Just as he did last year, Tom Ingram topped the timesheets as the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship hit the track under bright blue skies at Brands Hatch today.

It was a mixed opening Free Practice for the 22-year-old, though, whose season didn’t get off to the best of starts. Less than 15 minutes into the 40-minute session, Ingram’s Toyota Avensis pulled off the track with a hub issue, prompting the first red flag of the year.

His Speedworks Motorsport team rapidly fixed the problem, however, allowing Ingram to return to action to set the fastest ever touring car lap around the short 1.2-mile Indy Circuit.

“We’d rather have a problem now than in qualifying when it really counts,” he admitted. “It was a good start, but we’re not getting too excited just yet because everyone is still putting miles on their cars. Besides, we were fastest in this session last year! That said, the car felt good and the balance was strong, which is very encouraging.”

In total, six cars lapped under last year’s pole position time, with no fewer than 18 drivers posting efforts within a second of the pace-setting Avensis.

Matt Neal ran Ingram closest in the quickest of the newly orange and black-liveried Honda Civic Type Rs, with last year’s round one winner Rob Collard third in the leading BMW.

Ashley Sutton placed an impressive fourth in his MG6, despite missing the closing part of the session after stopping on-track. Defending champion Gordon Shedden wound up fifth for Halfords Yuasa Racing, ahead of Jack Goff on his rear-wheel drive debut in the Team IHG Rewards Club BMW.

All four Subaru Team BMR cars took to the circuit to clock up vital miles, with two-time title-winner Colin Turkington the fastest of the quartet in 17^th, nine tenths-of-a-second adrift of the outright benchmark. The only driver not to leave the pit-lane was BTCC newcomer Michael Epps in the RCIB Insurance Racing Toyota Avensis.

Free Practice 2 gets underway at 12.45, followed by Qualifying – which can be watched live on www.itv.com/btcc – at 15.40.

Free Practice 1

1 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport 48.230s
2 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.087s
3 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.115s
4 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.132s
5 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.141s
6 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.158s
7 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +0.277s
8 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.311s
9 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.348s
10 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +0.365s
11 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.502s
12 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.581s
13 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +0.681s
14 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +0.713s
15 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +0.790s
16 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.884s
17 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Subaru Team BMR +0.903s
18 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.955s
19 Andy NEATE (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.049s
20 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +1.089s
21 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +1.109s
22 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +1.129s
23 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDTuning.com +1.170s
24 Chris SMILEY (GBR) TLC Racing +1.435s
25 James COLE (GBR) Subaru Team BMR +1.579s
26 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +2.152s
27 Jason PLATO (GBR) Subaru Team BMR +2.267s
28 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +2.604s
29 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +5.140s
30 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Goodstone Racing +11.895s
31 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Subaru Team BMR +12.482s

For full FP1 classification click here.

Emmerdale TV star Kelvin Fletcher is looking forward to making his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship debut in the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze at Brands Hatch this weekend.

Fletcher will partner Hunter Abbott at the independent outfit, and there is much anticipation to see how the drivers will fare as they both embark on their maiden campaign in a front-wheel drive touring car.

“I cannot wait to get behind the wheel of the Power Maxed Chevy this weekend,” enthused former Porsche ace Fletcher. “[Team principal] Adam Weaver and the team have all worked very hard to make this drive a reality. The BTCC is the pinnacle of British motor sport and I’m eager to see how I will stack up against some of the greatest drivers of our generation.

“My hectic filming schedule means today will be the first time I’ve taken to the track in the Power Maxed Chevy, and I must admit I am itching to get going!”

“I’m looking forward to my first race meeting in a front-wheel drive touring car,” echoed Abbott, who has raced a rear-wheel drive Audi for the past two years. “I had a good afternoon at the Season Launch test and a decent test day despite suffering a little battle damage. I’m still getting used to front-wheel drive, but the car feels good and it won’t take me long to adapt.”

The exciting new Subaru Levorg has hit the race circuit for the very first time.

All four of the Team BMR built newcomers successfully completed a short shakedown test during a special session on Friday evening at Brands Hatch… and their intriguing ‘boxer’ engines certainly sounded distinctly different to the others on the BTCC grid.

