It's been a long old winter, but I'm glad to say - the BTCC is definitely getting closer!
And I'm back!
Ready and waiting for this year's British Touring Car Championship season to get under-way!
And I'm back!
Ready and waiting for this year's British Touring Car Championship season to get under-way!
The 2012 season is shaping up to be one of the best yet, and the winter break has come up trumps with it's slow, but steady build up of news and announcements.
At the beginning of the year, it was announced that Dave Newsham would be driving alongside Chris James at ES Racing for the 2012 season, with the news later on that they would be taking on the former Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectras.
Adam Morgan - the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup winner - signed with Speedworks Motorsport, whilst at the annual Autosport Show in Birmingham, Ollie Jackson was confirmed as AmD Miltek's 2012 driver.
Airwaves Racing put forward their thoughts on the upcoming season - saying they would like to see three Ford Focuses on the grid for the opening round at Brands Hatch. Only a couple of weeks ago, it was confirmed that Mat Jackson and Liam Griffin would be returning, joined by the new arrival Aron Smith, who will graduate from the Renault Clio Cup. The "red devils" this year, would be powered from Mountune and would be running the NGTC regulations.
Special Tuning Racing said earlier on in the year, that they would like to see two cars running in both the BTCC and the WTCC for 2012. This led to Tom Boardman announcing that he would be driving in the WTCC - the second 2011 driver to make the switch.
One of the biggest stories over the winter, was the news of MG returning to the championship, in partnership with Triple 8 Racing, with former two time champion Jason Plato and Andy Neate being the driving forces.
A wave of shock and sadness spread across the touring car community, when it became apparent that RML would not be returning to the BTCC for 2012, but instead decided to focus on it's successes in the WTCC.
The 2011 BTCC Independent's Champion James Nash, was the next driver to make the move up to the World Touring Car Championship for 2012. He would be driving for Team Aon in the series alongside another previous BTCC Independent's winner, Tom Chilton.
WSR confirmed that Rob Collard and Nick Foster would remain with the team in 2012, with Tom Onslow-Cole completing the three car line-up. Team boss Dick Bennett's believes 2012 will be the team's strongest year since winning the title in 2009, with the three drivers taking on turbo powered BMWs.
With Ben Edwards heading to the BBC to work alongside David Coulthard in the Formula One commentary box, MotoGP commentator Toby Moody was confirmed as his replacement, alongside BTCC veteran Tim Harvey.
The much anticipated news of the winter came from Tony Gilham, who announced that he would be racing a turbo-charged Honda Civic - previously driven by 2011 runner up, Gordon Shedden. The news of which team Gilham will be running with for 2012 is still unknown.
Thorney Motorsport will make their debut in the BTCC this season, and only last week, it was announced that they would be running two Vauxhall Insignias, one for principle John Thorne and a second for former Britcar driver Rob Hedley. The second car will run from the Oulton Park round of the championship in June. The mirror.co.uk will become another national media partner to the championship, as they follow the progress of Thorney Motorsport through the year.
The very latest news from the championship, which was confirmed today, is a fourth driver from the 2011 grid will be making his move to the WTCC for this season. Alex MacDowall will race with Bamboo racing alongside Pasquale Di Sabatino.
Teams that have yet to announce/confirm their plans for the 2012 season, to name a few, are Dynojet, Rob Austin Racing, Tech Speed and STR.
Adam Morgan - the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup winner - signed with Speedworks Motorsport, whilst at the annual Autosport Show in Birmingham, Ollie Jackson was confirmed as AmD Miltek's 2012 driver.
Airwaves Racing put forward their thoughts on the upcoming season - saying they would like to see three Ford Focuses on the grid for the opening round at Brands Hatch. Only a couple of weeks ago, it was confirmed that Mat Jackson and Liam Griffin would be returning, joined by the new arrival Aron Smith, who will graduate from the Renault Clio Cup. The "red devils" this year, would be powered from Mountune and would be running the NGTC regulations.
Special Tuning Racing said earlier on in the year, that they would like to see two cars running in both the BTCC and the WTCC for 2012. This led to Tom Boardman announcing that he would be driving in the WTCC - the second 2011 driver to make the switch.
One of the biggest stories over the winter, was the news of MG returning to the championship, in partnership with Triple 8 Racing, with former two time champion Jason Plato and Andy Neate being the driving forces.
A wave of shock and sadness spread across the touring car community, when it became apparent that RML would not be returning to the BTCC for 2012, but instead decided to focus on it's successes in the WTCC.
The 2011 BTCC Independent's Champion James Nash, was the next driver to make the move up to the World Touring Car Championship for 2012. He would be driving for Team Aon in the series alongside another previous BTCC Independent's winner, Tom Chilton.
WSR confirmed that Rob Collard and Nick Foster would remain with the team in 2012, with Tom Onslow-Cole completing the three car line-up. Team boss Dick Bennett's believes 2012 will be the team's strongest year since winning the title in 2009, with the three drivers taking on turbo powered BMWs.
With Ben Edwards heading to the BBC to work alongside David Coulthard in the Formula One commentary box, MotoGP commentator Toby Moody was confirmed as his replacement, alongside BTCC veteran Tim Harvey.
The much anticipated news of the winter came from Tony Gilham, who announced that he would be racing a turbo-charged Honda Civic - previously driven by 2011 runner up, Gordon Shedden. The news of which team Gilham will be running with for 2012 is still unknown.
Thorney Motorsport will make their debut in the BTCC this season, and only last week, it was announced that they would be running two Vauxhall Insignias, one for principle John Thorne and a second for former Britcar driver Rob Hedley. The second car will run from the Oulton Park round of the championship in June. The mirror.co.uk will become another national media partner to the championship, as they follow the progress of Thorney Motorsport through the year.
The very latest news from the championship, which was confirmed today, is a fourth driver from the 2011 grid will be making his move to the WTCC for this season. Alex MacDowall will race with Bamboo racing alongside Pasquale Di Sabatino.
Teams that have yet to announce/confirm their plans for the 2012 season, to name a few, are Dynojet, Rob Austin Racing, Tech Speed and STR.
The BTCC Media Day, will be held at Silverstone Circuit on the 19th March (three week's today!) with free public entry from 12:30 p.m, just in time for the first official test to begin.
Phew - all this excitement - and the season hasn't even begun!
I think it's safe to say a big welcome back to the BTCC - and here's to another spectacular year - let's make it better than ever!
If you've got any questions about this season or anything else to do with the BTCC, follow me on Twitter (@nikkii98) and ask away!
