Team JCT600 with GardX man Sam Tordoff is contesting his fourth full season in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and the multiple race-winner is mounting his biggest title challenge yet.

The Yorkshireman scored victories in each of his first two years with the manufacturer-backed MG squad, before his switch to BMW machinery in 2015. Further successes followed in his maiden campaign with West Surrey Racing, but his speed and consistency during the 2016 season so far sees the talented Yorkshireman hold a nine-point lead in the current standings.

A stellar afternoon at Oulton Park in June cemented Tordoff’s championship credentials, with a win and two-second place finishes moving him to the summit.

Tordoff has remained in the top two ever since, with a strong outing at Knockhill last time out handing him an extended advantage over Matt Neal and his WSR stablemate Rob Collard.

“We’ve had a good run but I’m sure Rockingham will be an extremely tough challenge,” said Tordoff. “It was important that we took points at the circuits which really suited the BMW, which we did, and next weekend will be no different in terms of our approach.

“We need to just keep scoring points consistently as that’s what winning championships is all about. We’re fast, the car’s good and we’re good on weight. I’m feeling strong but there’s a long way to go.”

If Tordoff is to win a first BTCC title then he will have to hold off Collard's challenge from within his own team, whilst Halfords Yuasa Racing remains ever-strong through Neal and Gordon Shedden.

The Motorbase Performance Fords of Mat Jackson and Andrew Jordan are also among the contenders, as are Subaru's super duo of Colin Turkington and Jason Plato, plus a host of others.

Topping the Drivers' standings at this stage of the season, with the light at the end of the tunnel beginning to appear, is tantalising. It's also a sign of how well all the components vital to a title charge have been married together by WSR and Tordoff over an ultra-competitive season so far.

“To be leading the championship with three rounds to go is more than I could have expected and is a real credit to everyone at Team JCT600 with GardX," said Tordoff.

"The WSR-prepared BMW has performed fabulously, carried ballast well and given me the opportunity to take good points everywhere – even when it seemed like that might not be possible.

"I’d rather be nine points ahead than behind, but it’s a slender gap and I know that one slip-up could have a big consequence.

"Maximising every points opportunity is key and we'll see where we are come Sunday night. It sounds like the oldest cliché in the book, but we really do have to take things race by race.”

Power Maxed Racing has confirmed that Dave Newsham will return in place of Kelvin Fletcher at Rockingham this weekend (27/28 August) as Fletcher is expecting the birth of his first child.

Newsham will compete in rounds 22, 23 and 24 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Midlands circuit, driving Fletcher’s PMR Chevrolet Cruze.

At Knockhill, the Inverness-based racer notched a trio of points finishes after qualifying P10 on his return. A race one finish of seventh was a real highlight – Power Maxed Racing's highest-placed finish of the season and a first top ten this year.

"The response before I got to the track was overwhelming on social media, and after I arrived, well it went to another level," said Newsham, speaking after his return to the BTCC on home soil at Knockhill. "I didn't think anyone would really miss me, but I couldn't have been more wrong, thankfully. I can't wait to get back in the car at Rockingham."

"Longer term, I want to do everything I can to get back to the BTCC. The chance to have another weekend in the championship I love is perfect though we will all be thinking of Kelvin and his partner, awaiting some happy news."

Adam Weaver, Power Maxed Racing Team Principal said: "We will miss Kelvin at Rockingham, but it is great to work with Dave again. Seeing him perform at Knockhill was a delight and it has helped with yet more development of the car that will benefit Kelvin for the final two rounds."

Team HARD boss Tony Gilham will step into the Toyota Avensis of Michael Caine this weekend at Rockingham (27/28 August) following the withdrawal of the Newmarket racer from the event due to a back injury.

The 37-year-old Team Principal competed at the final two events last season, with a best of 15th spot at Silverstone, and is looking forward to stepping back into Dunlop British Touring Car Championship machinery, while ruing his driver's misfortune.

"Michael's had a flare up of an old back injury," said Gilham. "It had previously been operated on and corrected, but he felt pain in race one back at Knockhill.

"It's a shame for Michael and ourselves but it's a long-term project with him and his sponsors as we look to 2017 and beyond."

"I'll be stepping into the breech for this weekend – you could definitely say I've been thrown in at the deep end!"

"These guys have been racing and testing all season and I haven't been out in a racing car for the best part of 12 months.

"I raced the last two events of last season at Silverstone and Brands Hatch but since then I've done nothing.

"It'll definitely be tricky but I'm looking forward to it – I always look forward to getting back into a racing car, especially a British Touring Car, and going racing again."

Competing in a car born of his own stable, Gilham is hoping to do the outfit proud. In Jake Hill and Michael Epps, he has a couple of quick young talents in the fold to point the way.

"Driving a touring car in my colours is just going to be fantastic and I hope I can do myself, the car and the team some sort of justice.

"It'll certainly be a weekend that's a bit of a learning process for me. I'll be working closely with our guys – Mike (Epps) and Jake (Hill) – to try and glean as much as I can before going out competitively in quali. They've been on it this season so they'll be a real help.

"It would be nice to notch a point maybe, I'll see what I can do. We'll find out if there's still a bit of life in the old dog yet!"

I love Knockhill! It’s my favourite circuit in the UK next to Thruxton, and although it favours the cars driven by the rear wheels, off the back of our podium result at Snetterton I was excited to see what we could do.

