Collard is mentioned as one of the possible drivers who could step in later. The hosts say he’s previously suggested he might not be able to race the whole season.
Hamilton is mentioned as the other possible driver who could step in later. The hosts are talking about who can realistically race those rounds based on season commitments and resources.
Here, “budget” means money. The hosts are saying that not having enough money can stop drivers from racing the whole season in touring cars.
Person
Nick
Nick is mentioned as someone who, in the past, didn’t have enough money to keep racing. In this discussion, they’re saying it might not be him this time.
Term
minimal sponsorship
It means the car doesn’t have many sponsors paying for it. Less sponsorship can mean less money for things like parts and preparation, which can affect results.
Term
driver merry-go-round
It means a team keeps changing drivers a lot. That can make it harder for the team to learn the car the same way and keep improving race after race.
The championship gap is how many points separate the top of the standings from the chasing drivers. If it shrinks, the title race stays close and anything can happen.
The grid means the group of drivers competing in the race. Saying “over half the grid” means many of the regular drivers have already finished in the top positions.
F1 is Formula 1, the top tier of open-wheel racing. They mention it to compare how close the racing can be when the usual front-runners aren’t the only story.
The Oldsmobile Intrigue is a mid-size car that was made for everyday driving. In the podcast, it’s being used as a race car by a team, not just as a normal street vehicle. They mention it because the team is running an Intrigue this season and is still building experience.
Charles Rainford is one of the drivers in the BTCC championship standings. In this segment, they’re talking about how well he’s doing so far and what he might be able to achieve later in the season.
Camish is another driver in the BTCC standings. In this segment, they’re saying Rainford’s best chance is to fight Camish for third place in the championship.
Ingram is another BTCC driver mentioned for comparison. The hosts use Ingram’s results to explain why Rainford may not be able to catch the leaders for the championship.
“Best of the rest” means you’re not necessarily winning the whole thing, but you’re the best among the teams/drivers chasing the next positions. In this segment, they’re saying Rainford should aim for third.
This phrase means doing well again and again, not just having a great race once in a while. In a season-long championship, steady results usually help you climb the standings.
“52 points” is the size of the gap in the championship standings. The hosts are saying that gap is so big that Rainford probably can’t catch the leaders this year.
A “bogey track” is a race track where a driver or car usually has problems. The idea here is that if you’re strong at almost every race, one bad track won’t ruin your season.
A “saloon” is just a sedan-style car body (a normal passenger car shape). They’re talking about which sedan-shaped cars might be best for racing because of aerodynamics.
Term
BMW range
“BMW range” just means BMW’s lineup of models. They’re suggesting switching to a different BMW model shape that might be more aerodynamic for racing.
“Regulations” are the racing rules that decide what teams are allowed to use. If the rules change—especially around engines—teams can build different cars and the results can shake up fast.
They’re talking about teams being allowed to use different engine choices. That can change how the car drives and how teams set up the rest of the car, so it can affect who’s fastest.
This means being the best among the non-factory (independent) drivers. It’s like a second leaderboard inside the same race series.
Concept
champion outright
“Champion outright” means winning the whole championship overall. The point is they need consistent results across the season, not just a couple of good races.
Person
Selby
Selby is another driver in the series. The host thinks his results have been a bit inconsistent, possibly because he’s still adjusting and feels pressure from competitors.
Term
new driver
A “new driver” is someone who hasn’t done much racing in this series yet. They may still be getting used to the car and how the competition works.
Senna Proctor is another driver being talked about as someone who could step in. The host is basically asking whether Proctor is there to replace a struggling driver.
The "front end" is the part of the car that steers and controls how it turns. If it’s "sharp," it means the car responds quickly and predictably when the driver turns the wheel.
Term
back end a bit loose
This means the rear of the car doesn’t stick as tightly as the front. Drivers sometimes want that because it helps the car rotate into and out of corners—if it’s loose in a controlled way.
Mid-corner speed is the speed the car has while you’re actually in the turn. If you can go faster through the middle of the corner, you usually keep more momentum and end up quicker over the whole lap.
Lap time is how long it takes to do one complete lap around the track. When people talk about lap time, they’re usually talking about overall speed and consistency.
Engine penalties are race-imposed disadvantages tied to engine-related rules, such as exceeding allowed engine components or using them beyond a permitted limit. In BTCC, these penalties can affect competitiveness by forcing drivers to start from further back or lose points/positions depending on the specific regulation.
A restart is when the race starts again after being paused or slowed down. The restart can be a big deal because small mistakes can cost you positions right away.
The “chassis base” is the main framework the race car is built on. If teams keep the same base but change other parts, they’re often trying to improve how the car cuts through air or how it cools.
“Top line speed” means how fast the car can go at its highest point, usually on straight sections. If a car loses top line speed, it may feel slower even if it still handles well in the corners.
Term
papering over some of the cracks
This phrase means “covering up problems” instead of fixing them for real. In racing talk, it can mean the team made changes that look good, but the car still has deeper issues.
Here “accelerator” is basically how the driver uses the gas pedal. Two drivers can press it differently, and that can change how well the car accelerates and grips when exiting corners.
Tom Chilton is a racing driver. In this segment, the hosts are talking about how his results this season compare to another driver and what that might mean for the cars.
Term
rating GTs
“GTs” are a different type of race car series than touring cars. The hosts are saying Collard recently raced in GT events, so he’s coming from a different style of car.
“Media day” is when teams do interviews and filming for the press. In racing talk, it can also hint that the driver didn’t get much track practice beforehand.
An independent entry is a racing team that’s not run directly by the car maker. They still race the same kind of cars/parts, but they manage their own team and car program.
“Regs” are the rules for the racing series. When they change (“new regs”), teams have to adjust how they build and set up their cars to match the new rules.
It means trying to get tiny improvements everywhere. In racing, small tweaks to how the car is set up can make it faster and easier to drive, even if the change sounds small.
Shedden is the name of a racing driver the hosts are talking about. They’re saying he’s still capable of strong results, but that other drivers may be faster right now.
“Scoring points” means earning championship credit based on where you finish in each race. The host is saying consistency matters a lot in the standings.
“Legacy building” means planning for the long run. Instead of only chasing short-term results, the team keeps building knowledge and support so it can stay strong for years.
“Set cars up” means adjusting the race car so it drives the way the driver needs. Teams change settings to make the car handle better and be easier to drive fast.
Person
Gordon
Gordon is the person the host is talking about stepping away from driving (or a key role). The point is that the team needs someone else ready to keep improving the car.
“Top 10” is a shorthand for finishing near the front. The host is using it as a realistic goal because finishing in that range helps you earn points toward the championship.
