Qualifying is when drivers try to set the fastest lap to earn a good starting position. A qualifying lap record means the quickest lap ever recorded in that qualifying session.
A race lap record is the fastest lap someone managed while the race was running. It’s different from qualifying because the car is dealing with race conditions.
“Pole” means starting first on the grid, awarded to the driver with the best qualifying result. In BTCC, starting from pole can be a major advantage because it helps you control the opening laps.
A penalty is a consequence for breaking the rules during qualifying or the race. It can change who starts where or who wins, because it adds time or affects positions.
They’re talking about a rule that limits how much extra power the cars can make. If a team is higher in the standings, the rules may reduce their boost to help keep racing competitive.
“Split the grid into two” describes a qualifying format where the field is divided into separate groups/sessions. Each group can set lap times, but the final grid positions are assigned using rules that may not strictly follow absolute fastest time across both groups.
Inclement weather just means rough or changing weather, like rain. It can make qualifying unfair because the track can be different for different groups.
Topic
F4
F4 is a lower-level “ladder” racing series for developing drivers. They’re racing at the same event weekend, so people at the track might see them.
Technical corners are the tricky parts of a track where you have to be precise. If there aren’t many of them, it can mean the race is more about straight-line speed than finesse.
Straight line fast means the car is quick when it’s going in a straight direction. If the track has long straights, that can be the main way to gain time.
“Track time” means how much time the team can actually drive the car on the real race track. The more they get, the better they can learn what the car is doing and adjust it.
A “wet set” is the car’s setup for rainy conditions. Because the track is slippery, teams adjust the car so it handles and brakes predictably in the wet.
Concept
salvage side of the cars
“Salvage side of the cars” suggests using repaired or reclaimed components/vehicles as part of the build strategy. In motorsport contexts, it can imply cost-saving or resourcefulness—while still meeting technical regulations.
Mechanical reliability is how likely the race car is to keep working properly all weekend. If it’s reliable, it’s more likely to finish races and score points instead of breaking down.
The Toyota Corolla is a common small car made for everyday driving. It’s popular because it’s practical and usually easy to live with. If it’s mentioned in a racing podcast, it’s likely because people recognize the name and it has been used in different racing contexts.
They’re talking about how rain could affect the races. When it’s wet, tires grip differently and drivers have to be more careful, which can change who wins.
BTCC weekends have several races. “Race three” is the third one, and the conditions can be different by then—especially if rain starts or intensifies.
Term
west kings
“West Kings” is a part of the Brands Hatch track. If that area is wetter than the rest, it can make the car behave differently there and change how drivers brake and turn.
Term
cat amongst the pigeons
This is an idiom meaning something unexpected that causes disruption. In racing context, it suggests sudden rain or changing conditions could shake up the running order in the final race.
They compare Brands Hatch to Thruxton to suggest the driver’s style should work well. It’s basically a “this track suits him, so this one might too” argument.
To “qualify second” means the car earned the second-best starting position based on a qualifying session or qualifying race. Starting near the front is often crucial in touring car racing because overtaking can be difficult.
DNF means the car didn’t finish the race. That usually happens due to a crash, mechanical problem, or other issue.
LIVE
What highs and lows of the amphitheatre of Brands Hatch provide this weekend is the
Brands Hatch Indie preview.
Hello and welcome back to the British Touring Car Podcast. We are back for another race weekend,
the second one in 2026 and again we will be off down to Brands once well maybe for both days we'll
see but at least for the Sunday nice early start. Yeah but we are staying over the night before to
make things a little bit easier. Yeah we're undecided if we're doing the full weekend I think
probably not I think we'll do that next and it's closer for us but as you say definitely be there
on the Sunday for the action that awaits us. Are you looking forward to having the touring
cars back? Everyone has had come back up as many hiatus. Are you ready for touring cars to return?
Yeah it's certainly going to provide lots of action I think and especially after the opening
weekend at Donnington where we have plenty of action and plenty of talking points. I'm sure
it will produce plenty more this weekend. Yeah absolutely talking of those talking points lots
of talking. If you want more talking of the talking points we did do an April round up
podcast video which you can watch or listen to depending on your preferences which covers all
of the April goings on in the touring car world. We're doing another one come the end of May.
