BTCC 2020 Rumour Mill

[ESD1711]

Great to see Matt back on the grid.

Certainly makes for a 'glitzy' line up for PMR thats for sure. Fair play to them!

[chrisch77]

Yup, great news to have Mat back on the grid!

[DanielSan]

How far into the season will we get before that fall out happens?

[Kraken]

They didn't have any issues last time they were in a team together did they?

[MG CHRIS]

They worked together pretty well when at rml infact cant remember any jp mj incidents to date not serious ones anyway.

[Munter]

Anybody want to buy the Alfa?
https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/1116...

[PartsMonkey]

Munter said:

Anybody want to buy the Alfa?
https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/1116...

What waste of time and money. Surely they would have been better off with the Avensis for another year?

[lickatysplit]

I think it was built with the intention of getting Alfa as factory backing but it didn't happen

[Kraken]

They had backing from the UK Alfa Dealer network but they pulled the plug.

Shame because it's a nice looking car but I can't see it being back in the BTCC at any point.

[PartsMonkey]

Kraken said:

They had backing from the UK Alfa Dealer network but they pulled the plug.

Shame because it's a nice looking car but I can't see it being back in the BTCC at any point.

I heard that but then why build the Guilietta? It's a ten year old car, due to be discontinued in the next year or so. I was surprised at the time they didn't go for a Giulia. RWD, saloon body style, newly released, far more likely to encourage manufacturer backing, it was perfect or at least I thought so.

[Kraken]

They said at the time that the wheelbase of the Giulia was too long and there was lots of talk of RWD cars being handicapped even more at the time but who knows the real reason. Could just be as simple as the Alfa Dealer network had a load of Giuliettas on the books that they needed to shift.;)

People assume they had the backing to continue running the Toyota but why would they when they don't have the backing to run the Alfa either. Pretty much no chance of Alfa getting involved at the works level when they have their TCR car to sell.

[lickatysplit]

PartsMonkey said:

I heard that but then why build the Guilietta? It's a ten year old car, due to be discontinued in the next year or so. I was surprised at the time they didn't go for a Giulia. RWD, saloon body style, newly released, far more likely to encourage manufacturer backing, it was perfect or at least I thought so.

They can enter a car as long as its sold x amount of units at the time of entry, it can then stay in the series as long as you want as long as it fits with the current rules

[Allyc85]

Smiley gets the 2nd Hyundai seat.

https://t.co/LbTJyY5Juf?amp=1

[Rob197]

AMD renamed Mark Blundell Motorsport, hope hes better at running a team than driving a btcc car!

[MB140]

Apparently Hamilton is to release details of his drive this season today. I am thinking the new Mini series.

Are there even any BTCC drives left.

Although I did see that Rob Austin has put the Alfa he used a couple of years back up for sale. I wonder if Hamilton has the funds to run that.

[andrewcliffe]

Three unconfirmed seats in BTCC

Team Hard VW CC
Motorbase Focus
Simpson Civic

[Kraken]

MB140 said:

Apparently Hamilton is to release details of his drive this season today. I am thinking the new Mini series.

Are there even any BTCC drives left.

Although I did see that Rob Austin has put the Alfa he used a couple of years back up for sale. I wonder if Hamilton has the funds to run that.

The picture he has released shows him standing in front of the car which is left hand drive. The Team Hard VW's are left hand drive, the Simpson Civic and the Focuses (last years anyway) are right hand drive. The Alfa has only just gone on sale (also rhd) so he wouldn't be running that and where would he get the TBL from?

[cjslator]

Kraken said:

The Alfa has only just gone on sale (also rhd) so he wouldn't be running that and where would he get the TBL from?

Let's not forget that 2x TBLs are reserved for TOCA to loan as they see fit..

What other LHD cars are unused?

A4
Levorg
CC
MG6
Q50
Cruze
1 Series
Insignia

[thebigmacmoomin]

cjslator said:

Let's not forget that 2x TBLs are reserved for TOCA to loan as they see fit..

Alan Gow has previously said the BTCC grid is too large and wants to reduce it

[Kraken]

cjslator said:

Let's not forget that 2x TBLs are reserved for TOCA to loan as they see fit..

What other LHD cars are unused?

A4
Levorg
CC
MG6
Q50
Cruze
1 Series
Insignia

He wouldn't release a tbl just so Hamilton could get a team to run a different car for him. The only way those will come back into play is a full manufacturer backed team wants to join in. Otherwise he'll stick to his plan of reducing the size of the grid.

Team Hard have a spare seat, they have a left hand drive car and the car in his picture looks awfully like it.