BTCC debuts 2026 season this weekend with new cars, revised rules

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship kicks off this weekend with three championship rounds at Donington’s National Circuit.

For the second season in a row, all 30 races of the championship will be broadcast live on RACER Network, starting with Race 1 at 6:15am ET on Sunday, with Races 2 and 3 following at 9:25 and 12:15 respectively.

This season is the 69th of the UK’s premier motorsport championship and the 16th of the "Next Generation Touring Car" technical regulations which were first introduced in 2011 and phased in over the course of three seasons with the intention of not only controlling costs but closing up the competitive order.

Cars start life as production line shells, but have spec front and rear subframes, as well as aerodynamic enhancements which inclined a spec rear wing.

All are powered by 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engines pushing out at least 300 hp (either developed by teams/manufacturers or the series-supplied "TOCA engine" – unofficially named after the series organizer).

Other spec parts mandated for all teams include a six-speed sequential gearbox from Xtrac, AP Racing carbon clutch, brakes and pedal box, fuel tanks, turbos, wastegates, intercoolers, dampers and suspension, a Cosworth electronics package including ECU, dashboard and data logging, and 18-inch wheels supplied by Team Dynamics.

In lieu of success ballast, which was abolished in 2022 when hybrid boost was introduced (which itself was axed last year), turbo boost – named "TOCA Turbo Boost" or TTB – is managed as a way to level the playing field. The top seven cars in the championship (or the top seven on the grid for the first round of the season) will have reduced boost time, accessed at an increased minimum speed, in the races. Cars ranked from eighth onward can access their boost for 50% of the racing laps, accessible at a lower minimum speed. It will also be the second to be powered by 100% renewable fuels.

This year will feature the introduction of three new cars to the series – the most since 2018, and the second-most in a single season in the NGTC era after 2014 and 2012 which introduced four cars – with the Ford Focus Titanium Saloon, Mercedes-AMG A35 Saloon, and Audi S3 Saloon all joining the grid. The three cars represent a return of sedans to prominence in the series with hatchbacks making up around half of the cars built to NGTC specification thus far.

NAPA Racing UK’s new Alliance Racing-built and run Focus is… well, not entirely new. While it appears like a traditional "three box" sedan, the cars themselves actually started life as the hatchbacks the team has fielded for the last six seasons, with the rear quarter refabricated in the off-season to resemble the car not actually sold in the UK (a rule allowing cars not sold in the UK to feature was brought forward from 2027 at the agreement of all teams).

The thinking is it will be more aerodynamically efficient than the ultra-successful hatchback that had reached the peak of its development potential.

“The ultimate goal is to reduce aerodynamic drag,” Antonio Carrozza, NAPA Racing UK’s lead engineer, told BTCC.net. "We highlighted that as an area we wanted to address last season, and this move to a different shape allows us to do just that; there are many elements that remain the same to the car, however, there will be some fine-tuning required.

“Everyone involved in this project has done a fantastic job, and now the exciting bit comes next: to head out on track and begin dialing the car into what we hope will be a championship challenger.”

The team’s driver line-up will once again be led by four-time series champion Ash Sutton and 16-time race-winner Dan Cammish, with Sam Osborne returning for a fourth season with the team and debutant Lewis Selby joining in place of Daniel Rowbottom who has headed to the new Plato Racing operation.

Similarly, Cataclean Plato Racing has opted for a sedan version of a car that’s only sold in the championship’s home turf as a hatchback – the Mercedes-AMG A35 – which provides one of the most aerodynamically efficient profiles of the four-door cars eligible for the championship. As is the case with pretty much every team in the series, the team doesn’t have manufacturer backing – the shells of the three cars in fact started life as water-damaged insurance write-offs!

The team has been formed by two-time BTCC champion and record race winner Jason Plato with support from motorsport giant RML as well as big brands Asus and Snap-on. The team’s other driver, Adam Morgan, brings support from his family’s Cicely Commercials truck business.

It might be an all-new team, but Plato has already set targets of wins and poles right from the first weekend.

The final new car in the field this season represents a quite literal phoenix rising from the ashes.

Last August, popular independent team Power Maxed Racing was decimated with a fire at its headquarters in which everything – including the team’s three race-winning Vauxhall Astras – bar the team’s transporters, was lost.