With so many rear-wheel drive cars on the grid this year we thought that anything in the top ten would be a really good effort but after qualifying P9, my best qualifying position of the year so far and a best ever for Handy Motorsport, I still wasn’t happy. I didn’t feel like I had done my best, there was more in it and that takes away some satisfaction. It’s a funny thing. For me personally, I can give it everything and extract the maximum out of the car but if the car’s only good enough for 15^th I will be happy with my work. Equally, if you win a race through pure luck its nowhere near as satisfying as knowing you really earned it.

Read all of Rob's Knockhill blog over at hiqonline.co.uk.

Chasing pack poised as Sam Tordoff returns to BTCC summit

Entries at: PMR Facebook

• John McGuinness swaps Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP for BTCC Honda Civic Type R
• Gordon Shedden shows off his riding skills aboard Honda Racing’s TT winning machine

What happens when you pit double Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden against 23-time Isle of Man TT winner John McGuinness, head to head on each other’s race-winning machinery? Dunlop and Honda hosted the unique event at Scotland’s Knockhill circuit on Monday, which saw Gordon swap his race-winning Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R for John’s Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP for 30 laps of the Scottish track. 

The two vehicles are very different – the number of wheels aside – but the similarities are the brand of chassis and tyre manufacturer – Honda and Dunlop. The sportsmen are different too, but both Gordon and John are at the peak of their sport, both capable of using the tyres to their maximum to achieve the best lap times. Whether that’s in a 27 lap race, over 21 miles against 31 other cars on a smooth race track, or a single 37.73-mile lap of the daunting Isle of Man TT Mountain course, held on closed public roads.

Swapping machines is no mean feat – to get competitive lap times, they both needed to learn the car and bike respectively in just a handful of laps. During that time, they also had to adjust to the very different tyres that were the only thing between their vehicle and the tarmac.

Tyre Talk – the differences

• Size matters – the contact patch on a bike is tiny compared to that of the car, just the size of a credit card. At around 3-4 times smaller it has to take a power to weight ratio quite differently (close to 1 for a motorcycle against close 0.25 for a BTCC). And that is just for the rear tyre. The front contact patch on a motorcycle is yet again even smaller and needs to cope with the bike slowing at close to 1G deceleration.
• Wheely important stuff – the BTCC wheel is 18 inches in diameter – an inch bigger than that of the TT rear wheel, although the overall tyre diameter is actually bigger on a motorcycle. This means the tyre mechanics are different.
• A bit on the side – Gordon needed to rely on the side walls of the tyres on the Fireblade, while John’s Civic Type R was (mainly) squarely on the base of the tyres. The motorcycle tyre will deform more in the sidewall and tread area to key into the asphalt and generate grip whereas the BTCC tyre will mainly deform in the sidewall area to withstand the weight and get the support required.
• Under pressure –tyre pressures vary. There’s up to 1.1 bar of difference between the bike and car pressures to get the best performance – double the pressure in the front tyres when cold for the bike compared to the car. A motorcycle tyre will run between 1.5 bar to 1.6 bar hot, whereas a BTCC tyre will be aimed to run at 1.85-1.95 bar hot. It may not seem such a big difference for most people but Gordon or John would have spotted that change of tyre performance with less than 0.1 bar difference!
• The magic ingredients and construction – While some ingredients or at least concepts may be tried in one discipline and transferred into another, the secrets inside the tyres are very different – but they have to stay secret.

John McGuinness: “It was brilliant; I didn’t want to get out of the car to be honest. The first session all happened really fast but then I settled down into a groove. The whole mindset changes when you swap from what you know to something new, and I was a bit nervous, but we’re all racers and just want to go fast.

“It’s hard to see the apex, you’re strapped in tight, and it’s quite warm in there. You’re breathing in engine fumes and there are lots of rattles and bangs, it’s such a different world but I was shocked by how nice and precise it was. Dunlop put on some soft, sticky, amazing grippy tyres on the Honda Civic Type R and they gave me so much confidence to go fast.

“My Honda Fireblade had the same tyres we used at the TT where we did a 132.6mph average lap and we brought it here and did some riding on those same tyres which is testament to Dunlop and how good their product is. You know we put our lives in the hands of a few things, but tyres are such an important part of the package.”

Gordon Shedden: “It was absolutely out of this world, you maybe build a picture of what you think it’s like in your head, but nothing compares to it when you’re out there. It’s phenomenally fast but once you get used to it you learn to relax and get more confident. It was an absolute privilege to have a go.

“It was the first time I’ve ever ridden on a slick tyre and I cannot believe the grip that the contact patch the size of a credit card can actually give you, it’s just absolutely mind blowing. The speed obviously is as you’d expect, the world passes by at a million miles an hour. I can only imagine what it’s like going round the TT course, and John is welcome to stay on that!

“Each stint I started to relax more and get more confidence in the grip that was available. The brakes on the race car are fantastic with four big slick tyres to hold the thing on, so you wouldn’t believe the bike would have the stopping capability that it does.”

British Touring Car Championship icon Jack Sears is to be laid to rest today in Norfolk following his passing last week.

'Gentleman Jack’ has been a popular and important part of the BTCC right throughout its near 60 year history, having seen it evolve from the British Saloon Car Championship which he won in its inaugural year of 1958 and again in 1963.

In recent seasons MSA British Touring Car Championship rookies have challenged for the 'Jack Sears Trophy', with which Jack helped to nurture and support the next crop of BTCC stars.

The entire British Touring Car Championship community paused this past weekend at Knockhill for a minute's silence to mark the passing of the series' inaugural champion.

Everyone in the BTCC sends their condolences, thoughts and prayers to Jack’s family and friends.