Tom Oliphant is ready to battle for race wins with Team BMW when the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship finally kicks into action at Donington Park next weekend (01/02 August).

The 29-year-old racer worked hard from his home in Leamington Spa to ensure he’d be at his physical and mental best once the action resumed, and he’s since enjoyed track action at the Snetterton Goodyear tyre test and more recently at Silverstone yesterday alongside team-mate Colin Turkington.

Oliphant completed a detailed programme with West Surrey Racing, as well as gaining some crucial running in both wet and dry conditions ahead of the new season.

He then moved on to the home of British motorsport at Silverstone, where the squad circled the famous Grand Prix circuit.

“A great day’s running around Silverstone, a fully dry day with so much progress made,” Oliphant posted on Twitter. “Bring on the first round, we are coming for pole!”

Now the British Racing Drivers’ Club member returns to Donington Park, where he has fond memories having taken his maiden BTCC podium finish in only his fourth race with Team BMW.

“I couldn’t be more excited to get back racing again,” said Oliphant. “It’s been a long wait due to COVID-19 and I know it’s been a stressful time in lockdown for a lot of the BTCC community, so I can’t wait to get out there alongside the rest of the grid and put on a show for all the fans again.

“With track time set to be limited before the season begins, the Snetterton test was really important for me to dust off the cobwebs, get behind the wheel again and work with the team on some crucial set-up and tyre work so we can hit the ground running at Donington Park.

“Donington is one of my favourite circuits in the country and the BMW was fantastic there last season, so I want to be challenging for silverware from the opening race of the season. With a year under my belt with Team BMW, I’m ready to fight for the top prizes!”

The 2020 BTCC season will be contested over nine events. Starting with four meetings in August at Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Knockhill, the series then moves on to Thruxton, Silverstone, Croft and Snetterton before the November season finale at Brands Hatch.

Series organiser, TOCA, has today (20 July) released the official calendar for the 2021 British Touring Car Championship.

Following the condensed 2020 campaign, the BTCC will reprise a 30-round schedule in 2021, with Britain’s premier motorsport series visiting nine of the UK’s most renowned circuits.

Returning to a similar format to 2019, Brands Hatch will bookend the season, while the Hampshire circuit of Thruxton will once again host a second event alongside its regular May date.

The 2021 campaign will commence on 3/4 April on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, before moving to Donington Park, Thruxton, Oulton Park and Croft. Following the traditional summer break, Snetterton will host the series before it heads to Knockhill in Scotland. The second visit to Thruxton precedes the penultimate event, at Silverstone, while the season finale will return to Brands Hatch’s legendary Grand Prix circuit.

ITV4 continues as the BTCC’s long-term broadcast partner and will show every race day live, free-to-air and in high-definition throughout 2021, with live streaming also available via the ITV Hub. Highlights programmes will follow each event and will be screened on ITV, ITV4 and on demand via the ITV Hub.

Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive, said: “Well, this is certainly a new first for the BTCC - issuing the following year’s calendar before the current season has even begun… but I’m sure everyone will agree that it’s nice to see some ‘normality’ returning to the schedule.

“Having said that, with our first 2020 event now less than two weeks away at Donington Park, there is phenomenal enthusiasm for getting this season underway amongst our teams, supporters and partners.”

 
2021 British Touring Car Championship Calendar

Rounds	Date	Venue/Circuit
1,2,3	3/4 April	Brands Hatch (Indy)
4,5,6	17/18 April	Donington Park (National)
7,8,9	8/9 May	Thruxton
10,11,12	15/16 May	Oulton Park (Island)
13,14,15	12/13 June	Croft
16,17,18	31 July/1 August	Snetterton (300)
19,20,21	14/15 August	Knockhill
22,23,24	28/29 August	Thruxton
25,26,27	25/26 September	Silverstone (National)
28,29,30	9/10 October	Brands Hatch (Grand Prix)

The key session times for the first two events of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship and its support package have today (17 July) been announced, as Donington Park's season-opener (1/2 August) rapidly approaches.

Times drawn up for the each of the BTCC sessions – alongside the times for the Michelin Ginetta Junior Championship, F4 British Championship, Millers Oils Ginetta GT4 SuperCup, The Mini Challenge, Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Dunlop Mini Challenges supported by Mini Spares – are all provisional at this stage and remain subject to change.

The schedules are available on the calendar pages for Donington Park and Brands Hatch Grand Prix, by navigating to the 'Timetable' tab on each page.

While further information will follow, it has also been confirmed that the Donington Park race day action will be broadcast live on ITV4 from 1040 on Sunday, 2 August.