Mikey Day is a driver the host says had a strong start to the season. It’s part of a broader point that the team has been performing better.
Person
Daryl Leon
Daryl Leon is described as very fast. The host is using him to explain who looks strongest right now in the series.
Person
Rainford's
Rainford’s is another driver name in the discussion. The host is saying that, at the moment, Rainford’s seems to be performing at a higher level than Shedden.
They’re talking about doing well repeatedly, not just having one great weekend. In a points-based championship, steady results across many races can be the key to winning.
Concept
new era
“New era” here means the sport has changed over time. The speaker is saying one driver’s style may not match what’s expected in the current period.
Mark Blundell is a well-known motorsport figure. Here, the speaker is saying he helped influence whether a driver could keep racing by supporting the driver’s situation.
Adam Moffitt is mentioned as someone who brought financial backing and sponsors. In racing, that kind of support can help a team afford extra cars and development.
Concept
brand new cars
“Brand new cars” means the team is using brand-new or newly built race cars. Getting good results early with a new car usually shows the team has it set up well.
Consistency of performance means the car and driver do well again and again, not just once in a while. In a season-long championship, that steady scoring is really valuable.
Non points finishes are when you finish the race but not high enough to earn championship points. You still complete the race, but you get zero points.
A junior series is a lower-level racing league that helps young drivers gain experience. It’s meant to prepare them for bigger, more competitive racing categories later.
Term
token package
A “token package” sounds like a smaller, cheaper racing entry plan. It’s meant to help people get started without paying for a full, expensive program.
Mikey Doble is the driver they’re talking about as a serious championship contender. They say he’s good at racing wheel-to-wheel, can defend when someone is pushing hard, and has cut down on mistakes.
“Race craft” means how good a driver is at racing in the real moments—like defending, picking the right time to pass, and staying calm under pressure. It’s about smart driving, not just speed.
Topic
Stetterton
They mention Stetterton because it’s where Mikey Doble proved he could manage a hard race and hold someone off. Race venues like this are commonly used as examples of real performance.
Concept
errors
“Errors” here means driving mistakes that make you lose time or positions. They’re saying Doble has been making fewer of those mistakes this year, which helps him stay competitive.
In race weekends, each manufacturer/team has its own garage area. “Toyota garage” means the Toyota team’s area in the paddock where they work on their cars.
“Cook” is the name of a race driver they’re talking about. They’re looking at how well he’s been finishing in races to judge whether he’s doing better than the car seems to allow.
“Buxton” is another driver on the show’s team list. They’re saying he hasn’t been scoring points yet and that his results have been weak compared with what you’d hope for.
A “teammate” is the other driver from the same team. Since they share the team setup, comparing teammates helps tell whether results are more about the driver or the car.
Concept
halfway
“Halfway” means the season’s midpoint. They’re using that point to see who has started scoring points and who hasn’t.
“Circuits” means the different race tracks on the schedule. If a driver hasn’t raced on those tracks before, it can take time to learn the best lines and braking points.
They’re saying the team might set up two cars differently to see which one works better. The goal is to figure out what makes the car faster and easier to drive.
They bring up Red Bull as an example of a company that strongly focuses on winning. The point is that some brands push hard for top results, not just progress.
Term
F1 terms
They’re using “F1 terms” to mean ideas and language that come from Formula 1. Formula 1 often talks about things like reputation and how teams are perceived, not only wins.
Term
pie rules
“Pie rules” is a slang way of talking about rules that decide how money or resources get split among teams. Those rules can strongly affect who ends up competitive.
“Track side” means watching the cars from near the track during the race weekend. You can often tell more about how a car sounds and looks when it’s moving.
The Toyota Corolla is a regular compact car made by Toyota. Some racing teams use the Corolla as the base for a track car, then modify it for speed and handling. The podcast mentions it because a team is running a Corolla in their racing program.
LIVE
As we enter what feels like week 412 about Turing Cars, we try and bridge that gap with
a June update and mid-season review.
Hello, and welcome back to the British Turing Car Podcast.
As Russ said, if you're having withdrawal symptoms from the Turing Cars, we're going
to bring you up to date with some of the news from June as well as the action from Auckland
Park and also our mid-season analysis of how everything's going, really.
How are you?
I'm all right, yes.
I'm just looking at the camera.
I look particularly small compared to you today.
Step forwards, like.
I think it's the shade of my blue to your grey.
It's a tiny in comparison, but I'm not in a distance behind the same room.
I am well.
I am missing the Turing Cars.
I'm also quite enjoying the fact we've had a long break to do other bits and pieces.
I'm kind of glad that it's fallen when the World Cup is.
Yes, there is that as well, which has been enjoyable in part.
There's also been chance for us to do a few other bits and pieces that don't require running
around after Turing Cars all the time, which has been nice in some ways.
And actually, in fairness, the month of June has been quite quiet for Turing Cars updates
as well.
It has.
We'll get straight into those straight away anyway.
So we do have a couple of announcements.
It looks like we're going to get a couple of different drivers possibly stepping into
a seat at Accelerate.
Yes.
So we mentioned in one of our previous polls, I think it was the May update.
I could be wrong.
That Osamu Karasima, apologies, apologies if that is their mispronunciation, has confirmed
on his Instagram page that he will be racing in rounds nine and 10 later this season for
Accelerate Motorsport.
So that probably looks, well, it's one of two, isn't it?
It's Collard or it's Hamilton.
And obviously, we know that Collard has had more public pleas and more public announcements
that he won't necessarily be able to complete the full season.
Obviously, we have seen in the past that Nick has also struggled for a budget, but at the
moment, there's been no suggestion that it's him that would be struggling.
However, you would think it would be one of those two that he will be replacing for rounds
nine and 10, which isn't going to be great for Ingram.
I mean, I'm going to be honest, I don't know much about Osamu's racing career, but I don't
think he's going to step into the car and be doing what Turquoise and did for him a
couple of years ago.
And if Ingram is in the championship battle, come those last two, and that is debatable
as we'll get to the mid-season review or mid-ish season review.
Yeah, it's an interesting one.
And I think that we spoke about in our question and answer session, which if you haven't listened
to go and listen to that because we answered your questions.
But I think this is part of the problem with touring cars is that drivers can't get budget
for a full season, and the merry-go-round is never good for the sport.
It's great for individual drivers to get their standing in the touring cars.
It'd be great for Japanese motorsports, or a Japanese driver, who I think the first time
in touring cars.
I might be wrong on that, but I think it's the first Japanese touring driver, that touring
car driver.
But it's also not great for what's supposed to be a pedigree sport that drivers can't
fulfill the entire season.
It would be like, I don't know, Mohamed Salah decided that he can only play half the season
because he hasn't got the budget for boots for the rest of the season.