The 15-minute session was organised primarily to let all the BTCC teams practice their starts ahead of this weekend’s season-opener. With no previous on-track running, it was an opportunity all four Subaru drivers – Jason Plato, Colin Turkington, Warren Scott and James Cole – weren’t going to miss.

Indeed, it was the first time three of the Subarus had ever turned a wheel – just one of the cars had conducted a straightline shakedown at Millbrook at few days early.

“The team has done an amazing job,” enthused Plato. “We are sure to encounter some curve balls in the next couple of days but it’s already an immensely proud moment to see all four cars on the track.”

The hard work isn’t completed yet, though, as the Levorgs now need their racing liveries applied overnight.

On the eve of the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season, preparation is almost complete and the wait is almost over.

The teams were in the garages on Friday, putting the finishing touches on their new machines with the drivers prepped and ready for the new campaign to launch into life tomorrow.

Hear from Jason Plato, Jack Goff, Jeff Smith, Ashley Sutton, Josh Cook and Kelvin Fletcher, after they spoke to btcc.net earlier on  Friday afternoon.

The country's premier motor sport series is back as the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship returns at Brands Hatch this weekend.

In our first newsletter of the year we recap all the news from the off season and testing and give you the info on where to get tickets for what's sure to be another spectacular season for the BTCC...

Head over to btcc.net/fanzone to subscribe and get your hands on newsletter number one of the season. There will be special offers and promotions for BTCC fans from Dunlop and IHG Rewards Club throughout the season and our first issue is no exception – another reason to hit the subscribe button!

Keep up to date with all the latest news on btcc.net and all 30 races will once again be shown live and in HD on ITV Sport.

Don't forget too that we're all over social media with in-depth coverage throughout the season and live over race weekends – twitter.com/DunlopBTCC, facebook.com/OfficialBTCC and instagram.com/OfficialBTCC.

The excitement ahead of the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship opening weekend at Brands Hatch is almost palpable and now there are more ways than ever before to keep up with the action.

The tens of thousands of fans trackside this weekend can compliment their viewing with the LIVE section of the BTCC website, where you can access circuit commentary and live timing, whilst the ITV Hub App will broadcast live coverage throughout Sunday to selected mobile and tablet devices.

Those unable to attend the Brands Hatch event may also choose to use the ITV Hub App (download from App Store, Google Play, Amazon etc) in order to watch the live action while on the move, or you can watch from a desktop computer via www.itv.com. Saturday's qualifying session will be streamed live online at www.itv.com/btcc.

ITV4 will broadcast an incredible eight hours of live coverage on Sunday with each and every BTCC race, plus a magnitude of support contests, being shown from 10:15am.

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship enjoys unrivalled and unprecedented television coverage in the UK thanks to its long-standing partnership with the ITV television network, which will continue to screen the BTCC live and free-to-air until at least 2022. The BTCC also enjoys extensive coverage overseas, which includes CBS Sports Network's highlights programme in North America. 

The following programme schedules are provided by ITV (UK only) and CBS Sports Network (North America) for the Brands Hatch weekend, while schedules for future events can be found via the BTCC on TV page. Viewers in other regions should check local listings:

Brands Hatch Indy

Saturday 2 April
itv.com/btcc: 1530-1615

Sunday 3 April
ITV4: 1015-1815 (LIVE)
itv.com: 1015-1815 (LIVE)
ITV Hub App: 1015-1815 (LIVE)
ITV4 +1: 1115-1915

Saturday 9 April
ITV4: 1230-1400
ITV4 +1: 1330-1500

Sunday 10 April
ITV4: 0650-0815
ITV4 +1: 0750-0815

Wednesday 13 April
ITV: 2345-0100

Thursday 14 April
ITV +1: 0045-0200
CBS Sports Network: 2130-2300 (ET)

Motorbase Performance is gearing up for the return of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and eager to maintain its momentum in the 2016 curtain-raiser around Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit this weekend (April 2/3).

With the iconic Kent track less than a mile from the team's workshop, David Bartrum’s Wrotham-based outfit is going all-out for podiums with one of the championship’s most highly-anticipated driver line-ups as Mat Jackson returns for his seventh year in the squad alongside 2013 BTCC Champion Andrew Jordan.

