Three drivers remain in the hunt for the biggest prize in British four-wheeled motorsport ahead of the British Touring Car Championship’s (BTCC) triple-header finale on the world-famous Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit this weekend.
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Brands Hatch will host the BTCC’s deciding round for the seventh consecutive season on Sunday 30 September, and it’s Colin Turkington, who has twice sealed the championship at the Kent circuit, that leads the 31-car field.
BMW driver Turkington’s chief opposition will come from Tom Ingram, who is spearheading the charge from the championship’s next generation of star drivers. The Speedworks Motorsport Toyota driver is 34 points behind Turkington, with 67 on offer at this event.
Just behind them, the local Motorbase Performance team is still in with a slim chance of claiming the crown with Tom Chilton, who sits third in the standings. Chilton is 64 points behind the championship leader but will be keen to help the Wrotham based team end the season in style on home turf.
The BTCC heads to Brands Hatch after a record-breaking season in which 16 different drivers have won races already.
Turkington said: “The 2018 season has been incredible; in terms of the quality of drivers and teams on the grid, it’s the most competitive I’ve ever raced in. You’re always raising your game, but so is everybody else, so the intensity never drops and your focus can’t either. They’ve had a record number of race winners so far and that’s really spread the results out across more drivers than ever before. I’m confident the BMW will be competitive this weekend and will be giving it everything! This is the most energised I’ve been coming into a season finale and I’m enjoying the moment. These are the weekends I live for!”
Ingram said: “I feel like we’re in a good place. If you said to me, ‘do you want to swap,’ of course I’d say yes, but we’ve got nothing to lose. We can come second or if it turns round we could win it. Colin can only lose. He can win it, but if he has a bad weekend he’s lost it, whereas if we have a good weekend we could win it. So the pressure really is on Colin, he has to perform, he cannot make any mistakes, he has to finish every single race.”
Chilton said: “I cannot wait to get to Brands Hatch, my local and favourite race track of the year. The GP layout at Brands is far longer than the Indy and needs more skill to get a perfect lap time in qualifying. I think that will be tough as we’re now third in the championship and will have 57kgs of success ballast to slow me up 0.5s a lap.”
Other local interest will come in the form of Tunbridge Wells racer Mike Bushell who recently penned a new deal with the Kent-based Team HARD which will see him remain on the grid into 2019.
In addition to the three headline BTCC races, there will be a full support programme too, featuring Ginetta and Porsche sports cars, the Renault Clio Cup UK, and the British Formula 4 Championship.
Visitors can meet all of the drivers on the Sunday with a free-of-charge grid walk and autograph session at the start of the day. Giant TV screens will show all of the raceday action and fans have the chance to join the champion’s coronation on the grid at the end of the event.
Tickets for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship finale at Brands Hatch on 29/30 September are available online in advance until midday on Thursday with free entry for under-13s. Tickets can be booked by calling 0843 453 9000 or by clicking here.