MG Motor UK has announced a new three-year contract extension with Triple Eight Racing in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).

This new contract will see MG Triple Eight Racing battling it out in this ultra competitive series for more pole positions and manufacturer championship wins until at least the end of the 2018 season.

Matthew Cheyne, Head of Sales and Marketing for MG, said: “We are really excited to be renewing this partnership. The BTCC has given us the opportunity to give our brand some fantastic exposure, so we’re thrilled to be continuing this for another three years.

“We have built up a strong relationship with Triple Eight during our four years together, so we’re glad to be working with them again and look forward to developing a new team that will lead to more successes.”

Matthew added: “We’ve been very lucky to have worked with some extremely talented drivers over our time of being involved with the touring cars, but our plan is to grow our own champion over the duration of the contract. Driver announcements will be made soon, but we can confirm we’ll be looking to create a young and up-and-coming line up.”

With the arrival of the highly anticipated MG SUV in 2016, which will be an exciting new phase for the brand, finding new talent and working with them to grow fits with the direction MG Motor UK is going in.

Ian Harrison, Team Principal at Triple Eight Racing, said: “We’re delighted to renew this important strategic deal. This year we saw an even more competitive BTCC and, while our drivers didn’t always get the results hoped, we took small comfort in the fact we had a year of zero mechanical and electrical faults; which is rare in this business and is an example of the high standards that Triple Eight prides itself on.

“That quality has been a deciding factor for MG, who are realising the opportunity that the BTCC offers and we’re looking forwarding to working on the new MG6 platform for the coming three years. I fully believe we can once again be strong contenders for every title on the table.”

More information about the driver line-up for 2016 will be announced in due course.

After watching some of the classic battles from the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship via ITV’s dedicated BTCC website we asked the fans to decide on the jewel of the duels!

Having whittled the contest down to three, which included Andy Priaulx and Gordon Shedden’s opening day drama at Brands Hatch, and Josh Cook’s scrap with Aron Smith at Donington Park, the fans made a clear decision on their favourite.

The unforgettable duel between Tom Ingram and Jason Plato won the Twitter poll as fans fondly remembered the young gun fending off a BTCC legend for much of the contest. Plato eventually made his way through but there was still great delight for Ingram as he stormed to his first ever BTCC podium, leading to wild scenes in the pitlane.

The Ingram/Plato battle won the poll with 62% of the vote with Priaulx and Shedden coming in second with 21%. Josh Cook’s crazy tussle with Aron Smith came in third but will undoubtedly still go down as one of the memorable moments of 2015!

Relive the Jewel of the Duels here via ITV’s dedicated BTCC website and check out our Ingram Vs Plato photo special on Facebook.

Ten entrants have been chosen at random to win a copy of Haymarket’s BTCC Season Review, which comes with a unique official BTCC front cover that is not available in the shops.

All that’s left is to say congratulations to Tom and Jason, and of course thank you to the fans for taking part in a bit of fun!

RML has been making considerable progress with its components ahead of the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with the front-running West Surrey Racing becoming the latest team to complete a test with the full kit.

Series organiser TOCA awarded a six-year Technical Partner contract to the RML Group for the supply of the specified chassis components for the BTCC, with the term commencing next season.

The Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet of Josh Cook ran some of the parts during the 2015 season finale at Brands Hatch, and the same outfit completed more than 50 laps of the full equipment during a post-season test at Donington Park.

Power Maxed returned to Donington Park where Andrew Jordan took over driving duties of the Cruze to provide further feedback on the package.

“The general balance of the car was very good,” the 2013 champion said when quizzed about the new parts. “The car felt very progressive and generated good grip, through high speed corners it had good rear rotation which allowed me to unwind the lock out to corner exit rather than having to apply opposite lock.”

“Steering felt much more positive, made the front end and change of direction feel very direct.”

That particular outing was the start of an extensive programme of testing to ensure that the new package meets all the requirements of the UK’s premier motor sport series.

The first full kits were delivered to teams in November and West Surrey Racing became the first team to test the rear-wheel-drive package earlier this week.

Sam Tordoff carried out initial running in the WSR BMW 125i M Series at Brands Hatch, which was supported by RML and included expected modifications in order to fit the RWD machines.

The first batch of kits have already been delivered to teams with the second batch due to reach the remaining BTCC squads by the end of this week.

“Progress has been going very well,” commented BTCC Technical Director Peter Riches. “Feedback from the teams has been extremely positive and everything is on schedule. The test runs have been very productive, with the cars showing good performance straight out of the box on a base set up.”

Motorbase Performance and Ciceley Motorsport have both pencilled in a test run prior to Christmas with a whole host of teams expected to kick off their respective programmes in the New Year.

To celebrate the BTCC’s phenomenal new television contract with the ITV Network, which will screen the series until at least 2022, we have been looking back at some of the great moments from the 2015 season.

All of this year’s 30 races, plus our support series’, are all still available to watch via ITV’s dedicated BTCC website here, and our team have been busy reminiscing.

After making notes of all the memorable duels at the front of the pack we have whittled them down to a top three, but now we need your help!

You get the chance to decide on the jewel of the duels by taking part in our Twitter pole, and here are the contenders:

 

Andy Priaulx Vs Gordon Shedden – Round 2 – Brands Hatch Indy

These two tin top legends gave us all a taste of what was to come by producing an opening day duel that quite literally went down to the wire with one of the closest ever finishes in BTCC history!

Watch the full race here

 

Josh Cook Vs Aron Smith – Round 6 – Donington Park

It was a duel that produced arguably the biggest heart in mouth moment that would ultimately scupper both Cook and Smith’s chances of winning this particular race, but it was a battle that won the hearts of many BTCC fans!