Jackson was the man to beat last time out, with the 35-year-old claiming pole position and a brace of victories in his Ford Focus ST during the 2015 season-closer on the GP loop. Jordan similarly boasts an excellent record at Brands, claiming pole position and two race wins on the short Indy layout back in 2014. With a record 32-car grid set to descend on the Kent circuit for the 2016 opener, competition will be higher than ever.

In addition to the driver line-up changes, Motorbase has been hard at work over the winter months rebuilding and developing the Focus, which joins many of its front-running rivals this year in running the new RML suspension kit upgrade. The team is confident it will be amongst the leading contenders once more when the lights go out on Sunday.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back into the Focus at Brands Hatch this weekend,” enthused Jackson. “We’ve had a little bit of running with the new RML suspension kit and the boys have done a great job with the car as always, but we’ve really got to see how it all pans out during qualifying and race day.

“We finished on such a high last season with two race wins and a pole. It would be fantastic to pick up where we left off, but we’re under no illusions as to just how competitive the grid will be.”

Jordan is in similarly bullish spirits, following a promising and productive pre-season testing programme behind the wheel of his strikingly-liveried Pirtek-branded car.

"Obviously I am very excited to get back to racing at Brands and to kick off my relationship with Motorbase,” remarked the team’s new recruit. “We have done a lot of testing together and I feel we have clicked really well, but the serious stuff starts this weekend.

“It would be my dream to get pole and a win, but I know how tough that will be. I’ve managed to take pole at Brands Indy a couple of times before, so I have good confidence heading there. I’m also really interested to see how it will pan out with most teams moving to the new RML suspension kit, as it’s a bit like starting from scratch with car set-up.

“The aim this year is to win the title, so I need to make sure I have three strong results to kick the year off well and hopefully gain some momentum. It’s always a fine balancing act of being consistent and staying out of trouble whilst going on maximum attack for podiums and wins.”

Huge grid to challenge for honours in Britain’s best motor racing series

The 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship kicks off at Brands Hatch next weekend (2/3 April) with a record 32-car full-season entry preparing to do battle.

An exciting line-up of five former champions, proven race winners and an ever-growing number of young chargers will take to the 1.2-mile Indy Circuit in front of what is expected to be a huge crowd at the famous Kent venue.

Honda driver Gordon Shedden clinched Britain’s most coveted motor sport crown in last year’s pulsating tussle that went down to the wire, but the Scotsman faces a monumental challenge if he’s to retain his title this time around.

Eleven marques are represented on this year’s grid with the legendary Japanese manufacturer Subaru joining the BTCC for the first time in its history.

The ten event, 30 race format will be played out in front of hundreds of thousands of fans trackside throughout the season and there will be millions more watching each and every race live on the ITV network.

While the likes of Formula One moves its attention towards subscription-based television channels over the coming years, the BTCC will continue to provide free-to-air coverage across the UK. ITV will broadcast each and every race live and exclusively on ITV4 until at least 2022, plus extensive highlights programmes over the same period.

Talking point: It’s anyone’s guess
Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden will likely start the season as favourite, having clinched a second BTCC title in 2015, but he’ll face a growing threat from a dozen or so challengers.

The championship-winning Honda Civic Type R has been developed and tested extensively during the off-season, so both Shedden and his triple champion team-mate Matt Neal are well placed to contend.

Subaru’s entry means Jason Plato and Colin Turkington will be driving the newly-prepared Levorg, which turned heads during its unveil at Donington Park earlier this week. While the credentials of the Team BMR-run squad are not in question, the car itself is still yet to turn a wheel in anger – so it remains to be seen if the squad can hit the ground running next weekend.

One team that will be looking to pick up where it left off is local favourite Motorbase Performance. The Wrotham-based outfit won twice during the season finale at Brands Hatch in October and many are predicting that driver Mat Jackson is best placed to win a maiden title. Jackson will face a huge challenge, however, from within his own camp with 2013 champion Andrew Jordan joining Motorbase over the off-season.

MG Racing RCIB Insurance hit the track in some style during the only official BTCC test session at Donington, as its young duo wowed onlookers.

The MG6 is a proven race-winner and the squad has this year handed driving roles to two talents of the future rather than established stars. The pair immediately defied their rookie status at Donington Park when reigning UK Clio Cup champion Ashley Sutton set the second quickest time on his maiden outing in the car. Stablemate Josh Cook also featured, ending the session inside the top five.

