The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) opened its 2024 season at the Donington Circuit in the UK this past weekend. The BTCC series is unique in that the BMWs raced in the series are based on the G20-generation 3 Series sedan, rather than the M2 and M4-based racers we see in most other series. BTCC holds two or three races per race weekend, and BMW drivers finished on the podium in all three races at Donington Park.
There are three BMW 330e M Sport cars on the BTCC entry list, with Colin Turkington (#20) and Adam Morgan (#33) racing under the Team BMW banner, while Jake Hill (#24) races under the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport name. All three cars are campaigned by the West Surrey Racing team (WSR). BMW is going for their tenth manufacturers championship in BTCC this season, and there were 20 total cars on the entry list for Donington from four different manufacturers.
It tends to rain in England now and then, and the first race at Donington was delayed by around two hours due to heavy rain the night before. On a damp track, Jake Hill ran up front for most of the race and finished in third while Turkington finished fourth. Adam Morgan ended up fourteenth after getting a time penalty for a false start. In a dry race two, Hill worked his way into the lead at the start, but he paid for it later on with excessive tire wear and lost two positions to finish third for the second straight race. Turkington finished in fifth and Morgan finished in seventh.
In the final race of the weekend, Turkington, who is in his 20th season of racing in BTCC and his eighth consecutive season with BMW, made some good passes in the middle of the race to move up to second position, which is where he finished. Hill finished fifth in race three. Morgan had the lead at one point but locked a front wheel after hitting a curb about a third of the way into the race and lost positions to end up seventh.
BMW leads the manufacturer points ahead of Ford, Hyundai and Toyota after the podium finishes at Donington. In the driver’s championship, Jake Hill is third and Turkington is right behind in fourth, while Morgan is in eighth. “Overall, it’s been a very good day for us at Donington,” said WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts. “Three races, three podiums, nine finishes in total from the three cars to put BMW in the lead of the Manufacturers’ Championship. We’ve been playing with the set-up of the cars because they’re so different to last year and we’ve made some very good progress across the weekend.”
The BTCC races again at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit on May 11th-12th. Get more information at btcc.net. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy WSR Racing]
Tags: british racing btcc donington