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship squad Motorbase Performance hit the Norfolk circuit of Snetterton last week, during the series’ official tyre test, adding some welcome mileage to the trio of Ford Focus STs ahead of the 2020 campaign’s highly anticipated August curtain-raiser.

A strong two days on-track saw Rory Butcher set the fastest time of the test, with team-mates Ollie Jackson and Andy Neate gathering valuable data ahead of the initial rounds at Donington Park (1/2 August).

“Snetterton went really well,” said reigning BTCC Independent Drivers' champion Butcher, “despite only getting half a day of dry running. We had a lot of things we wanted to try and the car has a great feeling in both conditions, so I’m really pleased with its performance – it’s a big step forward from the older Ford Focus RS. Wherever we go, it seems to be in the window or very close to it and only requires little set-up changes to find the sweet spot.

“With the Snetterton event being moved to October, the wet weather running was actually very beneficial. I was able to learn where the grip is and isn’t on the track and also learn what works with the car.

“Both the team’s and my own aspirations are to pose a real challenge this year, and we have real intent going into the opening round. We face a gruelling compact season with many challenges ahead, so we first need to keep focused on doing our jobs the very best we can and give our best performance.”

“It was brilliant,” agreed Team Manager Oly Collins. “We’ve done a few days of testing since lockdown began but we’ve been on our own, so you don’t fully know your pace – having the two days at Snetterton to go through our programme was really good.

“It’s good to test in all conditions; don’t get me wrong, we all prefer the stability of dry running, but this is the British Touring Car Championship – we have to be prepared for wet running! We learnt valuable things about the Focus ST in the wet conditions and all three drivers enjoyed the car in the wet as well as the dry.

“Looking at the season ahead, we’re a race team, we’re here to win. Motorbase as a team has put a lot of time, money and hard work into designing, building and developing the new car. Pre-season testing has gone very well and the pace looks good. We’ve got some very good people throughout the squad and we’re confident that 2020 can be the year we get to prove that.”

The Kent-based squad will now use the data gathered from the Snetterton tyre test, alongside other test days, to ensure it is in a confident place for the start of the 2020 campaign at Donington Park.

It's time for another audio treat from the Official BTCC website; listen now to the exclusive interview below with BTC Racing Team Manager Zoe Timbrell.

Before last week's Snetterton test, we caught up with Zoe to discuss various aspects of her role in the TOCA paddock, including her route from University to managing last year's Independent Teams' runners up.

Zoe enthuses about the addictive nature of the industry, also talking about her experience as the only female Team Manager in the BTCC and the resilience that is required when working within motorsport.

In addition to this, as with other BTCC Careers features, Zoe discusses the various aspects of her role and her key responsibilities, such as ensuring regulations are followed, and how she has to consider new rules ahead of the 2020 season, such as social distancing:

Ash Sutton stepped up his preparations for the start of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season last week (7/8 July), completing a successful two-day Goodyear tyre test at Snetterton with Laser Tools Racing.

Following a four-month track hiatus due to the coronavirus lockdown, the Infiniti Q50 driver joined the rest of the 2020 grid at the Norfolk venue to clock some much-welcomed mileage ahead of next month’s rescheduled season-opener at Donington Park (1/2 August).

Working through a structured programme alongside team-mate Aiden Moffat, the 2017 champion set the seventh fastest time on the opening morning before wet weather hit the circuit.

With the conditions failing to improve during Tuesday afternoon, the Independent team worked on fine-tuning set-up and Sutton emerged as the driver to beat on the second day of running - topping the timesheets in both sessions in the unrelenting tricky conditions.

Recording a total of 74 laps over the course of both days and buoyed by the progress made, Sutton’s attention now switches to the opening three races of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park next month.

From there, the 26-year-old will embark on a busy few months as the battle for Britain’s premier race series tours the country, culminating around the Indy layout of Brands Hatch on 7/8 November.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been quite a long lay-off out of the car,” said Sutton. “It obviously felt great to be back behind the wheel and it felt like no time had passed; I was straight back into the groove of things.

“Whilst it was great to come away with the fastest time in the wet conditions, you can’t read too much into it as you don’t know what everyone else up and down the pit-lane is working on. That being said, we’re very happy with how things have gone for us as a team.

“We went into the test with a clear plan of what we wanted to work on and it is pleasing to come from Snetterton knowing that we have been able to make some real improvements to the Infiniti. 

"We went into the test with a clear plan of what we wanted to work on but unfortunately due to the weather conditions we had to push that aside. We were really looking forward to getting some dry running as our time in the car has been very limited. It's fair to say that we have got to grips with the car in the wet.