West Surrey Racing boasts a trio of contenders in Sam Tordoff, Rob Collard and Jack Goff, whilst the best of the rest list includes the likes of Rob Austin, Adam Morgan, Aron Smith and Tom Ingram.

Local Heroes: Home advantage for Motorbase and Co…
A quartet of local teams, Motorbase Performance, Team HARD and AmD Tuning and West Surrey Racing will be hoping to impress at the season opener.

Absent from the grid over the first half of 2015, Motorbase returned with a bang last summer and was the team to beat over the final few meetings with its Ford Focus. Team HARD and AmD Tuning, meanwhile, both showed flashes of form last year and will be eager to shine on home turf.

RCIB Insurance Racing’s Jake Hill is Kent born-and-bred, and invariably produces his best performances in front of Brands Hatch’s capacity crowds. Ollie Jackson returns to Britain’s premier motor sport series in 2016 and in AmD’s Audi S3, the Surrey-based racer is behind the wheel of arguably one of the best-looking cars on the grid. West Drayton’s Matt Simpson bolsters Speedworks Motorsport’s ranks as the former European Hot Rod champion prepares to make his BTCC bow in a Honda Civic Type R.

Surrey squad WSR has three new-look BMW 125i M Sport machines in its arsenal for the 2016 campaign, as the outfit look for 'home' comforts at Brands Hatch to kick off their season in style.

Timetable and tickets
The opening race weekend of the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship takes place on Sunday 3 April, with the entire race day broadcast live and in high definition on ITV4 from 10:15am. Those in attendance at the circuit can stay in touch with the commentary and live timing from every session, available on the btcc.net Live Zone throughout the weekend.

In addition to the BTCC, the support series on the TOCA package are set to bring even more action to the fans at Brands Hatch. Sportscar racing fans will get their fix with races from the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship. The Renault UK Clio Cup – often seen as a stepping-stone to reaching the BTCC – will also feature on the huge bill of British racing, as will the MSA Formula.

Tickets for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season-opener at Brands Hatch on 2/3 April are available from £27, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0843 453 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk. All admission includes access to Sunday’s autograph session with the BTCC drivers in the pit lane as well as free parking.

Click here for a full event timetable.

Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin enjoyed a stellar pre-season test at Donington Park yesterday (22 March) as he set the third fastest lap time in the four-hour session.

The event represented Austin’s first public outing for his new team and his maiden official run in front-wheel BTCC machinery.

He led the order for much of the running, before the MG of Ashley Sutton moved to the top of the order. Austin completed 56 laps over the course of the afternoon, and eventually had to settle for third when Matt Neal’s Honda stormed to the top of the timesheets in the closing moments.

“It really couldn’t have gone better,” confirmed Austin. “We’re very happy with that. We didn’t try anything special or push too hard to be up at the front; we just went about our pre-planned programme, and to end up second-quickest was a really nice feeling.”

While the pace shown by Austin will buoy fans of the multiple BTCC race-winner, the man himself is still keen to keep expectations in check.

“I’m over the moon with today but we have got to be realistic with our expectations for Brands, going fast is only one part of it in the BTCC,” he continued. “I’ve still got a lot to learn with the front-wheel drive. In my 20-year racing career I’ve only done three races in front-wheel drive, and that was 12 years ago, so Brands will be a big learning curve for me.

“We’re keeping it realistic but this is a fantastic start, especially considering we didn’t throw a load of new tyres at the car to just go for times.

“The car is mega – the team has done a great job with it. The target for Brands Hatch will be to bring home what points we can. I’ll be happy with top ten finishes on the first weekend – although as we’ve proved today, there’s definitely potential for more...”

Team Principal Simon Belcher was also delighted with the progress shown by Austin and his Handy Motorsport squad.

“Today has been really good – I’m happy, Rob is happy, and he actually left a couple of tenths on the table from his ideal time so there was the potential to be quickest overall,” said Belcher. “I really am elated the team has been this competitive, we thought we could be from winter testing and the car has been trouble-free all day.

“We managed to get some qualifying and race simulations done and ticked all the boxes, to be third on the times and just a tenth off fastest, well, we would have been happy to take that at the start. We need to see where we are at Brands before we get a true picture, but Rob is driving fantastically and after racing rear-wheel drive so long, he has adapted to front-wheel drive unbelievably well.”

