BTCC News

The British Touring Car Championship announced today the appointment of Dawn McDaniel to the TV commentary team for the 2001 season. She will link up with the current pairing - Charlie Cox and John Watson.

Aaron Slight, the New Zealand motorcycle racer, has joined Peugeot's touring car team for 2001 after turning down superbike offers in America.

The new rule changes brought in by BTC organisers to reduce the costs of racing appear to have been successful, with the announcement that 36 cars have been officially entered for the 2001 championship. BTC Touring class entries:

Lexus BTC Touring Team, ABG Motorsport, have named their second driver for the 2001 season as Brazilian Thomas Erdos. There has been much speculation about who would fill this seat, but this official announcement should bring an end to the rumours.

The Triple Eight Vauxhall team ran at Vallelunga, in Italy this week. It was the first time the team had run the cars to the 2001 British Touring Car Championship rules.

JSM have announced their biggest and most exciting project ever taken; to run a total of six Alfa 147's, four in Class A and the other two in Class B (for Production cars) in the 2001 British Touring Car Championship.

British youngster Tom Ferrier will drive a Triple Eight-prepared Vauxhall Astra Coupe in this year's British Touring Car Championship, it was announced yesterday [Thursday].

The Peugeot 406 Coupe destined for this year's new-look British Touring Car Championship was shown for the first time in Birmingham today [Friday].

When the new rules were announced for the 2001 British Touring Car Championship, some observers felt that the 2001 season would be spent slowly trying to rebuild grid sizes and luring the spectators back to the track despite the passing of the Super Touring era.

Peugeot Motor Company today announced that BTCC veteran Steve Soper would spearhead its assault on next year's new-look British Touring Car Championship.

One of the British Touring Car Championship's most loyal supporters will return to the series next year alongside a name that will be contesting its first BTCC campaign as BMW and Lexus add further weight to the burgeoning Production Class.

Edenbridge Racing will run a brace of BMWs in next year's new-look British Touring Car Championship, after tying up a deal with two of Europe's leading saloon racing concerns.

Former Williams sponsorship director Richard West has been appointed to manage the new-look British Touring Car Championship next season.

Honda has announced that it is withdrawing from the British Touring Car Championship. William de Brackleer, Europe's Motorsport manager for Honda said: "With the imminent changes in the technical regulations we think the time is right to take a break"

Despite being a near certainty since the all-new 2001 BTCC regulations were announced back in June, Peugeot finally confirmed that they would return to the series in a works capacity next year with a two-car factory backed attack.

It may not have won the BTCC title in 2000, but the Honda team went out on a high with a double win at Silverstone to match its exploits in Europe this season.

New series promoters BMP announced at Silverstone on the eve of the 2000 British Touring Car Championship title decider that the new-look 2001 series will incorporate the current National Saloon Championship as a Class B, a move that virtually guarantees the biggest BTCC grids since the four-clas

1. Alain Menu SUI Ford Mondeo West Surrey Racing 195. 2. Anthony Reid GB Ford Mondeo West Surrey Racing 193. 3. Rickard Rydell SWE Ford Mondeo West Surrey Racing 178. 4. Yvan Muller FRA Vauxhall Vectra Triple Eight 168.

If any proof were needed that next years BTCC is going to be a hit, the fantastic five car dice at Brands Hatch between the two Peugeot 306's of Alan Morrison and Toni Ruokonen, the two Alfa Romeo's of Tom Ferrier and Gavin Pyper and the lone Honda of James Kaye was proof enough.

Maybe a career in Single-seaters is not an option for current World Superbike stars Carl Fogarty and Aaron Slight, but a four-wheeled future is a very real possibility for two of the most exciting riders ever to get on a bike.

New series promoters BMP will decide sometime this month whether pit-stops will be a part of the 2001 British Touring Car Championship after the series was officially launched amidst a growing amount of optimism concerning the all-new formula.

With the British Touring Car Championship taking on a fresh look for next year, those teams committed to competing are now putting their interpretations of the new rules into practice.

Plans to make races in the 2001 British Touring Car Championship half an hour in length are being discussed by team-owners and British Motorsport Promoters, the new controlling body of the series.

1994 British Touring Car Champion Gabriele Tarquini proved that his second place I the feature race at Donington Park earlier this year was just a sign of things to come as he outpaced the field to record the fastest time in testing for Rounds 17 and 18 of the championship at Donington Park.