I just want to say as well thank you to Dan on Facebook who has taken the time out to explain
the boost issues. It's good to have some of the podcast that does do his research. You can take
a few lessons from him I'm sure. Someone cleverer than both of us I think as well.
Dan if you want a job I mean you know the jury's out on this one but yeah so we I think what we'll
probably do is cover off all the boost and stuff in the May round up. Might even do a put out there
your questions answered kind of thing for May which I've just thought of on the spot. Thanks
your panic and surprise in your eyes but never mind. What shouldn't be too much of panic is
that we are talking Brands Hatch this weekend so we'll do our usual thing of how Sam done
his research brackets no. So Brands Hatch seven oaks down in Kent seven corners which I think is
a little bit it's generous optimistic yeah yeah 1.21 miles and it deviated in 1958 in terms of
touring car racing. Would you like to have a wild guess at who has the qualifying lap record
around here? Let's go for Ash Sutton. No we'll take a secondary guess. Is it Ingram? No it's
Jake Hill set last year 46.5 in the BMW. They realised they had a rocket ship for one weekend.
Exactly that. Would you like to guess the race lap record? Is it Jake Hill? It is not.
It's Tom Ingram with a 47.1 that also set last year. In terms of last year it's always a good
grounding point to see how the drivers and cars in particular go along. BMWs were rapid. They were
indeed. So Hill took pole and then race one was Hill from Rainford from Ingram, race two De Leon
from Morgan from Sutton and then race three Rainford from Hill from Ingram. So yeah it was a BMW
slash Hyundai stronghold. Are you expecting a similar thing this weekend? We already kind of
sort of have some understanding of what cars are going to be like out of the track because we have
there this year which is always helpful. But we've seen some drivers be more or less competitive on
that opening weekend and I certainly think there are drivers out there that are going to be wanting
to prove a point, continue the point that they have proved already. And yeah I think we were a
little, well personally I was a little surprised by how much speed in general trouble they kept out
of the BMWs at Donington. And we know they normally go well around here as well. So I'm
expecting a fairly strong weekend from them and we know that PMR looked really quick at media day.
So it could be a weekend again for them to capitalise especially after the really good
outing that they had at Donington. Yeah absolutely, absolutely right and it'd be interesting to see how
Plato racing can go. Obviously they were I'd say mid-pack, I'm going to get powers,
mid-pack. Sorry you haven't seen my predictions yet. Okay mid-pack in the testing here at media
day obviously as I always say you take them a pinch of salt. However yeah there certainly weren't
the quickest cars on the grid that day. And they had an interesting start to the season at Donington
Park. Obviously took the race to poles, sorry the qualifying, no I'll try again. Obviously
they finished, they qualified well in the initial qualifying stage and then
Robottom took the race to pole win through the penalty. The history books will show that he
started the season on pole. Exactly, I don't necessarily think we'll have as strong a showing
this weekend, we'll have to see. Yeah I think that for me it's very hard to pass the BMWs or
the Hyundai's for this circuit. History tells us that the Ford Focus has been good around here
over the years but wasn't as strong last year. Of course we've got also there's a very small
circuit and there is the boost reductions obviously which should take place up and down the grid
based on championship position. Dare I say I don't think Toyota are going to be causing
many surprises this weekend. Well they were a little lackluster at Donington, yes okay Cook
was going well early on until he had his small mid-pack. But the others didn't really show great
pace. The laser tools to Toyotas were a little bit sluggish dare I say. Can I just put a chin to
get a podium? Well yeah but it was just a bit hmm okay. Yeah I think Arantana Smith in particular
was a little bit hmm to quote yourself there but what I would say is that I think Cook is a dark
horse for pole on the Saturday because he will have the full allocation of boost. He will yes
which also will a certain Mr Ingram. He won't have full allocation because he's 8th in the
championship. That is full allocation. Is it any 6th? Oh okay fine fair enough. Yeah okay but then
so will Morgan, so will Robottom, so will Leon. It would be interesting to see how much of a
difference it makes around brands being such a small circuit as well. Pretty much all drivers
are going to be using the boost in the same sort of place it's just the extent to how much boost
they're going to be able to use. And if they use too much? Yeah and if they use too much and
we've kind of seen from the opening weekend that the qualifying the two 15 minute sessions
may not really mean very much if we're going to get the same sort of action that we had in the
race to the pole at Donnington. Interesting on that as well just quickly diver into the
unofficial F4 touring car podcast which I'm now launching. They are also doing a split
qualifying form as we can due to the amount of cars they have. It's about 30 odds. Yeah and
they've decided quite in the sound of it that it's not safe to do a full qualifying session
with that. God knows how they're going to race. Oh yeah they are going to I suppose it because
everyone will be trying to find clear air and it's going to become a fast one at times. So
they are going to do it so they're going to split the grid into two. What's interesting is that the
it's similar to the touring cars in the sense that whoever sets the fastest time will be on
pole obviously but you could set the fastest time in group two but you will still start on the odd
side sorry even side of the grid. Yeah even if you're quicker than the guys starting seconds
they're going to do it that I know yeah whoever has the overall fastest time will be on pole
and then whoever's session that is will take the odd spots on the grid regardless of time.