You'd say, what are you talking about?
You're playing at one of the top clubs in one of the top divisions in World Football.
And that's what this is supposed to be.
I know, I know.
And it does also look like they've had a couple of other drivers testing throughout this mid-season
break.
One name that's on the lips of many people is Tom Ovendon, obviously with the Accelerate
set up, has raced in minis and done quite well in minis, and we could possibly be seeing
him step into the car at some point during the season.
If, as it comes to pass, Collard has only got maybe five or six rounds confirmed whether
he then has to step away.
It could be that he's already stepped away in this break and we won't be seeing him
back.
Obviously, the break will have given him a good chance to try and get some extra funding
for the next part of the season.
But, yeah, it was already a car that was running minimal sponsorship and to already have Ovendon
out in the car.
Obviously, Ovendon is a driver for the future for the Accelerate team.
He's done very well in the minis, but yeah, with that and then the news of, as I mentioned
with the driver coming in for rounds 9 and 10, it doesn't look great.
I have to say as well, it doesn't look great.
This is happening at Accelerate again after last year's fumble with Michael Crease, shall
we say, with the Benzley and Proctor stuff that happened last year as well.
Anything I would say is it looks like they've got this slightly more organised this year.
Agreed, but I don't think a top team should be, I don't think any team should really be
doing a driver merry-go-round unless there are extenuating circumstances like we saw
last year, a little bit with PMRs burning down, jelly stepped aside so they can have
a car, etc.
That's a bit different.
I don't think it's good to have a merry-go-round at all and I don't think it's good for one
of the so-called top teams to be having this for this second year running.
Yeah, I can see your point of view there.
We did also have a round at Alton Park for the Turing Cars in June.
That was full of action, wasn't it?
Are we going to just gloss over that quay for sponsoring the drive trains for the
year for this or providing, sorry, the drive trains for the Junior Series?
We're going to gloss over that.
Well, we'll see whether that develops into something a little more established for the
start of next season and beyond.
I was expecting that to be a bigger news story than it was, but fine.
So yeah, we had June's race at Alton Park.
We had three different winners there in Dan Kamish, Ash Sutton and Charles
Rainford, and I believe the championship gap narrowed by a point or two, which makes
all the difference.
So yeah, it wasn't overly exciting.
Well, I will say, though, is that across the first 12 races of the season, we have
seen seven different drivers take victory and 11 drivers, which is over half the
current grid have already stood on the podium in just four events.
So what I would say, and I've been saying this quite a lot to myself,
trying to make myself a copious and also I have this saved one of the second half
of the Q&A session, which will bring to you shortly.
I think if you took Ingram and Sutton away from the championship, which is
there's pros and cons to that, obviously, but underneath it's a really competitive grid.
It's a really close championship.
And we had this in F1 last season.
If you took away Norris and Piastri, and then to a lesser extent,
Verstappen for the second half of the season developed underneath was a really
interesting season. And actually, this season, it looks like you could have a
really close midfield there again as well.
Does that mean I'm going to need to sort out another one of my championships?
I would suggest that we would let the public decide on that.
If they want to see another comment below.
Yeah, if you want to see me, my brain explode, as Ham explains,
one of his Excel spreadsheets, please comment below either on our post
promoting this video or on the YouTube itself or Spotify or wherever else you
get your podcast from that you want to see an alternative championship.
If you do, I will sit through it.
If you don't, then Sam will probably still do it, but we won't deliver it to you all.
Yeah. And if you haven't done already, please do subscribe down below, get the
bell on and make sure you keep up to date with all the news, entertainment,
previews, reviews that we have for you throughout the rest of the season as well.
For an unscripted show, we don't have flow well into what a set up, up.
So should we take a little bit of a closer look over the season so far?
We're going to pick.
Well, I've certainly picked out three, sort of like high.
Who's making that look up?
Don't make it so that you've done the research and I haven't.
We've both picked out three points of interest, should we say, for the season so far
rather than taking you through every single driver individually.
We're going to take you through the highlights and possibly low lights and what we could
look forward to for the rest of the season.
Yes, as an incredibly negative person, when Sam proposed this, my first question was,
do we have to look at this from a positive point of view or can we look at some of it
from a negative point of view?
Yeah. Do you want me to start?
You've done research, so please do.
I'm going to start on a positive note then.
Now, at the start of the season, WSR came into this season as an independent intrigue.
We're two very young, sort of inexperienced drivers in Rainford and De Leon.
And I think in your pre-season predictions, actually, you had them fairly high up in the
championship as to where you thought they were going to finish.
I did. And actually, at the minute, I got the wrong way round.
But my overall feeling was not too far off the mark.
Yeah. So after four rounds, Charles Rainford is fourth overall in the championship with a
couple of wins, which actually gives him more wins than both Ingram and Camish.
And I think that's something that he's got to look to build on going into the second half
of the season. If he wants to be, quote, best of the rest, possibly fighting for that third
in the championship to go, look, I'm here. I know what it's about. I can show my quality,
show how good the car is. And it's a car that, again, we know lacking in sponsorship.
If you want to bring that sponsorship in, performances help that massively.
But I think what you struggle for, sort of like in the first half of the season,
is consistency and overall pace. Yes, there have been these flashes and highlights of brilliance
and being able to take those race wins. And that last time out at Alton, he did it competently
with these didn't really look too phased or challenged, did he?
No, I completely agree with you. One question I have for you is that do you think he can win
the championship A at all? Whatever. I mean, yes. Yes, I agree. And do you think he can do it this
year? No, no, no. I just think that certain and Ingram and even the gap between those two at the
point, this point this season is, I think, 52 points. It's just too insurmountable at this stage.
I think his best hope is to be battling with Camish for that third place in the championship
and try to take a stronghold on that because it will give him a really positive basis to possibly
go into next season to go, right, we're going to make a car. We're going to have a team that is
going to be able to fight for the championship at nine out of the 10 rounds across the season.
There's always normally one bogey track for a car or even a driver. So as long as you
compete, shall I say, at nine out of 10 rounds, you should be in the chance of the championship
at the end of the year. Yeah, I think that if you're looking forward to the future, they ditched
that car. It's not necessarily the brand, but I think they need not necessarily need to, but I
think they will end up ditching that car and go for perhaps a more, I mean, it already is a saloon,
but there's other slippery saloons in the BMW range that they might look at.