Watch the full race here

 

Jason Plato Vs Tom Ingram – Round 24 – Rockingham

Emotional scenes broke out at the end of this titanic tussle as young Tom Ingram scored his first ever BTCC podium. Race long pressure from the series’ most successful driver – Jason Plato – had the crowd on its collective feet.

Watch the full race here

Of course there were other outstanding duels including Matt Neal and Jack Goff at Brands, Rob Collard and Gordon Shedden at Oulton, Andy Priaulx and Aiden Moffat at Knockhill, and the list goes on, but our team believe the aforementioned scraps top the bill.

So now you’ve watched the races it’s time to make your vote on Twitter here to decide which is the jewel of the duels, and you can post the reasons behind your choice via our Facebook post here – ten of you will receive a copy of Haymarket’s BTCC Special Edition Season Review magazine.

It’s only right that the BTCC fans settle this score for good – enjoy!

Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden rounded off a sensational season by winning the National Driver of the Year prize at last night’s glittering Autosport Awards in London.

Shedden saw off the challenges from fellow BTCC stars Jason Plato and Matt Neal, plus British GT’s Jonny Adam and Alexander Sims, and Formula 3 European Championship race winner Jake Dennis.

Since taking the BTCC title in such unforgettable fashion – securing his second tin-top crown in the final moments of the final race at Brands Hatch – Shedden has been collecting silverware on a regular basis.

The Scotsman was toasted at the recent TOCA Awards and then went on to receive a Scottish Car of the Year award on behalf of Honda, with the Civic Type R winning the hot hatch category.

"The one thing that the BTCC always delivers is excitement," Shedden told Autosport, having been given his most recent award by F1 race winner Felipe Massa.

"To take the title fight to the last race, it was incredible. The emotions had been up and down, but to come through in the last race was fantastic."

It is the second time that Shedden has scooped the National Driver of the Year award, following his 2012 triumph, and last night’s success secured the seventh consecutive win for a BTCC driver.

Steve Rider has been associated with the BTCC for nearly 30 years and news of the latest record breaking television contract has got the ITV man purring.

The British broadcasting giant has screened the series since 2002 and Rider has been there every step of the way.

“Having been involved in the broadcasting of the BTCC for twenty eight years, this renewed ITV commitment is the most exciting news for the Championship and British motor sport in general,” he said.

ITV will continue to screen the series live on its free-to-air ITV4 and ITV4HD channels until 2022, with at least seven hours of coverage from each race day, whilst the staggering host of highlights and online content will also remain.

“The guarantee of extensive free-to-air live coverage will allow the partnership between ITV and the BTCC to develop to a whole new level, underlining the position of the Championship and its support races as the most consistently competitive and entertaining motor racing on television,” continued Rider.

“The BTCC already has a long term commitment from its main sponsor, full grids, strong, determined personalities, crowds of over thirty thousand and a thirty race Championship, which, in 2015, was only decided in the last few hundred yards of racing,” he concluded. “Now it promises to get even better. Well done ITV.”

To get in the mood for what's to come next season and indeed until well into the next decade on ITV Sport then you can whet the appetite by looking back at the 2015 campaign via the newly launched ITV Hub - watch the BTCC 2015 Season Review (available for the next 4 days) here.

Jordan fires title warning shot ahead of 2016 campaign

The Pirtek Racing Ford Focus was unveiled at Silverstone earlier today (2 December) as driver Andrew Jordan reaffirmed his title target ahead of the 2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Jordan’s move to Motorbase created headlines when it was announced back in October and today’s striking car reveal is likely to do the same.

Following on from the well-received special one-off chrome edition of the famous Pirtek livery mid-way through the 2015 season, Red Bull athlete Jordan has worked in close conjunction with long-term backers Pirtek to create the spectacular eye-catching blue chrome effect design that will adorn the Motorbase Ford Focus ST in 2016.

“Moving across to Motorbase for next year we wanted to take the opportunity to change up the livery,” said Jordan. “The idea came from the fans reaction to the chrome livery from earlier this year and we wanted to find a way to incorporate the Pirtek blue.

“I’ve always said that it’s the best looking car on the grid and I think that’s definitely the case now.”

A confident Jordan was in buoyant mood when he spoke to btcc.net during the launch and he’s keen to get down to business as soon as possible.

“I feel at home here and have done from the moment I signed,” he continued. “We spoke with the team last year and then kept a close eye on their progress. We knew how capable the team is and when we realised how good the car was we decided to enter into serious discussions!

“It was an easy decision and one that I feel gives us the best chance of winning the title again. Being the 2013 champion already feels like it was too long ago so winning it again is a must – anything but being champion will feel like a disappointment.

“That’s not to say that it’s going to be easy of course. This championship is so tough and you have to have everything going your way in order to win it. You need luck of course but then you also need to plan meticulously, which is what we did in 2013 and we’re already doing here at Motorbase.”

Part of that planning includes ten test days ahead of the 2016 season, which will see the striking Pirtek racer likely hitting the track at Brands Hatch before Christmas and a schedule of running in warmer climates in the New Year.

“We’re going to go to Portugal in February,” said Team Principal David Bartrum. “We aim to be ahead of the game over the winter as winning the championship is clearly our objective.

“I think the new livery is stunning. You have to stand out in the BTCC and I think the Pirtek car will certainly turn heads. You go racing to win races and championships but you’ve also got to deliver the brand for backers of the team and I think that the new livery says that Pirtek is back and back in a big way.”

BTCC Series Director Alan Gow speaks to btcc.net after a sensational few days, which has seen the championship sign long-term deals with Dunlop and ITV. Click below to hear Alan's thoughts on these record breaking contracts: