The 2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (commonly abbreviated as BTCC) was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

championship for production-based

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mo ...

held across England and Scotland. It was sponsored by Dunlop. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded amateur drivers competing in highly modified versions of

family car A family car is a car classification used in Europe to describe normally-sized cars. The name comes from the marketed use of these cars to carry a whole family locally or on vacations. Most family cars are hatchbacks or sedans, although there are ...

s which were sold to the general public and conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2018 season was the 61st

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

season and the eighth season for cars conforming to the

Next Generation Touring Car Next Generation Touring Car, also known as NGTC and by its Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) designation TCN-1, is an FIA and TOCA specification and classification for production based race cars. The specification covers nationa ...

(NGTC) technical specification. The 2018 season also marked the 60th anniversary since the series’ introduction. The thirty races held during the season saw seventeen different drivers win a race, setting a new championship record. Six drivers won their first race, but

Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He ...

went through a season without winning a race for the first time since his debut in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. Colin Turkington claimed his third BTCC title and his first since 2014.

Teams and drivers

All teams and drivers competed under British racing licenses.

Driver changes

Changed teams * Matt Simpson moved from Halford Yuasa Racing to

Eurotech Racing Eurotech Racing was a British motor racing team based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, founded by Mike Jordan and currently owned by Jeff Smith since December 2014, that last competed in the 2018 British Touring Car Championship The team won bot ...

. *

Tom Chilton Thomas James Chilton (born 15 March 1985) is a British racing driver. He has spent most of his career competing in touring car racing; he was a former factory Vauxhall and Honda driver in the British Touring Car Championship, and currently driv ...

moved from

Power Maxed Racing Power Maxed Racing is a British auto racing team based in Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. The team has raced in the British Touring Car Championship, since 2015 after purchasing BTC Racing in February 2015. British Touring Car Championship Ch ...

Motorbase Performance Motorbase Performance is a British motor racing team, founded in 2004 by former Production Saloon racer David Bartrum. They are best known for competing in the British Touring Car Championship. Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain The team starte ...

. *

Josh Cook Josh Cook (born 15 June 1991) is a British racing driver currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship. He debuted in 2015, after being the runner-up in the Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom in 2014. Racing career Cook began his c ...

moved from

Triple Eight Racing Triple Eight Racing was a auto racing, motorsports team formed in 1996 as Triple Eight Race Engineering, which competed in the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship. The team's original focus was to design, build an ...

back to

. * James Cole moved from

Team BMR Team BMR was a British motor racing team based in Buntingford, Hertfordshire and founded by Warren Scott. The team raced in the British Touring Car Championship between 2013 and 2019 after previously entering the 2004 British Superbike Champ ...

. *

Rory Butcher Rory Butcher (born 16 March 1987) is a Scottish racing driver from Kirkcaldy; Scotland, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, having made his debut in the BTCC for Motorbase Performance ...

moved from

to AmDTuning.com. Entering/re-entering BTCC *2017 VW Cup champion Bobby Thompson will make his series début, with

Team HARD Tony Gilham Racing (Team HARD. Racing), competing as RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport, ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. and HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD. currently, is a British motor racing team based in Dartford, Kent and founded ...

. * 2014 & 2017 Renault UK Clio Cup champion

Mike Bushell Mike Bushell is an English sports presenter for the BBC. He presents the sport on ''BBC Breakfast'' on Thursdays, Fridays and at the weekends, and sometimes on other weekdays. Bushell holds the world record for participating in the greatest num ...

will return to the series with

, having last raced in the championship in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. *

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

will return to series with Team HARD Brisky Racing, having last raced with the team in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. * 2017 British F4 driver

Sam Smelt Sam Smelt (born 23 August 1996) is a British racing driver, who competes in the British Touring Car Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing. This is his second spell in the championship having last competed in 2018 with AmD Tuning. He previously ...

will make his debut in the series with AmDTuning.com. * 2015 Ginetta GT4 Supercup champion Tom Oliphant will make his series debut, with Ciceley Motorsport. *

runner-up

Sam Tordoff Samuel Lewis Tordoff (born 19 April 1989) is a British racing car driver best known for his appearances in the British Touring Car Championship. He is the grandson of rally driver and car dealer Jack Tordoff. Tordoff finished second overall in ...

returned to the series after a year racing in the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT ...

, driving a third car for

under the GardX Racing banner. *

– 16 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion

Dan Cammish Daniel Cammish (born 10 April 1989) is a British racing driver currently competing in a Ford Focus for NAPA Racing UK in the British Touring Car Championship. Early life Cammish was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. He attended Morley High Scho ...