Well, there's going to be the interesting change up in regulations soon where different engines
can be run with different suppliers and stuff like that that could really shake things up in
the championship. And that could be the chance for them to take the ball by the horns and actually go
and do exactly what they want. It'd be harder for them though, what was the
style engine. I'm joking, of course. But yes, no, I mean, I've been very impressed with Charles
this season. I was very impressed with him last season. I think that they've come out fighting
WSI. They've had a difficult off season, what with the BMW brand stepping back and then,
as you say, lack of sponsorship on the car. Obviously, I have got the main sponsor,
which I can never pronounce properly. Cognition. Is that how you say it? Cognition.
I was put like a French cognizant or something to think of it, because then there's a similar
style brand, I think, on the Aston Martin. Cognizant.
Cognizant, yeah, I get confused. There you go. But yeah, they've come out fighting. I've been
particularly impressed with Charles. At the start of the season, I did, there's no saying
potentially, I did have De Leon pegged to be doing better than Charles and I've been proved wrong
on that. So that's fair enough. But they've both done pretty well. The car's been pretty
competitive overall, but you are right. They need to, they're going to take the next step to be
challenging for, well, they are going to challenge for the independence because they're not in the
manufacturers now, but they're going to be challenging for both the independent driver
outright and also the champion outright. They need a car that can compete every round, not,
as you say, two out of the three or arguably two out of the four so far this season.
Yeah, agreed. Your first highlight or low light? Highest or low light. I'm going to go for,
I'm going to, let's talk about Napa. Let's get out of the way because,
because firstly, I haven't got my phone on my hand to do the stats. They were two drivers, but
also I don't know what to make of them because on the one hand, Sutton is at the top of the
championship. He is running away with this by a long way, but this is what Sutton does. On the
other hand, Selby has looked quite scraggly at times. Yes. But then is that just because he's a
new driver in the new sport in a brand new car? Do you think he might be feeling a little bit of
pressure of having Senna Proctor just sitting there and waiting possibly in the wings to take
over if a driver is not performing well? No, because I think that if that was ever a possibility,
Napa would have put him in the car ahead of Selby anyway. If Selby's mind and the ego of a race
driver is much more strong than the ego of Europe, certainly me, maybe not you, but they'll be saying
that I've been picked here by Napa. I've been chosen to race in this series on merit. Therefore,
I deserve my space in the car, etc. But I also think that if Napa really wanted to put Proctor
in the car, they'd have found a way to put Proctor in the car. I know that sponsorship is a thing,
but if Napa really wanted to, they'd have found a way. It's how I look at it. I think Proctor is
simply there in case for whatever reason. I think Proctor is more likely to come in if the
championship was close and they need to say, right, we're kicking Selby out or Osborne out for rounds
nine and 10. We put Proctor in because we know he can run it at the front and cause trouble to Tom
like he did to Ash last season for Accelerate. But I just think, so yeah, so Selby's been,
he's done okay. He's been solid, but he's had a lot of instances. Osborne's flat to deceive. One
week he's looking brilliant. Next week it's like, where's Osborne? I think we're just waiting for
Silveston to come round each season. Osborne's going, I'm still here. But yeah, his performances
haven't been like that. That's cancelled. And then Camish, who I've been quite underwhelmed of
as well. I know he took his win at Alton Park, but still third in the championship. Yeah, but
have you been particularly over? Have you found him particularly overwhelmed this season? No,
but I've kind of got to the stage with Camish to go, oh yeah, he's going to finish third.
Yeah, I get that. And I know I shouldn't be because obviously back when he was right on that cusp
of winning that title, we thought, okay, he's going to be the next big man in the sport. He's
going to go off. He's going to win a couple of titles within the next five years or something
like that. And it feels like ever since he's been a napper, yes, he's been a good quality driver.
He's bought performances, bought results, but never had just that little bit more rage than
certain. Yeah, I suppose the point I'm thinking of most of all is that every season we say,
is this going to be the year that Camish does it? Is this going to be the year that Camish
challenges? And he hasn't again, he's so far off again. I mean, yeah, he's sat in third. You're
absolutely right. There's no denying that. He's 160 points, sitans on 220. That is a gap of 60
points already. That is three race wins already. And we're only four racers. And I know what
sitan is doing is ridiculous. I understand that. That's my point about napper. I can't work out if
they're any good. What I'm saying is if certain wasn't there, I know if some books and if your
granny had to be your uncle, do you know what I'm trying to say? But if certain wasn't there,
would Camish believe in this championship? I don't think he would.
But then look at him compared to where Ingram is this season, 12 points difference between the two.
That's not that far off. If you gave Camish that at the start of the season,
take something out of the equation for now. If you gave Camish that at the start of the season,
do you think he'd be going, okay, I'm in this? Yeah, but then you again, it's all this,
but some maybes be chucking that Camish said, sorry, Ingram had a disqualification and then
two retirements and he's still 12 points clear of canvas. She's only had one non finish. Also
one non points finish. I don't know. So the point I'm making about napper is I don't know if they're
any good or not. I don't know if this car's any good or not. I don't know it because certain
is such a ridiculous and I'm going to use it in a positive way. Freakish driver that he is just
what he can do with a car is unbelievable. Just get in it and drive it exactly how he wants. As
long as he's got the base setup there where he's got it nice and sharp on that front end, able to
get the back end a bit loose and be able to get that turning in all the corners. I'm pretty sure
that's where he makes all of his speeds in the corners. The amount of sort like mid corner
speed that he's able to carry is just where all his lap time comes from. And then on liver drivers,
Selby is only head of Hamilton and Buxton and Buxton who's basically driving a car horse for
the season. And Hamilton's who to be fair said really strong, but he's stronger in the Jack Sears
rather than overall point scoring. And then Osbourne is only ahead of Dorlin who's had some
real trouble with the car. We've seen that engine penalties and then he's only ahead of Selby who'd
expect him to be and then Halton Buxton again. So he's only ahead of four drivers. He's behind people
like Chris Smiley who's not had a particularly strong, we both said restart a bit a bit anonymous
this year. He's behind people like Dexter Patterson who brand new car, brand new team,
driving the absolute end of it. It's a ridiculously close, tight championship. We've
seen that already. You take Ingram and certain away from it. The actual racing the rest of the
field is so close. It's so tight. But you'd expect both those drivers to be ahead of some
of the drivers they're behind. But is that showing what quality there now is in the championship?
Yes, we've got a reduced number of only 21 drivers. But is that showing the close competitiveness of
the championship and the quality of drivers are there? You've already mentioned 11 of those drivers
have taken the podium already. Are we going to see the wheat sorted from the chaff and get those
drivers who maybe haven't got the right experience in Selby struggle very much early on in the
championship or possibly the drivers that haven't got that pure speed? There I say,
Sam Osborne struggle still compared to the other drivers that are there as well.
To finish my point off, I'm going to ask you a question. Is this Ford the best car on the grid?