Undeterred, the team saw out the second half of last season with a pair of borrowed Cupra Leons, and set about developing a trio of Audi S3 Saloons for the new season. They’ll be driven by Mikey Doble, returning for a fourth season with the team and looking to build on his maiden victory in the third race at Snetterton last season, along with new signings Dexter Patterson and Aiden Moffat. Doble and Moffat will race under the LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing banner, while Patterson will race under the Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing name.

After a low-key debut at the official two-day test at Croft, the three PMR Audis showed well at the season launch on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, with Doble topping the morning session and Patterson top for much of the afternoon, both drivers ending the day's cumulative times in the top five and Moffat in 11th, 0.004s of the top 10.

Elsewhere in the field, Excelr8's Team VERTU operation will once again field four snappily titled Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performances with the Toms – reigning champion Tom Ingram and 18-time race winner Tom Chilton – being joined by new signings Ricky Collard and Nicolas Hamilton.

Speedworks Motorsport will again field a quartet of Toyota Corolla GR Sports, split across two entries: Speedworks Corolla Racing (which is classified as a constructor entry alongside Team Vertu, NAPA Racing UK, and Plato Racing) and Mark Blundell’s Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport. The two manufacturer entries will be driven by Josh Cook and Max Buxton, embarking on his first full season after debuting midway through last year, while the MB cars will be helmed by Aron Taylor-Smith and three-time champion Gordon Shedden.

West Surrey Racing will once again field BMW 3 Series for Croft test pacesetter Daryl DeLeon – who, racing under the flag of the Philippines, is one of only two non-Brits in the field along with Taylor-Smith of Ireland – and Charles Rainford, who was quickest in the test at the Brands Hatch Season launch. WSR has opted to not classify itself as a Manufacturer entry this season, but rather as an Independent for the first time since 2014.

Finally, Restart Racing will field a pair of customer Hyundai i30s for Chris Smiley and James Dorlin, who moves over from Speedworks for his second BTCC campaign.

The Jack Sears Trophy, eligible for drivers that enter the season with no more than one outright podium finish, is open to Hamilton, Selby, Buxton, Patterson, and Dorlin.

Throughout the season, Goodyear will supply three tire compounds (Hard, Medium, and Soft), with all three needing to be used across all three races in a weekend.

The top finishers in the first race of the weekend must use the hardest compound in the second race to shake things up and lessen the chance of a repeat result. The only place where none of that will apply will be at Thruxton (July 25-26) where due to the track's high speed and abrasive nature, hard tires will be mandated across all three races.

As has been the case for the last two decades, the grid for Race 3 will be decided by a partial-reverse format, with numbers representing the finishers between sixth and 12th from Race 2 going into a bowl to be drawn at random with the number drawn going on pole and the rest from that set being reversed (or not) accordingly.

But one huge change for this season is how the grid for the first race on Sundays will be decided.

Race 2's line-up will again be decided purely by the finishing results of Race 1, but Race 1's grid will be decided by an additional, shorter race on Saturdays. There will now be a sole 40-minute practice session on Saturdays, followed by two 15-minute traditional qualifying sessions. Then a shorter race will take place on Saturday afternoons to decide the grid for the first race of Sunday.

All three Sunday races – which are of equal distance to each other – are deemed championship rounds while the Saturday qualifying race is not. The Saturday races, will, however award championship points down the 15th place. 10-9-8-7-6-5-5-4-4-3-3-2-2-1-1 is how points are awarded on Saturdays, while those totals go up to 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the three Sunday races.

The 30 championship rounds and 10 qualifying races will take place across 10 weekends. It's a familiar set of tracks in a somewhat unfamiliar order.

Donington's National circuit will once again host the season opener this weekend, before visits to Brands Hatch Indy, Snetterton (previously a round after the summer break but an early season event since 2023), and Oulton Park’s Island layout.

Thruxton in the south of England – typically an early season in recent seasons when it has hosted a sole weekend – holds its rounds in July, seven weeks after Oulton Park, before the series heads north of the border to Knockhill in Scotland.

It then returns to Donington on August 22-23, this time on the full layout before going to Croft in the first weekend of September – a trip taken later than usual. The season concludes with a trip to Silverstone's National Circuit and Brands Hatch’s full Grand Prix layout.

• All 30 BTCC championship rounds will be live on RACER Network and on the RACER+ App, beginning with the Donington Park this weekend. Live coverage begins at 6:15am ET on Sunday, April 19.