The one thing that that does equalize and the same for the touring cars as well is if we
have inclement weather where you get one session that's bone dry and we start to get
either a drop-off in temperature or a change of weather conditions completely
which is very possible this weekend but look at it. Yeah that is true so yeah I just want to point
out if anybody's there on the Saturday and wondering what F4 are doing that is what they are
that's what they're doing this weekend obviously as you say we've got a similar approach of the
30 minutes excitement that we all see with the touring car qualifying. It'll be exciting it'll
be exciting before the races bring to pole event that follows. Is there anybody who you are worried
for this weekend? Worrying for us obviously. You have fixed the battery on the car right?
Yes. That's what this means to worry about. I'll have the jump back with me anyway.
I just want a friendly face too. Who am I worried for? Looking at how strong PMR were
opening weekend I'm not too worried for them especially having the new car I do think
I'm going to get pelts here again aren't I? Yeah I'm setting you up really I mean yeah yeah.
It's fine. If we see more mechanical troubles for plateo racing then it could be a sour weekend
for them. Yeah I think that this is a circuit where it favours a fast car obviously but also
there's not a lot of technical corners to make time up in as it were you know it is one that's
with that long straight and with the speed of most of the corners it really does suit a car that is
set up to be straight line fast and I don't necessarily think they've got the fastest straight
line car on the grid if that makes sense. Yeah I don't know whether they've gathered enough data
yet as well. It's all very well with the the sim rigs that they've shown in their little series
that they're doing showing that they're getting plenty of practice behind the wheel and simulations
are showing that the car can work well it's nice and slippery in a straight line and stuff like that
but it doesn't really make up for a lack of track time. No and if it rains this weekend as well that
is going to be I mean that goes one or two ways either the car is fantastic and it goes really
well or you suddenly realise we've not got a lot of data for this and we now got to put a wet set
up on this of course look they all have worked on that in the factory people will be screaming in
the comments or shouting make sure you watch the documentary blah blah blah yeah I was discussing
this in my dad is that I have watched the late break show yes now I like I kind of think that on
the one hand it's very interesting it is very interesting but I also don't think that he's
necessarily the only team doing some of the stuff that he's doing no like the way he's the only one
showing it yeah the way to a shot you to think that everyone else is working out of tin sheds
with sort of cave drawings on the wall going wheel whereas they're in this sort of exciting big
factory so I think what I think some of the stuff he is doing is interesting the salvage side of the
cars or that kind of stuff and that makes perfect sense but I also thought and I said this point to
my dad that he can't be you know you don't put your trade secrets out in a documentary that's
going out to the public so I don't necessarily think that these things are as unusual as it's
being made out otherwise you wouldn't tell you competitors otherwise Dick Bennett is going to
be like that's a good idea let's go down let's go and ebay and find a few doors you know it's a
thing that they've gone to to to make sure that they can be competitive and they show that they
were competitive on the opening weekend but I think as you say they're very much showing bits
and pieces that all the teams are probably doing up and down the paddock yeah trying to save weight
where they can and drivers both Morgan and robot are always going to come out and go oh yeah this
is the best setup I've seen because they want to push the brand basically they understand that as
drivers so until we see good consistency from them across the weekend good mechanical sound
mechanical reliability yes yes yeah then I think at that point we can start to question whether
they're going to be fully competitive throughout the whole championship until then I think there'll
always be a few question marks they will be with any team as I said from the start we did the preview
I think this is going to be a season where they will take a few wins here or there they will take
a few podiums here and there but I don't think though that this is going to be anything other than a
data gathering season to really push on to next year yeah it's hard to come into the touring cars
as a brand new team it's harder when you've got people like Napa who have got lots of resource
and lots of really big talent again play has got a lot of exciting talent engineers yes look at the
look at the two race engineers of the last of the two champions on the grid
you know they are both amazing Spencer and the other chap whose name I've forgotten is it
