The 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship was a multi-event motor racing championship for production-based touring cars held across England and Scotland. The championship features a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of Family cars which are sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. It is one of the most popular domestic motor racing series in the United Kingdom, with an extensive program of support categories built up around the BTCC centrepiece. It was the 56th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season.
This was the third season that cars conforming to the Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC) specification will be allowed to compete and the first season since the end of the phased transition from the Super 2000 specification which saw the organising body, TOCA, maintain a performance equalisation between the two chassis specifications. The season saw teams compete with car chassis built to either NGTC or S2000 specification although the NGTC cars had a significant performance advantage over the S2000 cars by giving NGTC cars a significant increase in the turbo boost pressures which they were allowed to run. All teams used the NGTC 2.0 litre turbocharged engine. Teams with S2000 cars were eligible for the newly introduced S2000 trophy named after the winner of the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship in 1958, Jack Sears, known as the Jack Sears Trophy, which Sears himself awarded to the top S2000 finisher of the year – Lea Wood – at the final round at Brands Hatch based on the number of S2000 wins (known as 'cups') over the season.
Season report Round One (Races 1, 2 & 3) – Brands Hatch Indy Qualifying for the first race of 2013 started in sunny and cold conditions. The low track temperature caused a few early warm up incidents with several cars sliding off the track culminating in a red flag, after two minutes, for a collision between the spun Colin Turkington and Jack Goff. As the session restarted and drivers began to get heat into the tyres, the times started to Passat cc with Andrew Jordan setting the fastest time which would become the first pole position of the season after deteriorating track conditions due to a snow shower prevented drivers from improving their times.
The opening race of the season saw a race long battle between Jason Plato and Andrew Jordan which culminated in Jordan making a last lap dive up the inside of Plato on the final corner. Both Plato and Jordan went off into the gravel, however both drivers were able to recover with Plato winning from Jordan and the fast starting Rob Austin rounding off the podium. Elsewhere the championship campaign got off to a bad start for the Honda pair, after both Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden had to make unscheduled pit stops, finishing out of the points. Race two was also won by Jason Plato, with Andrew Jordan repeating his race 1 second place and Jordan's Pirtek Racing teammate Jeff Smith rounding off the podium. Shedden had originally finished the race third, however post race scrutineers found that he was running below the minimum ride height. Race three began with a big crash for Rob Austin on lap two after Dave Newsham spun coming down Paddock Hill Bend, tagging the back of Austin's Audi and sending him spinning into the barrier. After a safety car period, Matt Neal took the lead and went on to win the race from his teammate Shedden who had to race through from the back of the grid.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, Liam Griffin took two wins with James Kaye taking the other.
Round Two (Races 4, 5 & 6) – Donington Park Qualifying was between two drivers, Gordon Shedden and Frank Wrathall with both drivers swapping fastest lap times in the last minutes of the session. Shedden though was able to beat Wrathall's fastest time as the session came to a close to claim his first pole position since Oulton Park in 2011.
The day's first race was a lights to flag victory for Shedden who was pushed all the way however by Andrew Jordan who finished second. Third was Matt Neal, making it a Honda Civic lock-out of the podium. Race two of the day had two very special milestones for two drivers. Jason Plato celebrated his 400th race in the BTCC, whilst Matt Neal celebrated his 500th race. Both Plato and Neal ran the numbers 400 and 500 respectively in this race, which was won by Andrew Jordan, from Plato and Shedden. The reverse grid of race three allowed front row starter Colin Turkington take his first win since Snetterton in 2009 and the maiden win for the new eBay Motors BMW 125i. Shedden and Neal finished second and third respectively whilst Plato struggled with the softer tyre, finishing down in eighth.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, James Kaye took his second cup of the season, whilst Joe Girling and Lea Wood both took their first cup.
Round Three (Races 7, 8 & 9) – Thruxton Andrew Jordan secured his second pole position of the year at the track where he also claimed pole 12 months ago, whilst Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal made it a Honda lock-out of the first three grid slots.
Race seven of the season took place in hot and sunny conditions. There was an opening lap mishap for Shedden, when he made contact with Jason Plato at the complex, sending him slamming into the barrier. Despite this, Shedden was able to continue and finished the race at the back of the field. Pole sitter Andrew Jordan lead from the start and looked good for the win. However, with half a lap to go, his front left tyre suffered a puncture sending him off into the grass and having to limp home to finish 11th. This promoted Matt Neal to the lead and gave him his second win of the season. Plato finished second with a hard charging Tom Onslow-Cole finishing third in his Volkswagen CC. Race two was also won by Matt Neal after leading from the start. Onslow-Cole improved to second place, achieving PPCGB.com/Kraftwerk Racing's best result to date. Shedden and Jordan both recovered from starting down the field to finish third and fourth respectively with Plato in fifth. The final race of the day had more tyre troubles for the race leader. With two laps to go, Jason Plato's MG6 GT suffered a puncture which would see him drop to the back of the field. This allowed Shedden to take his first win of the day ahead of Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan. This meant that Matt Neal left Thruxton the championship leader, with Andrew Jordan and Jason Plato in second and third ahead of defending champion Gordan Shedden in fourth.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, Lea Wood took two class wins to add to his Donington win with Liam Griffin taking a class win, extending his tally to three cups.