Because I don't think it is. And I know it's bonkers to say when you see how fast certain's
ahead. But certain's one championship in infinity, which wasn't any which wasn't as good as some of
the other cars on the grid, in my opinion, he's won a championship in a Subaru, which wasn't as
good as some of the other cars on the grid in my opinion. I don't think this is the best last
year. Accelerate. I know it's not to decry or take away from Ingram's achievement. He won
with the best car on the grid. There was no doubt that that car last year was the best car on the
grid. I'm not sure that this is the best car on the grid this year. It's really difficult to tell
because obviously Napa have gone in a different direction with the same chassis base chassis
and just added that saloon style rear end to the car, which they were trying to gain that extra top
speed out of, which it looks like they've done. And they're so good in the corner still. Arguably,
you would say it's a better car than last season, definitely. But I still don't know whether between
that and the Hyundai, whether it's the best car on the grid. I still think the Hyundai is the
better car, personally. I think it's lost a little bit of its top line speed or forward of
found some of the top line speed. But you look at what cars bring pulling out that car, what
children's pulled out that car as well at times this season has been a bit hit and miss. And
doing really and having by far his best touring car season we've ever seen. I think that car's
better. I think it's interesting. And what do you guys think? Are Napa any good? Is it a case of
sudden sort of papering over some of the cracks? Or are we being a little bit or particularly me
being a little bit harsh on the car and the team itself? What do you think?
Well, my second point of interest is actually to do with accelerator. And it's to do with
the difference in the drivers between Tom Chilton and Ricky Collard and how accelerator
possibly going to be able to use those drivers throughout the rest of the season. If they want
to try and overcome this gap that Ingram has now got too sudden at the top of the championship.
For me, Chilton's been nowhere near good enough this season. Yes, he has had bright points.
But his look at his points in the championship and he's a lot lower than I would have expected
him to be at this stage. Whereas you look at a driver like Ricky Collard going into the championship
fresh off of rating GTs, so cars that are nothing like these touring cars. He's been
out of the touring cars for three seasons. If not more, yeah. And to jump straight into that car,
no testing, came in on media day. I only managed to get half of the
Why did you never turn it on to Simon? Why is she ringing me? Only managing to get
half a day of media testing done. And then he jumps in that car and he's, dare I say,
nearly as quick as Ingram in those first opening rounds. But he's a driver that might not be there
for the rest of the season because of sponsorship. And now we've talked the bones off of that.
I'm not going to go down that route. But he's a driver that should really be there
to the end of the season to be able to help Ingram to go and try and win another championship.
I don't think Tom Chilton is that driver at the moment.
So Tom Chilton sits 12th in the titles overall. He's had a single podium this season.
Head of him, some drivers that you may question. Aaron Taylor Smith, who's had a win obviously
this season, has looked pretty good overall. Adam Moffitt, who I think has surprised everybody.
Then to fair, the rest of the people above him, the possible exception of Mikey Doble.
To me, I'm quite surprised there are two Toyotas ahead of Chilton just because of
the performance that Toyotas have shown this season. Yes, they've had glimpses,
especially in the laser tools car. But it just feels like he's struggling.
Before I get the PMR army against me for saying Mikey Doble, the only reason I would
just say that I perhaps surprised that Doble was also ahead of him is that I'm quite surprised
that there are two brand new cars ahead of what is an established driver and established car before
people start shouting at him. Yes, they've done very well. We know this.
So for Accelerate to prove that as we just spoke about whether they have got the best car,
those drivers need to be produced or certainly Chilton needs to be producing better performances
where he's taking points off of Sutton at stages throughout the season.
If Ingram is going to win another title.
If I was to be playing Chilton's defense lawyer, he has had a couple of retirements.
Yes.
Three. Yes.
He has had only one non-points finish. Okay.
And you could argue that if you side of the Tom, sorry, the Tom Chilton point of view,
which I don't and nor do the stewards, but Charles Rainford is a rotter who costs him
everything at Snederton. You could point to those being reasons to why he's not necessarily
had a stronger start to the season. I think what will have blindsided him is how quick and good
car has been straight out of the box. I do think that has shocked everybody. I think,
I don't think he'd admit it. I think he's probably shot card himself that how good,
how quick he's been in that car.
I think it's almost more of a mental aspect where Ricky is, is that he's taking this opportunity
trying to get the most out of it and enjoying it the most he can.
We've already said how charismatic he is in the interviews and how much he's just enjoying
being there and being able to race. And he's fully understanding that he's probably not
going to be there for the whole season. So he's, he's making the most of it very early on.
And making the most of it may even get him the sponsorship to finish the season.
But yeah, he's surprised me in a very good way and Chilton for me is underperformed.
Okay. I'm going to also talk about a championship stalwart, but in a more positive way. And it's
going to be Gordon Shedden for me, who I think has been a phenomenon this season, an absolute
revelation. There was a lot of eyebrows raised when he came back to the sport last year of
why is he coming back? He's proved everything he needs to prove in touring cars. This is another
case of old driver coming back. It's going to be like Givinardo and he came back. It's completely
pointless. And last year was a, it was a tricky one. I think that the car and the team struggled
a little bit last year with, with set up, et cetera. But he's coming this year and he's taken
a third. He's taken a first. He's looked really competitive throughout. He sits ninth in the
championship with 97 points already. He said, sorry, he said two retirements. Other than that,
he's been relatively towards the sharper end scoring points. He's looked really racy. He's
had great outright speed. And he's been a bit of a, a surprise package really. I,
I wasn't necessarily, I wasn't expecting to compete for the championship those days are gone.
But he's been a really solid addition to the grid again. And he's been by far, in my opinion,
I mean, Cook is actually ahead of him in the championship, but do you think he's been the
more impressive of the four tow drivers so far this season? Certainly on a consistent level.
Yep. I've got a question for you.
I'm gone. How much of an influence do you think the, the laser tools branding and the team coming
in to that Toyota setup has had on the very slight uplift on performance that both him and
Aaron Taylor Smith have had this season? I think it suggests to me that they are two very separate
teams as far as how they're running things. I do think that, that comes to mind. I think they
are both running, they're an independent entry this season, rather than a manufacturer of one
which they were last. They are both running the same engine. I've just checked out the
Tocarem Sport engine and it does appear to me that the laser tools side of things have got it
more right than wrong. But I thought, I think that the laser tools are a championship winning
team. Jake Hill won the championship with laser tools on board. They've had some really good
successes with Adrian Moffat before that. They're a long-established team. They have
a long-established drivers and Lundell is still a part of it as far as I'm aware,
who is very good at driver coaching. I'm not particularly at these two drives. They're certainly
coaching. It's a very different take for him to take on two drivers that are so experienced.