“It is going to be a busy few months once racing gets underway at Donington Park but I’m more than up for the challenge and I’m excited to see what we can achieve; I have the best possible team around me and I'm confident we will be firmly in the mix towards the front."

GKR TradePriceCars.com concluded its testing programme ahead of the forthcoming Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season with a productive two days of running at Snetterton last week (7/8 July).

The squad joined its rivals on-track at the Norfolk circuit as preparations continue for the opening rounds of the season at Donington Park next month (1/2 August), with all cars set to compete this year being in action.

The test provided drivers Bobby Thompson and James Gornall with the opportunity to log more valuable mileage at the wheel of the Audi S3s they will campaign this season, with the pair facing all manner of conditions across the two days of running.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having halted on-track running since March, the team used the opening morning as something of a shakedown, with the two drivers looking to get used to the car again before going for a quick time.

However, the arrival of rain during the lunchtime break would then impact proceedings and prevented either Thompson or Gornall from setting a representative lap on the overall timesheets.

The pair would show encouraging pace in tricky wet conditions for the remainder of the test, most notably during the second day, where the two Audis ran inside the top 15 throughout.

Gornall would set the quicker time of the pair to end the second day just 0.006s outside the top ten with Thompson only two-tenths of a second behind in 15th place.

Despite the lack of dry running, the team was able to secure plenty of valuable data that will now be evaluated back at base before focus turns to the busy start to the season, with the Donington Park meeting kick-starting a run of four events in a five-week spell.

"It was a good test for us, although the conditions certainly made it tricky on track,” said Thompson. “As we'd not been out since the launch day at Silverstone, the plan was to use the first morning as a bit of a shakedown and it meant we didn't set a quick time before the rain arrived. From there, I think we showed solid pace on the first afternoon as I got more of a feel for the car, and I was able to start pushing despite the conditions.

"Wednesday was tricky because the conditions were changing all the time and you could leave the pits thinking it was improving, but the rain would be coming down again by the time you got round to start a quick lap. I don't think we really showed our true pace as a result, but we've ended up in a decent place on the times.

"I think we've been able to learn a good amount over these two days and I reckon there is a good chance that we'll have to deal with some rain before the end of the season where we can put it into practice. Although more dry running would have been good, I'm happy with where we stand going into the start of the season."

"It was a productive two days for us at Snetterton, although I would have liked to have more dry running as that is what I really need,” said Gornall. “The opening morning I was just getting used to the car again and then we changed the steering rack so I didn't chase a time, and the rain then arrived and stayed for the rest of the test so we didn't show our hand in the dry.

"Our pace in the wet was a big positive however and the car felt really good. We weren't on track at the optimum time on Tuesday compared to some of our rivals, but on Wednesday we were right in the mix and to be just outside the top ten in those conditions is very encouraging.

"I can't wait now for Donington in a few weeks for the racing to begin and to get started."

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship squad BTC Racing added some much-welcomed mileage to its pre-season programme this week, with the Brackley-based outfit completing a successful Goodyear tyre test at Norfolk’s Snetterton circuit.
 
Sharing the track with many of this year’s BTCC contenders, the BTC Racing trio of Tom Chilton, Josh Cook, and Michael Crees stated their intent on the 2020 title push early on, with all three drivers setting times in the top-12 over the two-day test.

Changeable weather conditions kept the squad busily working through their respective set-up plans, as they took to the track for the first time since the championship’s official Season Launch at Silverstone in mid-March.  

Chilton was quick out of the box, setting the second-fastest time in the #3 Honda Civic Type R during both morning and afternoon practice sessions on the opening day, and claiming second-fastest place overall.

Cook’s consistent running saw him set an early pace on Wednesday morning. Initially topping the timing screens as he focused on wet-set-up changes, the #66 FK8 completed 84-laps across the two days.

Latest-signing Crees welcomed the chance to gain more mileage in his new charge for the 2020 season, surprising many with a solid top-eight lap-time on day one. After initially struggling to find his feet in the wet on day two, a late change to the #777 Civic paid dividends, and the 36-year-old posted the second-fastest lap time as the final session came to a close.

The team’s focus now turns to Donington Park for the long-awaited opening rounds of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship on August 1/2.

“It’s been a great two days for the team,” said Joint Team Principal Bert Taylor. “We’ve come away positive for the season ahead. All three drivers have done a fantastic job on track. Tom has shown his pace early on and settled into the team well alongside Josh, working on the car set-ups and data. Michael has had a great start, setting the eighth-fastest time in the dry and third-fastest in the wet.

