149
4	Andrew Jordan	77	7	5	19	4	4	2	6	7	2	4	3	2																				144
5	Colin Turkington	1	5	3	12	3	1*	11	7	5	4	25	8	6																				123
6	Adam Morgan	33	11	4	7	9	3	12	3	8	1*	11	6	17*																				114
7	Sam Tordoff	7	15	7	4	5	9	Ret	11	6	3	9	5	1*																				111
8	Jack Goff	31	4	9	2	7	8	Ret	8	4	11	7	9	8																				104
9	Árón Smith	40	2	12	3	DNS	12	6	21	11	8	5	7	7																				93
10	Rob Collard	6	1*	16	Ret	8	6	4*	13	2*	14	13	25†	14																				81
11	Andy Priaulx	111	9*	2	8	12	10	NC	5	NC	13	3	15	Ret																				75
12	Tom Ingram	80	10	6	6	16	13	10	10	Ret	10	8	11	9																				67
13	Josh Cook	66	13	14	Ret	13	7	7*	9	18	9	12	27	13																				48
14	Rob Austin	101	14	10	5*	10	18	Ret	14	9	17	15	13	22																				39
15	Dave Newsham	17	17	15	9	6	11	Ret	Ret	12	12	10	DNS	18																				37
16	Aiden Moffat	16	12	13	Ret	18	16	5	15	10	16	17	12	11																				35
17	Martin Depper	30	16	Ret	13	15	19	9	12	13	15	14	14	DNS																				23
18	Jeff Smith	55	19	23	14	14	15	13	17	20	Ret	19	10	10																				20
19	Hunter Abbott	54	18	11	10	19	17	14	16	14	21	18	23	16																				15
20	Warren Scott	39	22	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	15	18	NC	Ret	16	16	12																				10
21	Mike Bushell	21	21	17	11	Ret	NC	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS	24	22	23																				5
22	Simon Belcher	11	20	19	15	Ret	21	16	DNS	DNS	DNS	23	21	21																				1
23	Daniel Welch	13				Ret	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	20	17	15																				1
24	Kieran Gallagher	23	24	22	20	21	20	18	24	15	18	DNS	26	NC																				1
25	Stewart Lines	95	25	21	17	24	22	17	19	16	Ret	Ret	19	20																				0
26	Derek Palmer Jr.	22	Ret	20	18	22	DNS	DNS	23	17	19	22	20	19																				0
27	Alex Martin	14	23	18	Ret	20	23	19				21	18	NC																				0
28	Martin Donnelly	85							20	19	Ret																							0
29	Andy Wilmot	12	DNS	DNS	DNS	Ret	DNS	DNS	22	21	20	26	24	Ret																				0
30	Richard Hawken	84				23	24	20																										0
Pos	Driver	No.	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts

• Jason Plato (2°2014)

Manufacturers'/Constructors' Championship

Pos	Manufacturer/Constructor	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts
1	Honda / Team Dynamics	6	1	1	2	2	1	1	3	5	2	2	3	4	5	3																	438
		8	8	NC	17	14	3	2	Ret	6	6	4	4	5	11	9
2	MG / Triple Eight	4	5	2	4	4	2	6	4	2	4	3	2	6	10	8																	385
		7	9	19	7	8	Ret	8	7	11	7	9	8	10	14	Ret
3	BMW / West Surrey Racing	1	2	8	5	6	4	5	2	13	3	5	1	1	1	1																	352
		9	16	Ret	8	9	NC	13	NC	14	9	15	14	2	4	2
4	Infiniti / Pro Motorsport	Ret	20	18	22	24	20	20	17	19																							106
					23	DNS	DNS	23	19	Ret
Pos	Manufacturer/Constructor	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts

Independents' Trophy

Pos	Driver	No.	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts
1	Colin Turkington	1	5	3	12	3	1	11	7	5	4																							138
2	Adam Morgan	33	11	4	7	9	3	12	3	8	1																							134
3	Jason Plato	99	3	Ret	16	1	5	8	4	1	7																							121
4	Árón Smith	40	2	12	3	DNS	12	6	21	11	8																							103
5	Tom Ingram	80	10	6	6	16	13	10	10	Ret	10																							89
6	Rob Austin	101	14	10	5	10	18	Ret	14	9	17																							82
7	Josh Cook	66	13	14	Ret	13	7	7	9	18	9																							82
8	Aiden Moffat	16	12	13	Ret	18	16	5	15	10	16																							77
9	Dave Newsham	17	17	15	9	6	11	Ret	Ret	12	12																							68
10	Martin Depper	30	16	Ret	13	15	19	9	12	13	15																							62
11	Hunter Abbott	54	18	11	10	19	17	14	16	14	21																							59
12	Jeff Smith	55	19	23	14	14	15	13	17	20	Ret																							43
13	Kieran Gallagher	23	24	22	20	21	20	18	24	15	18																							23
14	Warren Scott	39	22	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	15	18	NC	Ret																							21
15	Stewart Lines	95	25	21	17	24	22	17	19	16	Ret																							20
16	Simon Belcher	11	20	19	15	Ret	21	16	DNS	DNS	DNS																							18
17	Mike Bushell	21	21	17	11	Ret	NC	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS																							17
18	Alex Martin	14	23	18	Ret	20	23	19																										9
19	Andy Wilmot	12	DNS	DNS	DNS	Ret	DNS	DNS	22	21	20																							8
	Daniel Welch	13				Ret	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS																							0
Pos	Driver	No.	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts

Jack Sears Trophy

Pos	Driver	No.	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts
1	Josh Cook	66	13	14	Ret	13	7	7	9	18	9	12	27	13																				202
2	Kieran Gallagher	23	24	22	20	21	20	18	24	15	18	DNS	26	NC																				153
3	Stewart Lines	95	25	21	17	24	22	17	19	16	Ret	Ret	19	20																				147
4	Derek Palmer Jr.	22	Ret	20	18	22	DNS	DNS	23	17	19	22	20	19																				129
5	Alex Martin	14	23	18	Ret	20	23	19				21	18	NC																				110
6	Mike Bushell	21	21	17	11	Ret	NC	Ret	DNS	DNS	DNS	24	22	23																				80
7	Andy Wilmot	12	DNS	DNS	DNS	Ret	DNS	DNS	22	21	20	26	24	Ret																				47
8	Richard Hawken	84				23	24	20																										33
9	Martin Donnelly	85							20	19	Ret																							26
Pos	Driver	No.	BHI			DON			THR			OUL			CRO			SNE			KNO			ROC			SIL			BHGP			Pen.	Pts

• Gordon Shedden (3°2014)

External links

• Official website
• TouringCarTimes