Attention now turns to the opening BTCC race meeting of 2016, which will take place at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit in Kent on 2nd/3rd April.

Provisionally, following the usual pair of free practice sessions on Saturday, 2nd April, the first qualifying session of the year will get underway at 15.40. Rounds one, two and three will then follow on Sunday, 3rd April, at 11.30, 14.10 and 17.10 – live coverage of all three contests will be screened on ITV4 and online at www.itv.com/btcc.

Halfords Yuasa Racing star pips rookie in closing moments of pre-season BTCC test

Tin-top legend Matt Neal topped the timesheets in the only official 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship pre-season test, as the Halfords Yuasa Racing driver pipped young rookie Ashley Sutton in the closing moments at Donington Park.

Neal was languishing down the order until his late flurry of laps, which initially saw the triple champion fall short of Sutton’s benchmark by just 0.003s. The run continued and minutes later the Civic Type R racer had eclipsed the MG6 driver’s best effort by nearly a tenth of a second.

Sutton’s effort still represented a very productive outing for the manufacturer-backed MG squad as his team-mate Josh Cook took fifth, which was all the more impressive considering it was the first time that both young talents had driven the car.

The Handy Motorsport Toyota of Rob Austin led the way for much of the early running, before Sutton took over in the final hour. Austin eventually had to settle for third while Tom Ingram also proved the pace of the Avensis by setting the fourth fastest time for Speedworks Motorsport.

Eurotech Racing enjoyed an extremely competitive afternoon with Martin Depper and Jeff Smith finishing in sixth and seventh respectively. WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan was eighth, whilst both Motorbase Performance and West Surrey Racing could only manage ninth and tenth in the order with Mat Jackson and Sam Tordoff.

Notable absentees from the top ten included reigning champion Gordon Shedden in the other works Honda and Andrew Jordan's Pirtek Racing Ford Focus. The lap times throughout the field were hugely competitive, however, with the top 17 cars finishing within one second of the pace-setting time.

The session was punctuated by a number of red flag incidents, but overall the reliability shown and mileage clocked up the competitors was impressive. Almost half the runners completed more than 50 laps of the 1.98-mile circuit, with AmD’s Ollie Jackson clocking-up the most mileage on his return to the series.

The four Subaru Team BMR cars were unable to run during the session, although the striking white Levorg proved a hit when it was unveiled to the media earlier in the day. The machines of Michael Epps, Kelvin Fletcher and Stewart Lines were the others not to turn a wheel from the capacity 32-car grid.

The BTCC now moves on to Brands Hatch for the opening rounds of the season on the 2/3 April.

Matt Neal said: “It’s a nice start isn’t it, but it’s going to be very, very close out there. The strength of the TOCA engine looks strong and there are also a lot of new faces coming in, so that’s a bit of an unknown for us. Most of the day we’ve been working on the TOCA components with the RML guys. It’s been a productive day, so that’s all good. I’ve just been doing back-to-back stuff for them and at the end of the day we just wanted to see what it was good for so we opened her up. We’re back at Brands tomorrow where we had a tough test last week. We weren’t fastest by a long margin so we’ll see what we can wind ourselves up for there.”

Ashley Sutton said: “We’d only had 39 laps in the car when we went quickest – to achieve that sort of pace in such a short running time was clearly more than we’d expected. I was surprised that only Matt Neal pipped us in the end. I’m very happy, and we know there’s more time in the car. You’re never sure what the other guys are doing in these situations, but we know what we were doing and the MG is just spot-on – a dream to drive. It will be nice to get a solid qualifying session under my belt at Brands Hatch. It’s not going to be easy, of course – I’m the new kid on the block, so I’m going to get pushed and shoved around a bit initially – but I’m aiming for podium finishes throughout the year, that’s where I want to be.”

Rob Austin said: “It’s been a good, solid day – we’re very happy with that. We didn’t try anything special or push too hard to be up at the front; we just went about our pre-planned programme, and to end up second quickest was a really nice feeling. I’m still very aware that I have a lot to learn with regards to front-wheel drive and race runs in the Avensis, so we are keeping our expectations in check but the car is mega – the team has done a great job with it. The target for Brands Hatch will be to bring home what points we can. I’ll be happy with top ten finishes on the first weekend – although as we’ve proved today, there’s definitely potential for more...”