“The team has worked hard in tricky conditions, and the data gathered will be of great benefit to our campaign once the season gets underway.”

“It’s been a really positive couple of the days for the team,” said Chilton. “We’ve learned a huge amount about the cars. I’ve come away from Snetterton with a good understanding of how the Fk8 behaves in the wet and dry – that’s going to be a great benefit going into the start of the season.

“The dynamic between the three drivers worked well, and we all now know where we need to be. It was also a good opportunity to get to know my new engineer before we start racing.”

“We’ve swept through a load of different settings over the two days,” said Cook. “We concentrated on learning as much as we could about the car and didn’t focus too much on the lap times. The wet weather meant we managed to get a lot of wet running in, which has given us a good amount of data to take forward.

“I expected to be a little rusty after such a long break, but from the first lap out of the box, I felt more comfortable in the car than I ever have before. I’m confident that we’ll be competitive coming into Donington Park.”

“The boys have worked so hard over these two days, so to come away eighth and third fastest at the end of the two days is a brilliant way to repay them,” said Crees. “I’m buzzing now; it was a great result for me.

“I hit the ground running in the dry on day one, but it was tough running in the wet and it took a while to find the right set-up. Every time I’ve got back in the car, I’ve gone quicker. I couldn’t ask for more than that. I can’t wait to get started now.”

The MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square team was forced to battle the elements on the second day of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship's two-day long Goodyear tyre test at Snetterton, with focus now turning to the start of the racing action next month.

On the back of a strong start to the test on Tuesday, where Jake Hill posted the fourth quickest time in his Honda Civic Type R, the squad headed into day two with a revised line-up, as Official Development Driver Esmee Hawkey took over from Hill alongside Sam Osborne.

The wet weather that had affected the opening afternoon of the test would again impact proceedings at the Norfolk circuit, making for tricky conditions when Osborne and Hawkey took to the track for the morning session.

An unfortunate off at turn one that resulted in a trip into the gravel would have an impact on Osborne’s track time, but he was able to show encouraging pace on a short run just before the lunch break where he bettered the time he had set in the wet on Tuesday afternoon.

The rain would provide Hawkey with an additional challenge as she hit the track in a BTCC machine for the first time - making her the first female driver since Fiona Leggate back in 2007 to take part in an officially-timed session.

With her goal being to learn as much as possible, Hawkey would improve her times across the session and an impressive final run at the end of the morning saw her break into the top 20 on the times, ahead of former champion Matt Neal and within half a second of race winner Tom Chilton.

Conditions would remain wet for the afternoon, with both drivers continuing to show solid pace on track.

Sam would be one of the busiest drivers on track in the #4 Honda as he produced his fastest wet laps of the test, going nearly three seconds quicker than he had done in the morning session, to end the day firmly in the midfield pack.

Although unable to quite match her pace from the morning, Hawkey was able to complete a solid day on track with another 18 laps under her belt; continuing to impress the team with her approach to the test and the manner in which she dealt with the tricky conditions.

MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square will now switch focus to the season opener at Donington Park on the weekend of 1/2 August.

"It would have been nice to get some dry running for both Sam and Esmee today, but unfortunately we can't do much about the weather,” said Team Principal Shaun Hollamby. “However, the information and data we have gathered will be helpful when the season gets underway.

“The tricky conditions haven't made it easy on track for Esmee on her first run in a touring car, but she did a fantastic job and can rightly be proud of the way she performed. She worked well with the team, took everything on board and whilst lap times weren't the important thing, she also showed good pace on track.

“Although it was unfortunate for Sam that he lost some track time this morning, the way he recovered from that in the afternoon was encouraging and he was right in the mix on the times, which is a positive for him to take away from today. Now we can look ahead to the start of the season and hopefully build on the pace we have shown during testing."

"Although I've not been out on track myself, it's been an interesting day working with Esmee for her first outing in a BTCC car,” said Hill. “In tricky conditions, she has done a really good job and shown her potential despite the fact she had never driven a front-wheel-drive car before. She can be really pleased with how the day has gone and as a team, I think we have been able to learn a lot from these two days to take into the season ahead."

"It would have been nice to get some more dry running today,” said Osborne, “but there is a good chance that we’ll have to deal with conditions like this before the season ends in November, so there is still plenty for us to take away from the test. Losing some track this morning was unfortunate, but I think we recovered well from that this afternoon and I was getting more and more comfortable in the conditions. I’m feeling confident about the start of racing next month, and can’t wait to get started."

“It’s been an amazing day today and a great experience with the MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square team,” said Hawkey. “I’ve been chucked in the deep end with the weather and the conditions, particularly with today being my first experience of front-wheel drive too, but I’ve absolutely loved it.

