BTCC is back once again this weekend as the last three weekends of the season all come in quick succession. This time round they are at the famous Rockingham Speedway Circuit which always provides great racing and a different challenge for drivers as it is a slightly different style being a speedway circuit.
The first big news of the Rockingham weekend is that WSR driver Andy Priaulx will not be taking part due to a scheduled GT event. Nick Foster who drove for the team last season alongside Turkington and Collard will step in to replace him for the weekend, a perfect match for both as he gets back into BTCC racing and WSR have a solid driver to help them with points in the championship.
Knockhill did mix up the championship battle up probably a bit too much for the likes of Colin Turkington but he is still in with a chance and going to a track where the BMR should be able to stretch their legs and show how good their car and drivers really are. Jason Plato still leads but now from Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal followed by Turkington with Andrew Jordan in hot pursuit of him after a solid weekend last time out. A positive for Colin Turkington this weekend will be due to being a few places lower down in the championship he will carry less ballast into qualifying which could just give him the edge over Plato in a place where the three leading BMR would all expect very good qualifying. Another boost for Turkington will be he took two dominant victories their last season which should give him confidence to try and make up ground on Plato.
As the results from last season showed the WSR should again be very strong this weekend as Tordoff will look to get himself a race win with very little ballast and a very fast car so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him on the front row of the grid come Saturday afternoon. Rob Austin also won a race at Rockingham last season and after a strong showing last time out he could also be one to watch as well as Hunter Abbott who re-joins the team after missing the last round due to his wife giving birth to his son. The Honda pairing of Neal and Shedden wouldn’t expect to do as well round Rockingham or the next few tracks which could give BMR the upper hand in the title race come Sunday evening.
The battle this weekend is expected to be very close between the BMR and WSR teams as the season begins to draw to a close but in traditional BTCC fashion the best is yet to come and twists and turns will follow before the chequered flag waves at Brands Hatch in mid-October.
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