The return to the Donington Park GP circuit produced the most significant headline when the schedule was announced for the 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship and we are glad to have the layout back on the calendar for 2024.
Whilst the venue is famed for many reasons – including the notorious Ayrton Senna performance in the 1993 European Grand Prix – it has also produced some unforgettable BTCC memories.
The last BTCC race took place on the layout before its calendar break was in 2002, when the race winners were James Thompson in a Vauxhall Astra Coupe and Alan Morrison in a Honda Civic Type R, but the venue hosted many iconic moments beforehand.
Team BMW has today (26 March) launched its challenge for the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship by confirming the continued presence of both Colin Turkington and Adam Morgan in its line-up of BMW 330e M Sport race cars.
The BMW 3 Series, which will once again wear the famous M colours synonymous with unprecedented success in global motorsport for more than 40 years, will be prepared and run by 16-time BTCC champions WSR.
Featuring revised front and rear-end styling inspired by the latest BMW 3 Series production model, the hybrid racing car features aerodynamic, cooling and chassis upgrades aimed at enhancing looks and performance across for the 30-race series.
The hybrid 330e M Sport will be powered by a UK-supplied 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine, with the latest technology to improve emissions and using 20% sustainable fuel as BMW seeks a record-breaking tenth BTCC Manufacturers’ title.
Working hand in hand with BMW’s engine-manufacturing facility at Hams Hall, BMW’s engine-manufacturing facility in Warwickshire, a number of different engine types were analysed before preparation for the BTCC regulations was completed by Neil Brown Engineering (NBE).
Northern Irishman Colin is one of the BTCC’s most successful drivers with 67 wins, 181 podium finishes and a record four overall championships and five Independents’ crowns to his name as well as an FIA World Touring Car Championship victory.
Having made his BTCC debut in 2002 with WSR, he now embarks on an eighth-straight season with Team BMW as he chases a record fifth title.
Adam Morgan joined Team BMW for the 2023 season and scored a podium finish on his debut weekend with the Sunbury-on-Thames team on his way to ninth in the standings.
Adam, from Blackburn, has 11 wins and 41 podiums to his name and is the most recent driver to have taken a WSR-designed and built BMW to victory for an independent team.
Details of a fourth WSR-run BMW will be provided in due course.
Pre-season testing is due to begin at Snetterton this week with the 2024 BTCC beginning at Donington Park, East Midlands, on April 27-28 for the first of ten triple-header rounds at circuits across the UK.
Colin Turkington said: “I’m extremely pleased to be a part of Team BMW for the 2024 season and to race the BMW 330e M Sport. This will be my 18th year with WSR and you couldn’t ask for a better team to be a part of. The team have worked incredibly hard over the winter to enhance the performance of our BMWs and I’m focused on being the best, most competitive version of myself I can be when so that we can put ourselves in the hunt for podiums and wins right from the season-opener at Donington.”
Adam Morgan said: “It’s going to be my second year with Team BMW and I’m raring to go after what’s felt like a very long winter. In 2023 we scored a podium at our first weekend together but now the target has to be getting that first win with WSR and making sure we’re in the hunt for victories and podiums at every event. If we do that then we’ll be in for a very good season and Colin and I will have a strong shot at winning the Teams’ Championship for Team BMW. I’m looking forward to trying out the upgraded BMW and to see what we can do this season.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal, said: “The new season is nearly upon us and it’s once again an honour to represent BMW in the UK’s leading motor racing championship. The target is to add to the 16 overall championships won by WSR in the BTCC and in Colin and Adam we have two first-rate drivers at Team BMW to help us achieve this. We’ve worked on several areas of the BMW 330e M Sport over the winter, all aimed at improving overall performance and we must thank the team at Hams Hall for their help with our first UK-supplied engines since becoming part the BMW family and to NBE for making them race-ready. I say it every year, but the level of competition keeps on increasing so once again we have to make sure we perform better than ever if we’re to achieve our goals this year.”
Biography
Halstead was a relative latecomer to racing, making his debut in 2017 and winning the Am category of the Ginetta GT5 Challenge in just his second season.
Halstead went on to become a regular on the BTCC support package in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, scoring 16 podiums – including five wins – in his debut year alone, and then entered the British GT Championship in the GT4 Pro/Am class in 2020, ending the year as Vice Champion.
In 2021, Halstead made his Championship debut, after Rick Parfitt was unable to take part at Croft. Improving throughout race day, the Kent racer secured a best finish of 21st during the third contest on the 2.13-mile circuit.
In 2023, he embarked on his first full season in the Championship with defending champions BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8.