no it's not no cacosa no yeah corolla no that yeah yes I know who you mean yeah yeah these
again this is not a case of rocket ship coming up against the reliant Robin and going oh we're
much better yeah these you're coming into a sport that okay it's not the high tech end that you're
seeing in f1 but there's still really serious teams here you know Virtue and Napa are two
really really big serious outfits that have got a lot of resource as well it's difficult to break
into it is I think it's going to be a weekend that as I've alluded to already the weather could
play a part yes um well let's let's do a little forecast I was going to say it's looking you said
to me earlier it's looking like we may well get rain on sunday yeah which means that we've been
dry because that's always what happened so we are we don't get burnt we are we are recording the
podcast on a wednesday at that time uh saturday is supposed to be dry with a small chance of rain
throughout the day and sunday is billed as light rain and race three is the most likely to be
affected of rain that is up to the uh high 60s low 70 chance or coverage of uh area for west king
no that was yeah for west kings down I think that could be enough to throw the cat amongst
pigeons in that final race one it's the final race yes they don't seem to care uh and two if you
sprinkle a little bit of water in there could we have half the grids starting on a wet tire and
half the grid thinking okay we can make this through on a dry yep um which as we know already
knowing the sport for years and that will always shake things up absolutely and
it's always interesting to see at what point does the crossover come if it comes at all we had that
Alton park last year how long do you leave it yeah well I think had the race last never
two maybe three laps at Alton park I think um Paterson who was on the dry was coming through
would have probably won that race he was seven I think it was eight seconds a lap quicker at one
point which is yeah might have been more than that it was very very interesting when that and that
crossover comes in touring cars it's not like a little gap it's a sudden it's not like a cliff
yeah suddenly it's what are they doing the same time is it he's now yeah far far quicker so
have to see how that goes um for me I'm I'm not writing off Toyota just yet the car
goes well around here generally speaking Cook took a win here last season in the closing
round of the season okay it was a longer circuit I know but it's still you know it's in a good
shape it's still a good car and I say Cook will come into this with full boost and he will not
have a point to prove but obviously he was a little bit on the back foot after Donnington
Park not necessarily his fault and I think this is a good chance for him to bounce back at a
circuit I think suits his natural driving styles it's similar in some ways to Thruxton
one more team I would like to mention before we get into our predictions and it's a team that
relatively struggled at Donnington restart need to have a good weekend yeah I do I completely
forgotten about them yeah yeah yeah fair point yes okay they they gradually moved their way
through the field throughout the day but they started off on the back foot it almost felt like
yes agreed so I think both drivers are going to need to be trying to secure possibly even two
at least two possibly three point score finishes for each driver I couldn't agree with you more
just before we go into our predictions I'll just do a quick run through of the day so if you are
looking at the Saturday bits and pieces qualifying is at two o'clock that'll last about 25 to three
the qualifying race sprint to pole event is the 1505 so five past three now on the Sunday
race one is scheduled for 1130 a race two is scheduled for quarter to three and race three is
scheduled for half past five so again they are always subject to change depending on any problems
we have throughout the day I've mentioned the standings a little before so I'll just quickly
run through the standings I know it's early I know that you know there's a lot of reasons to go but
they are on our social media already if you want to go take a detailed look so I'll just
quickly run through the top five of the of the top ten of the uh overall drivers so Sutton
leads the way from rangeford moffat camish and shedon uh in the independence moffat leads the
way from rainford from shedon from paterson uh from doble and then in the jacksears paterson
leads that's from osborne from dawlin from selby so yeah lull to play for this weekend
um should we move on to our predictions yeah so as with every weekend if you haven't watched
before we give out our predictions for now pole position as in the qualifying poll the sprint
race or the race to pole winner uh the three winners on sat on sunday sorry in no particular
order we found that too difficult yeah impossible and also the jacksears winner um it highlights
normally a rookie in the championship or a certainly a less experienced or less qualified
