Author: Stephen Hodges

BTCC 2020 rule tweaks announced, changes to tyres, ballast & qualifying.

Stephen Hodges

In preparation for the upcoming 2020 season TOCA, the governing body for the BTCC have announced a raft of rule changes and tweaks. The biggest change for 2020 will be the change from long standing tyre partner Dunlop over to Goodyear for the 2020 season. There are further changes relating to the tyre regulations for next year, teams will be required to run all 3 tyre compounds at Snetterton like in this years edition, but this will be replicated at Croft for the 2020 season. Additional changes include changes to…

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WRC Rally Catalunya, Tanak crowned 2019 WRC champion, Neuville takes rally win.

Stephen Hodges

The penultimate round of the world rally championship sees the championship roll into one of the series most iconic events, Rally Catalunya. The rally represents a unique challenge as well being the only mixed surface event on the calendar, friday’s opening leg being run on gravel stages with the saturday and sunday run on the high speed tarmac stages. It means a quick change from full gravel spec and settings into full tarmac spec for the remaining two legs. The drivers championship can also be decided this weekend as well,…

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BTCC Brands Hatch finale, Turkington clinches title number four.

Stephen Hodges

The final round of the 2019 BTCC season rolls back into Brands Hatch, this time on the fast sweeps of the full Grand Prix loop, the season will finish where it began and under similar conditions to the season opener, with sporadic rain and sunshine punctuating race day bringing mayhem.  The saturday saw Colin Turkington clinch pole position for race 1 after a strong run in qualifying, putting him in good stead to defend his title. Sunday dawned to changeable weather conditions with rain & sunshine making tyre choice difficult…

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WRC Wales Rally GB, Tanak triumphs as the Championship comes into focus.

Stephen Hodges

The World Rally Championship roared back into life from October 3rd to October 6th with the championship arriving in North Wales for Wales Rally GB. This year the Rally sees a change, being based out of the seaside town of Llandudno as opposed to its traditional base out of Deeside. The scrutineering for the event took on a unique format, with the Workshops of North Wales Honda hosting scrutineering and the cars being pushed through the showroom, allowing fans a unique opportunity to get up close to the cars and…

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BTCC Silverstone, Ingram & Goff triumph in rain affected mayhem.

Stephen Hodges

The penultimate round of the BTCC rolled into the flatland of Northamptonshire and the fabled tarmac of Silverstone, and with a weekend with a few stories breaking cover. Nicholas Hamilton will sit out the rest of the season due to Sponsorship issues, which sees his drive being taken over by Michael Caine for the remaining two rounds of the season. Earlier in the week, Sam Tordoff confirmed that he will not contest the remainder of the 2019 BTCC season, Mike Bushell will see out the season in the AMD Honda.…

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BTCC Knockhill, the championship opens up.

Stephen Hodges

The sole Scottish round of the BTCC took place over the weekend at the undulating, quick fire Knockhill circuit and saw a raceday of action with a splash of controversy to mix things up. The Saturday saw local lad Rory Butcher dominating practice and Qualifying in his FK2 Honda Civic. Mike Bushell is in this weekend covering for Sam Tordoff. Sam and his Wife Georgina grieving following the tragic loss of their week old son Arlo, a number of cars were carrying decals in memory of Arlo as the TOCA…

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WRC Rally Turkey, Citroens 1-2 Turkish Delight.

Stephen Hodges
Ogier

Round 11 of the WRC took place on the second weekend of September on the fearsome rock strewn gravel stages around Marmaris and above the Turquoise coast. Blistering heat and a splash of heavy rain would furnish the drivers with a real challenge for both man and machine. The Thursday evening saw the opening stage of the rally, a short blast around the streets of Marmaris which saw Thierry Neuville & Andreas Mikkelsen to for first position, setting identical times trailed by Pontus Tidemand’s Ford Fiesta in third. The first…

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WRC Rally Germany, Toyota reigns supreme.

Stephen Hodges

Germany is the scene for the second asphalt round of the World Rally Championship in 2019, with the event exhibiting a broad challenge from the narrow vineyards around the River Mosel, to the high speed stages in the Saarland region and the punishing bumps and ruts of the Panzerplatte. The event got underway on Thursday evening with a single stage around on the winding roads near the service park on the St.Wendeler Land stage. Ott Tanak took victory on the opening stage, though his Toyota Yaris was missing both its…

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BTCC Thruxton, Honda Hat-trick.

Stephen Hodges

The BTCC on the weekend of August 17th & 18th makes its second trip to the high speed sweeps of Thruxton. Saturday saw a close qualifying which saw Sam Tordoff taking a surprise pole position in the FK2 generation Honda Civic Type R with Jason Plato lining up alongside, the Plato fire seemingly stoked after Snetterton. Race 1 on Sunday saw Tordoff make a strong start in his Civic, Jason Plato meanwhile came to grief before the race had even started, overshooting his grid spot alongside Tordoff earning himself a…

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BTCC Snetterton 2019, Ingram, Turkington & Butcher claim victory, Plato penalised.

Stephen Hodges

The British Touring Car Championship returned after the summer break to the high speed Snetterton circuit in Norfolk. During the off season, the proposed Hybrid regulations for BTCC were finally confirmed, with Cosworth Electronics named as the Hybrid Powertrain supplier. The interesting news coming out of this is that success ballast will be abolished, instead the performance of the cars will be balanced using the hybrid system, the hybrid system will also be a bolt on solution, a hybrid methodology that has been evaluated by several series recently but is…

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WRC Rally Finland 2019, Tanak triumphs in Finland.