Halstead returns to the renamed Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS in 2024 looking to add to his two points scoring results of 2023, with a best result of seventh coming in the opening round at Donington Park.
Biography
Rob Huff competed in the BTCC back in 2004 for Seat – racing a Toledo Cupra to two victories – one at Brands and one at Snetterton – and a further three podiums, including one at Silverstone on the way to seventh in the standings.
Huff then went on a world tour to begin a 13-year stint in the WTCC. Becoming World Champion in 2012 in the Chevrolet Cruze. During his last season of WTCC, Huff made an appearance in the BTCC for Power Maxed Racing at Silverstone securing his eighth podium in the series in the final race of the day. After 2017 the Cambridgeshire man competed in the World Touring Car Cup and during his last season he again made an appearance in the BTCC, this time at Knockhill for Team HARD.
Now in 2024, 20 years after his debut season, Huff will compete in his second full season of BTCC racing with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK.
DeLeon started karting in 2008, and his first race followed five years later at Rye House Kart Raceway. The 17-year-old has since become champion in the Bizkart Rental Championship and HKC Honda Clubman category and taken wins in the finals for the Motorsport UK British Kart Championship and UKC Ultimate Karting Championship.
In 2021 he contended in a handful of Radical SR1 events, claiming a double win at Donington Park and was also a class podium finisher at the Algarve Circuit in the Radical Intercontinental Cup.
The winning run has continued into 2022 taking another victory during the first round of the SR1 season at Donington Park in April, and a follow-up triumph at Brands Hatch.
In 2023, Daryl DeLeon made his BTCC debut as a part of Team HARD’s line-up scoring 6 points. In 2024 he will drive for Unlimited Motorsport.
Doble began his car racing career in 2018 in the BMW Compact Cup, continuing in the category in 2019 and 2020. The following year he moved to the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, ending the year fourth overall in the standings.
In 2022, Doble produced a superb season-long performance, with a total of 12 victories and 10 further podium finishes in both the Ginetta GT5 Challenge and BMW Compact Cup, to ultimately be crowned the champion of each category on the same, thrilling weekend.
In his next season Doble built on this success and took on the biggest season of his racing career to date, after confirming his seat with CarStore Power Maxed Racing in his maiden BTCC campaign. In which he was the only man not in a NAPA Racing UK car to take a pole position narrowly missing out on the Jack Sears’ Trophy.
In 2024, Doble will aim to improve his Jack Sears’ Trophy position that extra place along with moving further through the field in his second season.
Sam Osborne navigated his way to the BTCC via single-make series the MINI CHALLENGE and Renault UK Clio Cup, with a brief stint in Radical racing in-between.
A multiple race-winner in MINIs, Osborne finished fourth in the Cooper category in 2010 and replicated that result in the headlining JCW class in both 2011 and 2012.
He returned to the championship in 2015 and 2016 – placing just outside the top ten in the standings on both occasions – before switching to Clios as he continued to learn the ropes of tin-top racing, establishing himself as a regular top ten challenger in the TOCA support series.
Osborne made his BTCC debut in 2019 with series newcomer EXCELR8 Motorsport, completing the team’s two-car MG6 GT entry and scoring points on the team’s home turf at Snetterton.
In his sophomore BTCC campaign, Osborne tackled fresh challenges in his MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square Honda Civic Type R (FK2), securing two top ten finishes.
Having moved to Racing with Wera & Photon Group in 2021, Osborne continued in the Motorbase Performance-backed Ford Focus ST in 2022, under the Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan banner alongside Ollie Jackson. He kicked off the year with his best qualifying performance of the year and would conclude the campaign fourth in the highly-competitive Jack Sears Trophy battle.
In 2023, we see Osborne join NAPA Racing UK’s line-up, as part of the then Motorbase Performance-run squad’s expanded four-car line-up.
Returning to the newly named Alliance Racing-run NAPA Racing UK, Osborne looks to add to his 14 point-score finishes of 2023.
Pearson had an impressive 2022 campaign, where he took three race wins to spearhead EXCELR8’s championship assault in the BTCC supporting MINI CHALLENGE series.
As a member of EXCELR8’s BTCC Young Driver Development Programme, Pearson also spent the 2022 season working alongside its title-winning BTCC team to gain insight into what is required to compete at the highest level of British motorsport.
In 2023, Ronan Pearson made his BTCC debut as a part of EXCELR8 Motorsport’s line-up. The Scot impressed during his rookie season narrowly missing out on his first podium with his best finish of the season being fourth place, at his home race of Knockhill. This season Pearson will have his sights firmly set on the Jack Sears’ Trophy after finishing fifth in 2023.