driver um and sam aswell who has taken a win yeah it's still in the uh yes um and then we give you
three general predictions for the weekend as well right do you want me to start
this off yeah I'll start this off and I'm going for the poll this is who takes the qualifying
best qualifying lap and I'm going for daryl de Leon I think he'll have well I know he'll have
full boost allocation yeah the bit of it goes well around here and de Leon's got electric one
lap pace so for me yes yeah I think he will take pole uh I'm copying pasting from last weekend
unfortunately uh I'm going for ingrown for pole okay um just with him set that little bit further
back in the championship I think he'll make most of it this weekend and he needs to bounce back
from last weekend last time out should I say at domington yes a good result would agree who you
going for the sprint race to pole win yeah okay fine you're sick of that I'm going for moffat um
I think yeah I think you'll be qualify towards the sharp end I know you have
slightly less uh boost than other people below him but I think in race pace that car looks really
good and um they were good here at media day yep and they just seem really good out the box
and it might get people off our backs for not giving them enough credit for where they are so
for moffat this season you have fully behind him but yeah no I again I think you can make a case
for de Leon moffat or um ingrown to win that to be honest with you yeah and your three winners
across the weekend so Rayford took his first win here last season I'm going for him to repeat the
feat here again this is home circuit he's quick grounds here um and again the BMW I expect to
be very good around here I have to agree I've gone for him as one of my winners as well I've
also gone for de Leon who also could win here last year again that pace it might be a race three
win potentially if he's just solidified the rest of the weekend but again it's hard to pass that
BMW and his pace around the circuit and this is more with race three in mind I've gone for Dexter
Patterson you just said de Leon for race three yeah just putting that out no I said that I think
de Leon could win either from a race three or but but with race three in mind I've gone for Dexter
Patterson who really impressed me at gone into park I thought he had uh well I know he had three
solid results yeah won all three rounds of the jack sears yeah uh I think he was in the top seven
all weekend for memory um so the way that car went in testing and he was quick here in testing as
well yeah yeah I he's going to have a fair amount of ttb to begin with that's very BMW and Audi heavy
they don't know who won all three races here last year fair enough fair enough who are your three
so as I said I've gone for Rainford I've also gone from Ingram as well I think he needs to bounce
back with a win um and then a little more controversy I've gone for Dan Robom again race
three in the first grid I think he'll get his elbows out and if we do have changeable conditions
in the thing can happen and I think he's the kind of driver that could take advantage of anything
could happen okay fair enough right the general predictions ends these are three oh jacks here's
my apologies my apologies I think I know you've gone for the same driver yeah it's Paterson
he really impressed me last week out as I said at Donnington and I look at who's up against I look
at how those cars go around the circuit traditionally and I I can't see past X of this weekend I just
can't so apart from Silveston I think this is Osborne's best circuit which is why I've gone
for Osborne this weekend you haven't updated it I don't even update any of them that's why okay
I have one here oh yes you have on the wrong place fair enough
carrying on so yeah I've gone for Osborne this weekend um I think he'll he'll have decent place
he needs to have better place than last week or last time out um and being his home circuit as well
I think he'll have a lot more confidence around here controversy is his home circuits from Nottingham
yeah but the team's based I was going to say Donnington's his home circuit okay the team's
based down there um yeah I I I'm going to go I've not made it as a prediction as such but I'm
going to just say I don't have high hopes for Napa this weekend clip that clip that up and put it
out on Monday yeah I can't wait for that um yeah clip that up but yeah I don't know I just don't
necessarily think I mean Sutton we know is very good at every goes but he does he's he struggled
here last year and this is the circuit course last year where Camish decided that the best
course fraction to do a safety car restart was to turn the car off which was very safe to do
you can't have any problems if you're not racing no no that's great which yeah we love that sort
of scuppered his weekend as well so they did lead to quite a funny social media uh arguing
between him and Tom Ingram which was quite funny so obviously for Camish he'll be looking to keep
the car on this weekend I should imagine hopefully yeah I'm not a driver coach but it's normally the
