BACK WITH A BANG

Ahead of this weekend's curtain-raiser, David Addison and Tim Harvey preview the new BTCC season - and tell Damien Smith why it looks like being one of the best yet

-  Damien Smith

The British Touring Car Championship is back! It has been more than six months since Tom Ingram wrapped up his first title in style at Brands Hatch, but finally the long winter break is over. The 10-round 2023 campaign begins this weekend at Donington Park, so we called on ITV's ace commentary duo, David Addison and Tim Harvey, to give us the lowdown on what promises to be another frenetic season of tin-top action.

Rules shake-up to add racing spice

THE BTCC BROKE new ground last year by introducing hybrid technology to the series, using a power boost system in place of the old weight ballast as a means of levelling the playing field. The transition proved remarkably smooth in the face of such a major change, although inevitably there was room for improvement for the sophomore year.

"The BTCC is as good as it ever was," says 1992 champion Harvey. "It will be slightly reformatted this year to improve the racing, which is what we all want. The quality at the front of the grid is as good as ever and there are enough changes to make it very interesting. We go to that first race with plenty of eager anticipation."

The tweaks involve three areas. First, the sliding scale of hybrid boost has been enhanced in favour of those who qualify outside the top seven. From eighth backwards, drivers will be able to deploy hybrid power from a reduced minimum speed, which allows them to use it quicker than the front runners - who only have it available for 50% of the racing laps. In a nutshell, hybrid usage tactics will be more critical.

The second change is the reintroduction of a 'Top 10 Showdown' in qualifying, at five of the 10 rounds, as a means of shaking up the competitive order. Also, at the request of the teams, Goodyear will reintroduce mandatory use of an 'option' tyre to spark greater variation in strategy and enhance differentiation in performance between rivals.