Yeah, but I think that's testament to him even more in a way, because Shedden is used to the old
style of racing. He's not really, well, he hadn't raced this era for all this. When he came back
as a surprise, he'd been away for the grid for such a long time. And now he's in a brand new era
of a brand new set of regs, et cetera. And Aaron Taylor Smith, I think he was good last year.
He's just getting better and better and better. He is in such a good purple patch at the minute.
And I think that he's probably, I enjoy the new regs, but also I think that he's probably just
tweaking his driving that little bit. And I think having something like Lundell on board who can
point to the data, can point to this little change you can make. Touring cars is a sport
of marginal gains. You tweak something by half a degree. You can suddenly unlock 5, 10 horsepower,
which is game changing in the Touring Car speak. But yeah, Shedden really has impressed me. As I
say, what people were saying, well, what's he coming back for? Well, not everybody can win the
championship and not everybody can compete for the championship. Exactly. But actually, to be
solid, even the top 10 to be constantly scoring points and actually looking really at home in
the car. And also, if you want this team to carry on far into the future, it's about legacy building.
And if you can keep the team in a strong place where sponsors are still interested,
where data is being learned on the car, where things are being understood and how to set cars
up for the future, et cetera, one day Gordon will step away and somebody else will take the seat.
And it's imperative that they can take a good seat where they can keep pushing that car forward.
Where do you think he can end up this season in terms of championship finishing?
I think top 10 is a great achievement for him. I think that they don't think he'll try and push
that forward to maybe edging into that top 10. Well, I look at who's above him and I think
it'd be a hell of an effort to do so. I mean, Card will drop if he leaves the championship,
he will drop through the championship. So you could just essentially say, yes,
he can go up an extra place. Cook is a really good driver. There's no doubt about that. And if
they can get that car working, big ifs. But if they can, then Cook will look to go up the grid.
Mikey Day was an incredible start and PMR have been a revelation. There's no doubt about that.
I think you're going to talk about that in your final one. Daryl Leon is really quick.
I wouldn't necessarily expect Shedden to be beaten to Leon now at these stages in their career.
And then you get into your Rainford's, Camish Ingram and Sutton, who are on my opinion now
a level above Shedden, a prime Shedden. Yeah, absolutely in there. But you've got to remember
Shedden is he's on the decline in touring car terms. There's no doubt about it. He is not
going to be at the same sort of peak as Ingram Sutton, et cetera, because he's had those days.
If it's to bring out good performances, but it's the consistency across the whole season.
He would be by far and away the oldest champion. I think if he did win this,
which he was not going to, I'll just put that out. But it's like it in all sport, right?
Eventually the old make way for the young. And I'm not saying he's at the point where he has to
walk away from touring cars. His results prove otherwise. But I've been impressed with him
because I say there was a lot of sort of grumblings of what's the point. These days are
beyond him. His style of racing doesn't fit in the new era.
There was a big question marks after last season's performances, whether he would carry on. And I
think actually Mark Blundell's had quite a lot of influence over whether he would carry on being
able to sign with NB Motorsport and laser tools. I think that's given him the confidence to go,
okay, we can continue to grow this rather than plateau or even drop off further.
So my third highlight of the season, I think it has to be the Audi's that PMR have bought to the
grid to bring a new car to the championship is difficult, the best of times. But considering
what the team have been through in the last 18 months, it's an incredible achievement as to
what they've been able to do, how they've been able to even expand from last season only running
two cars to now going to three. Yes, they've had the helping hand, shall I say, of Adam Moffitt
being able to bring a wedge of money and a wedge of sponsors with him as well.
Yeah, but they've also got that that works two ways. Sorry to interrupt you because it's got
to be a yes, you're right, he brings money, but it's also got to be an appealing enough
proposition to the driver to bring that money. So that's testament to PMR.
I think he's still checking off the amount of cars that he's managed to drive within touring
cars. So it was another one on his list. And to be fair, all three drivers have performed well
this season and possibly outperform in their expectation, certainly from the start of the
season. Now I'm expecting a lot more of the team. And when they don't have a good weekend,
it's quite a disappointment to myself anyway. Yeah, if I compare them to the other new team on
the grid, which is Plato racing, and I'll just accept this is going to go badly in the comments.
All three of them are ahead of Dan Robottom and two are ahead of Adam Morgan. Paterson
is behind Adam Morgan by three points. So that tells you if you're looking at two teams that
coming in with brand new cars, brand new drivers for the most part, I mean, I know Dober was there
last year, but Paterson wasn't always Moffitt. They are massively outperforming Plato racing,
which a lot of people that start the season would have said that Plato racing, we're winning
it all. So the car seems to have a lot of outright pace. It doesn't seem to be too difficult for the
drivers to be able to set the car up in a specific way to get all of the pace out of the car that
they need. And their consistency of performance, they're normally well within the top 10 in scoring
points in most races, if not all. And reliability wise, I'm hoping you're going to back me up on
this. They haven't had too many issues. Paterson's had one retirement. Where is Moffitt? Moffitt's
had no retires with three non points finishes. Mikey Dober was had no retirements and one
non point finish. And of course a win. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that win in the opening weekend,
it was just bonkers. Yes, okay, penalties played into that. But to ask for that kind of start
to the season, even if penalties wasn't there, still podium finish. And in the opening race of
the season with a brand new car, the team couldn't have asked for any more. What I'm hoping is that
Adam Weaver is now in a really good place with this team. And obviously PMR have been asked to
do the junior series and be able to build a car that's cheap yet competitive and produce good
racing. I'm really hoping that the focus is balanced between the two that there is a balance
between the two projects that they've got going on as a team. And that they're actually going to
bring something to the table that is going to be able to entice young drivers to be able to give
them a good budget option to get into the sport and to get onto a token package where they can see
development come through and go from that into minis and then into touring cars.
PMR have got to find this balance to continue this upwards rise,
which I think is difficult with a couple of projects on the way. But it certainly looks so far
that this season is going to give them a good kickstart into that. Yeah. I mean, outside of
Rainford, PMR have impressed me the most about Shadow of a Doubt. As you say,
bringing a new car to the grid is always difficult. I'm not just trying to dig the
knife into player racing here, but you can only compare that there are two new cars to the grid.
You can pair them both. Okay, yes, I know player has got the extra difficulty of being a brand new
team, et cetera. But he's also got manufacturer back. Manufacturing. And one's been very shouty
in the off-season about how great they're going to be. One's been a bit more quiet and just got
on with the work. And PMR have always been, they've always been reserved about what they do
and they well outperform expectation 100% every single season. And that's what they're doing now.
What I would love to see is if Audi come in and go, okay, we'll back you now.