Stephen Hodges

The World Rally Championship roared back into life after the July break over the first weekend of August in the forests of Finland, the fastest event on the calendar. During the summer break there were a few nuggets of news, the biggest of which is the FIA announcing officially that WRC will switch to Hybrid drivetrains from 2022 onwards. The details of the new hybrid and engine regulations have yet to be finalised, and it is unclear if the cars will deploy a spec hybrid system or if manufacturers will…

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BTCC Oulton Park, controversy and Turkington success.

Stephen Hodges

The weekend of June 29th & 30th saw the British Touring Car Championship roll up into the Cheshire parkland circuit of Oulton Park, one of the most challenging and formidable tracks on the calender. Oulton Park is an undulating rollercoaster of a track and has the added challenge of lots of little lumps, bumps and cambered corners. Saturday saw the circuit bake in temperature of 29degrees as the European heatwave arrived in the UK. Honda & BMW paced the two free practice sessions, qualifying for Race 1 saw a mad…

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BTCC Croft, Jordan doubles down & Turkington consolidates.

Stephen Hodges

The British Touring Car Championship roared back into action last weekend in front of a capacity crowd at Croft in North Yorkshire. The weather over the weekend was atypically Yorkshire, it was wet, very wet and then there was glorious sunshine and it was wet….again. The Friday and Saturday saw heavy rain affect both days, the UK had been lashed all week by heavy rain which had caused flooding in different parts of the country, luckily Croft was unaffected by flooding. The Saturday qualifying session saw no less than 5…

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WRC Rally Sardinia, the Sordo Shock.

Stephen Hodges

The Italian island of Sardinia played host to Round 8 of the World Rally Championship from June 14th to June 16th, the high temperature, dusty & tricky road conditions would catch a few of the drivers out, some more notable than others. The opening day of the rally threw up a few surprises and would also claim a very big scalp. Teemu Sunninen shocked his competitors by pacing the morning stages, though a spin would drop him into second behind a chasing Dani Sordo. Ott Tanak meanwhile gave chase in…

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WRC Rally Portugal, back to back victories for Tanak.

Stephen Hodges

The World Rally Championship returns to Europe for Round 7 on the sun scorched stages of Rally Portugal. The opening day of the event saw the three Toyota’s of Ott Tanak, Jari-Matti Latvala & Kris Meeke duke it out; with the Hyundai of Dani Sordo the only one able to live with the blistering pace set by the trio of Toyota’s. Dani Sordo’s charge came to a premature end on stage three, his Hyundai succumbing to fuel pressure issues. Championship leader Sebastien Ogier meanwhile lost time throughout the Friday, the…

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BTCC Thruxton round 4 review

Stephen Hodges

The weekend of May 18th to the 19th sees the BTCC rock up at Thruxton for the third round of the championship. Thruxton is the fastest circuit in the UK, it’s a fearsome place characterised by fast sweeping corners and long straights; like any truly old school track, it’s a circuit that demands commitment and bravery, the faint of heart need not apply. Practice on Saturday saw the Honda Civic Type R’s of Dan Cammish & Matt Neal pace the day, the Honda’s relatively low drag profile but strong engine…

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WRC Chile, second time lucky for Tanak.

Stephen Hodges

May 10th to May 12th marked a historic moment in the WRC’s history with Chile playing host to the WRC for the first time ever. With it being the first running of the event it provides an unusual opportunity in that everyone is on a level playing field, no one has tackled the stages before. The muddy stages could almost be mistaken for the forests and moors of North & Mid Wales from Wales Rally GB on a sunny day, and the high speed nature of some of the stages…

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WRC Rally Argentina review.

Stephen Hodges

April 25th to 28th saw the World Rally Championship roar into life once again, this time for the high altitude challenge of Rally Argentina in South America. Day 1 of the rally only contained one stage, the Thursday evening super special stage with packed out grandstands as the Argentine fans were treated to a furious display of power from the WRC cars. Ott Tanak took the spoils going quickest, giving him the lead for the first day of proper running on the Friday. Day 2 dawned for the first full…

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BTCC Donington Park review

Stephen Hodges

Round 2 of the BTCC sees the championship move from the short, quickfire Brand Hatch Indy circuit to the high speed sweeps of Donington Park, home of the fearsome Craner Curves. Saturday saw a day affected by high winds and rain, courtesy of Storm Hannah, lashing the UK with heavy rain and high winds. Race day on Sunday dawned to overcast but dry conditions but with a potential for rain later on in the day. Colin Turkington took pole position on Saturday for Race 1, it marks Turkington’s first pole…

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BTCC Round 1: Brands Hatch Indy review.

Stephen Hodges

The first round of the 2019 BTCC saw drama, surprises and close racing in abundance in all 3 races throughout raceday on Sunday. On Sunday morning as fans packed into the natural bowl of Brands Hatch, they were met with atypical British gloom. It was cold, wet and very, very foggy. So much so, that there was the potential for the opening race of the season of being postponed due to the thick fog. Luckily, this wasn’t the case. Race 1 already had drama before it began. The fog and…

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