best way to go racing yeah I'm not a driver coach but um if people will agree I'm looking for one I
am available so should we go to our three general charge right no no I'm a cheap date me
should we go on to the three general predictions then so these are where we try and have three
general things that happen over the weekend um I'll kick us off and I'm going for no Sunday wins for
Sutton or Ingram bold I think double diamond extra bold bold very bold yep I I understand this could
well be a BMW stronghold and that's why I've gone for BMW to outscore PMR so two versus three okay
um I think they're going to have a decently strong weekend I know PMR are fairly strong as well
I just think they'll have that little bit of an H this word BMW unveiled their third car on the
morning and that would that would really see and then you'd be cheering Steven jelly in ways you
never felt you would before um okay okay my next one is that all three German cars will score a podium
so that means that the Audi the BMW and the Mercedes will all score a podium this weekend not
so the same podium oh that's what I was hoping you were about to say but they will all get a podium
I will say it has to be on the Sunday I'll accept it can't be in the sprint race they have to but on
the Sunday they will all get at least one podium and outright not jack sears not in your pendants
outright podiums on the Sunday okay I'm going for three different jack sears winners that's bold
that is across the three races on Sunday three different winners we'll see how it goes okay and
I kind of alluded to this I've gone for no podium at all for Napa across the weekends and I'll
include Saturday in there as well so there'll be no podium for Napa that doesn't include if
somebody if one of them qualify second in the first in the 30 minute section because that's
talking the sprint and then the three races there'll be no podiums when after across the weekend
I'll wait for 123 that does race to pole again that doesn't include jack sears and
Oswald gets a podium we're talking outright it's just to be clear and then I might need can I take
some protection behind you I mean you're bigger than me um Plato racing to have two or more dnfs
this weekend okay so is that just on the Sunday or we're talking across four okay so not the
initial no okay so you've got the race to pole and then you've got the three races on the Sunday
okay two or more dnfs interesting and with that we've just lost 100 subscribers which you know
which gives me a good chance to say if you've not subscribed at the moment help us offset the ones
that we've just lost through sounds comments by making sure you have liked and subscribed to our
YouTube Spotify or Apple podcasts pages it means you get updates to when our pods are coming out
when as we're doing a few different style pods this year you want to make sure you've got the
bell on for your notifications so you don't miss any of our ramblings about this sport
and any of our exceptional wheel knowledge and if you think either of us are bonkers and completely
wrong about how this weekend is is going to fall then please do let us know down in the comments
below pick your race winners your qualifying pole your race pole your jack sears let us know your
predictions for the weekend we'd love to hear them and it creates plenty of controversy sometimes
in the does and just remember to keep it nice none of us have crystal balls if i did i wouldn't be
doing this i would have done the lottery numbers for the big euro million i'd be carrying a yacht
somewhere although probably not off the coasts of of the canary irons at the moment too topical
and tropical so yes i you know it's all a bit of fun it's all a bit of
light-hearted touring car chat so keep it nice in the comments it should you wish to make one
and um yeah make sure you subscribe because we have seen our numbers rocket they are slowly
ticking up on youtube it takes you seconds and it gives us so much more than you can ever know
because it helps push the algorithms on youtube which are always difficult and it helps facebook
think that we are actually worthwhile as well which sort of potentially put some ad revenue our
way as well which is always good and helps us invest in the channel yes thank you for your
comments so far we'll be down there let us know if you're going as well and we will bring you a
review show on monday tuesday yeah i'm not going on holiday this time so we'll be okay yeah um
and we'll bring it all the action from the weekend if i can out
About this episode
The BTCP hosts preview the Brands Hatch Indy BTCC weekend, setting expectations around qualifying format, boost reductions, and how quickly conditions can swing. They revisit last year’s pace, calling it a BMW/Hyundai stronghold, then explain why clear air and weather could make sessions feel uneven. With Sunday rain on the cards, they also discuss wet setup uncertainty and reliability. The show closes with schedule details and bold pole/podium and race-win predictions, including German podium bets.