I'd love that. Because that would be brilliant one for the championship, but also for the team
as well. It would increase their ability to be able to employ the best kind of people,
be able to go on and challenge for the championship 10-fold, I think.
I completely agree. And I also think that with Mikey Doble,
when this is perhaps, I don't know if it's a left field shout or not,
I think if he can stay in the championship and get the right car, that might well be at PMR.
I think he's a championship. I'm going to say, I think he's a championship winner.
I think he can win. I think he is quick enough and good enough for his race craft that he can
win a championship. Yeah, he's shown already that his race craft, he can stick it to the best.
We saw that win at Stetterton last season, where he had to hold off a charging Ash Sutton.
And he was able to do that with any consummate ease. Yes, okay. There are different variables
that have to come into play. Oh, yeah. I'm not saying he's going to win it this year.
He could certainly have the consistency to challenge if not go on and do it himself.
And one thing he has done this year as well, which I think is key is that he's
eradicated a lot of the errors, which are always going to be a case of a brand new driver
in a difficult sport. But I think also as well that you've given, and I'm going to put you on
the spot a bit now, but you've given Moffat quite a lot of heat over the years. He's been
impressive this season as well. And there I say, at the start of the season, I called him as a
driver to look out for. You did? Yeah, he did. He's in the top 10. And you thought I was, I'd
fallen off the wagon. Yeah. But yeah, I think he's in a place where he's comfortable. In a team like
PMR, it feels as if all the drivers are loved, appreciated. And there isn't almost a hierarchy.
Everyone's on the same sort of level. And I think he appreciates that. I would say that in the next
half-ish of the season, he has to get a podium. He has to get a podium in this car.
Yeah. And I think actually Dex should really, who's also the other driver at PMR, Dex Patterson,
whose main focus at this point is going to be on the Jack Sears. I think he has to be aiming for
an outright podium in this car as well. I really do. It might be, it might be he requires a reverse
grid for this. But actually the pace is there. And I think that somewhere like Silverstone,
where I think that car is going to be electric, somewhere like Silverstone, I think they really
need to be very good. They are one-all. I think they really need to be targeting that at this
stage as a potential for trying to get the drivers or the other drivers on as the podium and try and
get more wins. You're going to have to fight off Sam Osborne though. Yes, yes, yes. Your final one?
I'm not going to talk about plate erasing. The temptation would be there, but I'm not going to.
I'm going to focus on the other side of the Toyota garage. I spoke about Gordon Shedden to a lesser
extent, Aaron Taylor Smith. It's a really weird one. This is the side that's got the manufacturer
backing. This is the side that you'd expect to be leading the flag, bearing the flag and leading the
charge. And they've been a bit men. Now, I know people are going to say, well, hang on Russell,
stop a minute there. Cook is the top Toyota in the championship. Cook is the top performance
in the championship. He's only got a podium, he's only had one podium by the way. And he is,
he is eight points clear of Gordon Shedden. Very quick maths there. Darts is helping.
I can't hit a double though. No, but I don't need to do this to be fair. But Cook's also had
two retirements he's had. I think he's mass performed outperforming the car. I feel like he's
struggled for consistency now. Yeah, I was going to say that. Look at his results. Because I was
about to say the same thing. I look at results go, has he be finishing this high? Yeah, he kind of
does stuff on the radar. That's why we always go to the season if Cook's there. We go, yeah,
he finishes sixth in the championship. What do his results say? He's currently eight, although
as I say, with the Colorado situation you expected. But like you, I was going to say always been
inconsistent. Actually, I'm not to read them out as we're here. Retirement, 10th, retirement,
10th, 7th, 5th, 4th, 12th, 15th, 2nd, 15th, 5th. About eight. But this is where he is in the
radar. And I still think he's outperforming the car. Then we go down to his teammate, Buxton on
the other hand, who has not scored a single point in the touring cars yet. The only driver not to
have done so at this halfway. Last season, who I thought, okay, maybe he's got a little bit about
him, a little bit of promise, a little bit of speed underlying, produce some fairly good performances
considering the situation that he was in when he came into the team. This was a chance and an
opportunity this season for him to go, okay, right and get some points on the board and then build
on that from there. And as you said already, no points has off yet and really lacklustre of poor
performances with not much speed either. No, so obviously, Buxton hasn't driven any of these
circuits because he came in at the heart of the season last year. That's part of it potentially.
But so I was going to try and compare where he was this year to last year. I can't because that's
but what I would say is that, yeah, 18th, retired, 16th, 18th, retired, retired, 20th, 18th, 19th,
18th, 16th, 16th. So he's only been close to points twice really, two 16ths, three retirements.
The car just hasn't, it looks so slow in his hands. And even where I've not got the finishes
ahead of me, but touring cars is a sport where you get normally get at least one non-finisher race
normally and to still not really be anywhere close to the points,
particularly when Cook is doing what he's doing. And look, I will say again,
I think Cook is massively overflowing with the car is actually capable of.
What I'm worried about is that at some point, Toyota are going to get bored of this because
they're not, they were, they struggled last year right towards the end of the season for,
ah, they've cracked it. They've really worked out what they're doing now is take the hamster out,
put an engine in. Who knew that? That's how it works. But actually, and then towards the end of
our season, a switch was flicked and actually they started to get really good results for,
okay, maybe they'll be one to watch next season, not necessarily win a championship,
but they'll be one to watch. And actually in fairness, the laser tool side of things have
done pretty well. Cook's doing what he's doing, but then it's not a great look for a manufacturer
to be bottom-ending the championship. It's just not, you don't expect a manufacturer back team
to be bottom-ending the premier tin top racing series. You just don't.
An alternative way to look at it is, yes, Buxton is a young talent coming into the sport.
He will take some time to adapt. Now, effectively, he's had a whole season now.
He's had the first half of this one, back in the last season,
and it doesn't feel like he's been able to kick Horner at any point.
Yeah, but controversially, I don't think he's done a lot wrong.
No, I don't think so.
I don't think, it's not like he's not finishing races because he's pushing too hard and ending
up in the gravel. He's not doing, but would Toyota be better off putting him for testing
across the season? I'm wincing because we spent a great...
I'm bringing in a driver that you'll be able to get more consistent results with.
I'm wincing because on our question and answer session, we lambasted the series of not bringing
through young drivers. No.
How long do you give a young driver?
No, but I don't think he, I think, okay, I think there is a limit to how long you give a young
driver. I agree with you on that. However, I think you also have to look at, is that young driver
making mistakes? Is he doing things wrong? Is he doing a Nikita Mazda pin here and spinning out
every week and potentially hasn't got the talent or the ability to race at this level?