Round Four (Races 10, 11 & 12) – Oulton Park In the buildup to round four, AmD Tuning.com announced that Aaron Mason would make his BTCC debut, replacing James Kaye who had a business commitment. Qualifying for race ten of the season saw the MG KX Momentum Racing team secure a front row lock-out with team leader Jason Plato starting on pole from rookie teammate Sam Tordoff.
After such a strong qualifying, in came as no surprise that the MG pair we able to convert their front row lock-out into a one-two lights to flag victory for Plato, with Tordoff second in race ten. During the second race of the day, Plato was able to once again win with another lights to flag run, this time ahead of Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington respectively. However, Tordoff was unable to replicate his first race form. After choosing the soft tyre, he quickly lost grip and stated dropping down the order to finish outside the points, after contact with Mat Jackson. The final race of the day saw action from the very start. The first half of the race saw a fight for the lead between Rob Austin and Jeff Smith, with Austin taking an early lead until lap 8 when Smith passed him after some contact. However, problems for the title contenders began on lap 4 with Plato retiring in the pits with an engine fire and a lap later, Shedden's hopes of a strong finish were dashed after his Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic suffered a puncture. Smith looked like he could take his first win until on lap 12, he lost it under braking at Knickerbrook, spinning the car round. This allowed his Pirtek Racing teammate, Andrew Jordan, to take his second win of the season, narrowly beating home eBay Motors Colin Turkington.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, Lea Wood took another two class wins with Liam Griffin again taking a class win, extending his tally to four cups, one behind leader Wood on five.
Round Five (Races 13, 14 & 15) – Croft In the buildup to Croft, Addison Lee Racing announced two driver changes. Jake Hill replaced Liam Griffin for this round, who had business commitments, and he was joined by Michael Caine in a brand new NGTC Ford Focus. Colin Turkington took his first pole position since his last back in 2009 at the same venue and the first pole for the new BMW 125i M Sport. He narrowly beat Jason Plato in a red flag affected session caused by the returning Joe Girling, who crashed at the chicane.
The first race of the day saw Turkington convert his pole into a dominant lights to flag victory ahead of the Honda pairing of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden respectively. Rain fell during the buildup to the day's second race, leading to a mix of tyre strategies on the grid. At the start, the MG KX Momentum Racing, running on wet tyres, took a large lead from the slick shod cars around them. However, it soon became apparent that the track was not getting wetter, but was starting to dry and as the cars running slicks gained heat and confidence in the tyres, they soon caught and passed Plato and Sam Tordoff who slowly dropped down to finish outside the points. At the front, it was Turkington who once again mastered the tricky conditions to win the race from Shedden in second and Tom Onslow-Cole in an impressive third for PPCGB.com/Kraftwerk Racing. The weather would again affect the final race of the day. However, this time, there was no doubt which tyres you needed to be on, after heavy rain began to fall. Matt Neal won the race after taking the lead from Nick Foster on lap three, however it was not plain sailing. On the final lap, Neal ran wide at two corners, allowing the hat-trick searching Colin Turkington to close right up onto the back bumper of Neal's Honda Civic leaving Neal a winning margin of only 0.6 seconds over Turkington. Andrew Jordan rounded out the podium in third with Shedden a distant fourth. Plato and Tordoff recovered from the poor tyre choice in race two to finish sixth and seventh respectively.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, debutant Jake Hill scored a class win in his maiden outing. David Nye's hard work this year was rewarded by a win in race two and Lea Wood extended his cup lead with victory in the final race of the day.
Round Six (Races 16, 17 & 18) – Snetterton During the summer break, there were several team changes announced for Snetterton. James Kaye and Warren Scott remained with their respective teams, but changed cars. Kaye swapped his Volkswagen Golf for a Super 2000 Honda Civic. Scott, traded in his S2000 SEAT León for a Next Generation Touring Car Volkswagen CC. Andy Neate finally made his season debut with his home run NGTC Chevrolet Cruze. after several aborted debuts during the season. American Robb Holland also returned, at the circuit he made his BTCC debut in 2012, with RCIB Insurance Racing.
Sam Tordoff took his first pole position in the British Touring Car Championship with Jason Plato second making it a MG KX Momentum Racing front–row lock-out.