British Touring Car season resumes on ITV4

July 31, 2011   ·   0 Comments

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship bursts back into action after a 7 week summer break with the start of the second half of the season at the Snetterton race circuit in Norfolk (6-7 August) live on ITV4.

After a lengthy summer break, the teams and drivers will all want to resume their 2011 campaigns by stealing an immediate march over their rivals.  The action will take place on Snetterton’s new, much longer ‘300’ circuit, with vastly improved public viewing areas allowing more fans to see their touring car heroes in bumper-to-bumper action.

The BTCC grid is set to total 26 cars at Snetterton with no fewer than ten different makes being represented – Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Proton, SEAT, Toyota, Vauxhall and VW. The event will also mark the debut of the Welch Motorsport team and driver Daniel Welch in its new Proton Gen-2 model, built to the BTCC’s latest, turbocharged Next Generation Touring Car technical regulations.

Honda ace Matt Neal goes into the event holding a slender nine-point championship lead from Airwaves Racing Ford Focus driver Mat Jackson. Neal, from Worcestershire, has been BTCC Champion twice before and desperately craves a third title but Jackson, from neighbouring Warwickshire, is equally hungry to win the crown for the first time in his career. Similarly, Neal’s Scottish team-mate Gordon Shedden, Staffordshire’s Andrew Jordan and Bedfordshire’s James Nash – both in Vauxhall Vectras – are also chasing a maiden title, lying third, fourth and fifth in the points table.

While the headlining BTCC will be in action three times on the Sunday (7 Aug), the event will also include a further 11 races for five high-profile supporting categories including Ginetta Juniors, Ginetta GT Supercup, Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Renault Clio Cup and Formula Renault UK – representing the very best in saloon, single-seater and sportscar racing.

After seven weeks of waiting for the season to get back under way, fans will finally get their first view of their BTCC heroes in action on Saturday (6 Aug) by logging on to www.itv.com/touringcars for live coverage of qualifying from 3.40pm-4.20pm.

ITV Sport will then resume their comprehensive live coverage of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on the Sunday (7 Aug)  from 11am on ITV4 and the itv.com website.  Steve Rider and Louise Goodman present a packed days action with commentary from Ben Edwards, Simon Hill, Richard John Neil and Tim Harvey.

Tags: BTCC, ITV4, Louise Goodman, Mat Jackson, Matt Neal, Snetterton, Steve Rider