I don't think that's the case with Max Burks. I think that he's just been dealt a car that
really doesn't suit him and it is just slow. I don't think it's him that's making mistakes.
I don't think he's too timid. I don't think he's, because we saw last year that he's capable.
So I do put it down to the car. I really do. I agree with you.
But then again, Cook sits in a chair a bit ahead of the other two Toyota cars.
Cook does this, as you say, and Cook is very experienced.
So the speed must be in the car?
Well, it's in one of the cars. It doesn't mean it's in both the cars. And that's the other
question as well, is are they running two completely different setups to try and find the
ultimate setup and say, right, you're going that way. You're Well, hopefully,
the winning former is somewhere in the middle at the minute that's clearly not in the middle.
But I agree with you to a point that there does come a particular manufacturer back to you when
you go, look, this is this is not good for the brand. However, I think what's worse for the
brand is sacking off a young driver when I think most fans who go who watch the racing and etc.
look at that and don't think you can see that this is not a driver that's constantly in the
gravel. It's not a driver that's constantly in the barrier. It's not a driver that's
constantly crashing over cars. It's a driver that just isn't quite there yet.
Dare I say, and this might be controversial, let us know down in the comments.
Brands don't care about that. Brands want to be seen. And if brands need to be seen,
then they need to be up the front and they need to be competing, not having a driver
stuck at the back of the grid. I think it depends on the brand. I think there's
something like Red Bull. You're right. Don't care. Red Bull is all about. I think that Red Bull,
and not just in F1, I think across in the football, every is Red Bull is about winning.
And if you're not winning, you'll be at your sack. Do that be Jesse March,
who and I will spend on Nick Deverige. If you're not doing well, you're out the door.
Don't care. I do think there's other brands that care about this more. I think a brand like Mercedes
care about this more. Again, I'm thinking about F1 terms. I think McLaren care about this more,
about brand and about how they're perceived. I actually think McLaren care too much about
how they're perceived. It was just all last year, the pie rules. And everyone's good friends,
and all everyone's a mate here. I actually think they care too much. But yeah, I agree with you.
Some brands won't matter for it. I think other brands will care. And what I don't know about
Toyota is a brand that's going to care about this, particularly or not.
From a looking after young driver point of view and trying to keep young drivers coming
through the sport, I don't want to see Bucson binned. But I am very disappointed in how his
racing has gone. Again, albeit I caveat it by saying, I don't think Bucson is the problem.
I think the car is the problem. And I know you couldn't make the argument about Cook,
or just go around in circles. But yeah, that's actually, we both also went to Media Day and
neither of us particularly impressed with Toyota there either. I think we could,
I'm not saying that if you go track side, you have a different, well, no, I'm going to say,
if you go track side, you have a different perspective of how these cars are forming,
how they're sounding, how they're looking in reals, right? I don't think that car looks
any good from the track side. Even Cook's car, I don't think looks as good as some of the other
cars on the grid. I just don't. Let us know your thoughts and highlights from the season so far.
Obviously, we haven't taken into account every single driver on the green because we've only got
45 minutes or whatever it is. And plenty of other teams and drivers have had fairly okay
mediocre seasons in which they may want to have been achieving more. They are possibly not achieving
as much as they want to. But by the end of the season, we'll try and catch you up with all the
drivers and the teams that are there and see how they do. Yeah, let us know who's been your
highlight of the season so far, who's been your low light of the season so far. And we'll finish
off by just taking you through the championship standings. So as you may be aware, Sutton leads
the way in the overall championship 220 points to Tom Ingra on 172, Camish back on 160,
Rainford 137, Collard in fifth on 124, De Leon sixth, 113, Doble seven, 1110,
Josh Cooks, it's an eighth with 105, Shudden in ninth with 97, and Ada Moffitt rounds out the
top 10 with 81. Yeah, the manufacturers slash constructors championship is as follows. So Ford
Alliance Racing have a decent lead in that for 387 to accelerate on 269, followed back by Mercedes
in on 237 and then Toyota, as we've just spoken about, down on 216. In the teams, Napa lead the
way there as well, just prove my theory that they're not going to be good. With 334, which I believe
is a 112 point gap to WSR and 228. Yes, WSR are ahead of Team Virtue, who's sitting third on 216.
LKQ, Eureka, parts with PowerMax racing 186 and rounding out the top five laser tools racing
on 186. Yes, they are with 168. Sorry. Yes, they are weatherhead of the Speedworks Corolla racing
side of things. Yep. And then possibly the most interesting championship, the independent
Drivers Championship. Mikey Doball leads the way on 166 from Darryl Leon on 161. A further two
points back from that is Charles Rainford, despite him being above him in the actual championship.
Ada Moffitt is then back on 148, one point ahead of Gordon Shedden on 147, who is five points ahead
of Smiley on 142. And then we have a bit of a gap because we had a full weekend from Aaron Taylor
Smith, didn't we, at least the season, which puts him back on 127. Dexter Paterson on 120,
and then James Dallin all the way back on 113. Then in the independent teams, LKQ, Eureka,
parts with PowerMax racing, so that's the Doball and Moffitt side of things, lead the way on 200,
one point clear of WSR on 199. Laser tools racing of MB Motorsport on 184, restart racing on 170,
and then Dexter Paterson on his own, competing for Steel Seal with PowerMax Racing 137.
Yeah. And finally, the Jack Sears trophy. Dexter Paterson leads the way on 195 points.
He's taken six wins overall this season from James Dallin on 188. He only has three wins
from Sam Osborne, third on 166, Nick Hamilton, fourth on 132 from Lewis Selby on 129,
and then Max Buxton on 106. So that pretty much sums up Dume slash a mid-season-ish kind of
review analysis thing, whatever the pod has been. If you're still looking for touring car content
and haven't listened to our Q&A session, please go and check that out. We answer your questions
in a workshop with a very beautiful car. Although it was warm. It was warm. Yeah,
it was warm, but we made the most of it. We'll bring you another Q&A session before we get back
to the racing at Thruxton later this month, recording this for the start of July. But until
then, stay safe and enjoy the weather, although it keeps changing and we'll be back once again.
It's coming on.
About this episode
The BTCP British Touring Car Podcast does a June mid-season review, bridging a long Turing Cars break with the latest news and on-track action from Alton Park. Driver availability is a big storyline: Osamu Karasima is set to race rounds 9–10 for Accelerate, likely replacing either Collard or Hamilton, while Tom Ovendon has also been linked after testing. The hosts debate the “driver merry-go-round” and its impact on teams and the sport. On track, June’s race delivered three winners and a tightly competitive grid, with WSR’s Charles Rainford highlighted as a standout “best of the rest.”