“We’ve made progress throughout the day and I’ve grown in confidence with each stint. I had no real idea what to expect in terms of pace today but I think I’ve surpassed any expectations I did have, which is a real positive!”

The Cosworth-developed TOCA Hybrid car successfully completed its maiden test run at Snetterton this week with experienced driver Darren Turner piloting the Toyota Corolla for two days (7/8 July) at the Norfolk circuit.
 
The British Touring Car Championship was the first major touring car series in the world to have committed to a firm pathway for the integration of hybrid power, when it was first announced in August 2018.
 
An extensive tender process followed, which included the appointment of Cosworth Electronics for the design, supply and servicing of the TOCA Hybrid system, as well as Speedworks Motorsport being selected as the official testing partner.
 
Speedworks has since worked closely with Cosworth Electronics to integrate and validate the hybrid solution into an all-new BTCC Toyota Corolla, with months of hard work culminating in the car’s completion ahead of the mid-summer BTCC Goodyear tyre test.
 
After running through planned preparation and installation checks, the car emerged from the pitlane to complete its first run on Tuesday morning – an historic moment for the series and TOCA Hybrid project.
 
Newly announced TOCA Hybrid Development Driver, Turner, recorded solid mileage around the Snetterton 300 circuit in both dry and wet conditions as he made his return to BTCC machinery for the first time in more than a decade.
 
The TOCA Hybrid machine successfully completed its first two days of testing – alongside the other 26 regular BTCC cars that were also on track – as Cosworth Electronics, Speedworks Motorsport and all the other technical partners commenced the car’s extensive testing and development programme before the introduction of hybrid power into the BTCC in 2022.
 
A tentatively planned third day of running was cancelled with all targets and goals having been met for this initial test by the close of play on Wednesday. Further news and test dates for the TOCA Hybrid car will be confirmed over the coming weeks.

 
Alan Gow, BTCC Chief Executive, said: “It’s an extremely proud moment for everyone involved in the BTCC and the TOCA Hybrid project itself. 
 
“The BTCC was the first major touring car series to confirm its intentions and pathway for introducing hybrid technology and this is clearly another hugely significant milestone as part of that.
 
“This is obviously just the start of the extensive programme ahead, prior to the full introduction of hybrid technology into the BTCC in 2022, but Cosworth, Speedworks and all of the technical partners involved should be congratulated for the professionalism, expertise and efficiency shown. 
 
“Despite these challenging times the BTCC and its partners have worked extremely hard to ensure that the TOCA Hybrid car made its track debut as originally planned and it has been an extremely positive and successful test.”
 
Neal Bateman, Cosworth Electronics Head of Support, said: “It has been an extraordinary effort by Cosworth and all of our technical partners to get to this point – particularly in these challenging times – so this milestone is a proud moment.
 
“We have completed a huge amount of systems checking at Snetterton. It’s not just a new hybrid system for us; it’s a new electronics package, with a new ECU and hybrid controller, as well as a new display on the car… it’s all part of our next generation electronics that are going to be deployed at the same time as the hybrid technology in 2022.
 
“The initial test plan was to complete a number of short runs, followed by the checking of data and trying out different strategies. We are here to test, we are here to learn and here to find out what works and what doesn’t as part of this extensive programme – the test has gone extremely well.
 
“We are at the very beginning of our development stage. The test has clearly not been about lap times at all, but about system verification and system testing, and ensuring that everything is working as it’s supposed to be.
 
“Working with Darren has been great – he’s extremely experienced and professional and has provided excellent feedback all week. It has been a successful few days and now we look forward to making more progress over the coming period.
 
Darren Turner, TOCA Hybrid Development Driver, said: “It is a great initiative and I am delighted to be a part of it. I'm fully aware it’s an historic moment for the series and we are all delighted to have completed an extremely successful test.
 
“The BTCC is the biggest and best championship in the UK and it’s right that it should be leading the way in this technology. The BTCC is leading from the front yet again, and this will be a great addition to the racing. We have regularly deployed the system on-track and it works really well – it will undoubtedly add an extra and exciting dimension to both the defensive and attacking aspects of the racing.
 
“We will of course be developing the system and integration further and further – this is just the beginning of the car’s track life – and we’ll be getting more and more miles in the car over the coming months. The project is going extremely well, it is on schedule and there is no need to rush things – every bit of information is vital at this point to ensure we have a robust system that enhances what the BTCC is all about, and I’m absolutely convinced we will achieve that.
 
“Personally, I’ve also loved being back in a BTCC car and remembering just how fun they are to drive.”