, will make his debut in the series with Halfords Yuasa Racing. *Former race winner Tom Boardman will return to the series with AmDTuning.com, having last raced in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Leaving BTCC * Árón Taylor-Smith announced on 27 November 2017 that he would be stepping away from the series to pursue a career in GT Racing. *

Dave Newsham David Newsham (born 7 July 1967) is a British auto racing driver and businessman. He is the managing director of Norscott Vending. He raced in the British Touring Car Championship from 2011 to 2017, but in 2016, he competed in the British Rallyc ...

announced on 9 January 2018 that he would retire from the BTCC to focus on his sons racing. *

Gordon Shedden Gordon Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a Scottish auto racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship for the Halfords Racing with Cataclean team. He has previously won the series on three occasions; in 2012, 201 ...

announced on 22 January 2018 that he would be leaving the BTCC, eventually joining

Team WRT W Racing Team (WRT) is a Belgian auto racing team founded in 2009 by engineer and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist, racing driver Vincent Vosse, and entrepreneur Yves Weerts. Since 2010 the team campaigns Audi R8 LMSs in severa ...

to race in the

World Touring Car Cup The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It ...

. *

Mat Jackson Mat Jackson (born 10 June 1981) is a British racing driver. Racing career Early years Born in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, Jackson started racing in karts in his teens, before finishing 4th in the 2000 Renault Clio Cup, his first attempt ...

left the series after splitting with

and failing to secure a vacant seat with another team. *

Stewart Lines Stewart Alan Lines is a British racing driver currently competing in the 2019 Britcar Endurance Championship. He has also raced in the British Touring Car Championship, made his debut in 2015 Racing career Lines began his touring car career i ...

and Maximum Motorsport left the series, having sold their car and TBL to Ciceley Motorsport. *

Michael Epps Michael Epps (born 12 March 1992) is a British/New Zealand racing driver who competed in the British Touring Car Championship in 2016 and 2017 for Team Hard. Due to budget issues, Michael was unable to continue in the series and raced the supp ...

will leave the series and join the 2018 Renault UK Clio Cup. * Jeff Smith will miss the 2018 season as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in his 2017 crash. * Ant Whorton-Eales left AmDTuning.com and switched to the

Mini Challenge UK The Mini Challenge UK is a one-make race series began in 2002 and since 2020 it has run as a support package to the British Touring Car Championship. Throughout the championship's history it established itself as one of the main routes into to ...

driving for JamSport. *Unable to secure drives, Will Burns and

Martin Depper Martin Lee Dapper (born 5 July 1968) is a British auto racing driver and businessman. He previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship. Depper was the 2008 Mini Challenge UK Champion with Forster Motorsport. In 2013, he competed ...

both left the series.

Team changes

* Handy Motorsport will change its name to HMS Racing and also switch to running the

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Alfa Romeo Giulietta is the name of three different automobiles made by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo: * The first Giulietta (Type 750 and 101) was a rear-wheel drive car made from 1954 to 1965, in 4-door saloon/sedan, coupé, spider and e ...

, having run the

Toyota Avensis The is a mid-size/ large family car built in Derbyshire, United Kingdom by the Japanese automaker Toyota from October 1997 to August 2018. It was the direct successor to the European Carina E and was available as a four-door saloon, five-door l ...

, since their début in 2014. *

will expand from a three-car to a four-car squad. *

will expand from a two-car to a three-car squad. * BTC Norlin Racing will switch from running the

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, and ...

to run the Honda Civic Type R (FK2). *

will switch from running the

Ford Focus ST The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact world car, vehicle world ...

to run the

Ford Focus RS The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...

. * AmDTuning.com will expand from a two-car to a four-car squad, after having agreed a deal to run the MG6 GTs, which were previously run by

. *

Team Dynamics Team Dynamics Motorsport is a UK-based motor-racing team based in Droitwich, Worcestershire; best known for their successes in the British Touring Car Championship, including winning the Overall Drivers title in 2005, 2006 and 2011 with Matt Ne ...

will switch from running the Honda Civic Type R (FK2) to run the newer Honda Civic Type R (FK8). * For the first time since 1996, Triple Eight Racing did not field a racing team in the BTCC. The MG6 GT race cars were acquired by AmD. Triple Eight was one of the most successful teams to race in the BTCC, firstly fielding the works Vauxhall team from 1997-2009 in which time the team achieved eight manufacturer titles for Vauxhall (2001-05, 2007-09) and a further title with MG in 2014. The team also won the drivers championship in 2001-04, 2007-08. The team officially folded in November 2018.

Race calendar

The championship calendar was announced by the championship organisers on 26 May 2017. All the circuits from the 2017 season will host rounds again with the only change being the rounds at Rockingham Motor Speedway and

Knockhill Racing Circuit Knockhill Racing Circuit is a motor racing circuit in Fife, Scotland. It opened in September 1974 and is Scotland's national motorsport centre. The circuit is located in the countryside about north of Dunfermline. It is the only FIA approved ...

switching places. In October 2017, the BTCC bosses announced that Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit will play host to a special extended race this season as part of the series’ 60th anniversary celebrations.

Results

Championship standings

;Notes *No driver may collect more than one point for leading a lap per race regardless of how many laps they lead. *A special 60 mile race 3 at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population o ...

with standalone qualifying, no ballast and double points

Drivers' Championship

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

Manufacturers' Championship

(

)

Teams' Championship

(

)

Independents Drivers' Trophy

Independent Teams' Trophy

Jack Sears Trophy

Notes

References

External links

*
TouringCarTimes
{{BTCC seasons British Touring Car Championship seasons Touring Car Championship