ITV to show qualifying live online

ITV's coverage of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will extend even further in 2011 with, for the first time, all ten of the season's qualifying sessions being shown live on the network's itv.com website.

The UK's largest commercial television network already provides the BTCC with what is by far the biggest TV coverage in UK motor sport. Its 2011 coverage will again include seven-hour-plus live broadcasts from all ten race events on both its ITV4 and new ITV4 HD channels - plus 60-minute highlights on both ITV1 and ITV4.

However, ITV has today also confirmed its live online broadcasts of Saturday's all-important half-hour qualifying sessions that decide the starting grid order for the first of Sunday's three BTCC races. This is on top of itv.com's already-strong BTCC content that includes live-streaming of ITV4's race day coverage plus a library of race highlights.

"The BTCC provides our audiences with sporting drama of the highest order and what they see on a Sunday is often a direct result of what happens in Saturday's qualifying sessions," said Simon Parry, programme editor for ITV Sport.

"We were very pleased with the results having experimented with live online coverage of qualifying for last year's Finals Day fixture so this is a natural progression as itv.com's sporting content continues to expand and also attract an ever-growing audience.

"We're delighted to add yet another dimension to our BTCC coverage," Parry summed-up.