With the 2023 BTCC season now launched, we’ve now got the list that shows the make-up of the field for the new campaign in terms of which cars will be in action. Read More

Michael Crees says he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of one day returning to the BTCC despite his switch to the Porsche Supercup this year.

Crees had been set to remain with BTC Racing for a second season before leaving the Honda squad for commercial reasons, and then inked a deal to switch to the Supercup with Parker Revs Motorsport.

His debut in Monaco resulted in an unfortunate DNF following an incident at Sainte Devote, after a weekend where he had showed promising pace at the wheel of the latest generation Porsche 911 GT Cup.

Crees will hope to challenge for Pro-Am honours as the season wears on but even though his focus is now on sportscars, the reigning Jack Sears Trophy winner may still return to touring cars in the future.

“I was lucky to have a few different options on the table when the deal with BTC Racing came to an end,” he told Inside BTCC. “When the chance came along to join up with Stuart [Parker] and Parker Revs Motorsport, there was only one way forwards for me and that was to do the deal and make the move into the Supercup.

“I think I have unfinished business as far as the BTCC goes but if I was to come back at some point in the future, I’d want to do it knowing that I had a chance to be successful and that I had the right tools.

“I was coming to terms with front-wheel drive in the Honda and am now getting experience with a totally different animal in the Porsche, so I think I’d be well placed to jump in any car and do a good job.”

You can read the full interview with Michael Crees looking back at his Supercup debut in the latest edition of the eMagazine – which is on sale here for £2.49.

It was back in October 2019, as the clock ticked down to the BTCC title decider at Brands Hatch, that the announcement was made that Dan Cammish had agreed terms on a new two year deal with Team Dynamics.

The Yorkshireman had enjoyed a stellar second season in the series to launch a championship challenge as he took the fight to the West Surrey Racing-run BMWs and just a few weeks later, he would go agonisingly close to lifting the title in one of the most dramatic finales the series has ever seen.

Overcoming the disappointment of losing out with just a handful of miles of the 2019 season left to run, Cammish bounced back well last year to pick up a personal best points haul as he secured a top three championship finish, and the honour of being the best placed driver using a front-wheel drive car, for the second season in a row.

Having firmly established himself as a championship contender, Cammish was widely expected to be a figure in the title fight again in 2021 and was the first name to appear on many entry lists, thanks in no small part to that deal announced some 15 months before.

It therefore came as a surprise to many when the announcement was made that rather than fight for the title, Cammish wouldn’t even be on the grid after his deal with Dynamics was brought to an early end.

The reasons why would become clear in the weeks that followed as news emerged of the departure of both Honda and long-time team sponsor Yuasa, with Cammish instead making a return to the Porsche Carrera Cup, where he will chase a record-breaking third title during the year ahead.

It’s not however what the 31-year-old expected to be doing as he prepared for the new season to come around…

“I knew quite early on that Honda wouldn’t be continuing, but I was working under the impression that I would still be part of the team,” he reflected in conversation with Inside BTCC. “To be honest, I did see that there could potentially be some issues coming along quite early, and I brought that up in conversation with Matt [Neal] and I was told not to worry.

“I knew that the team had invested a lot in me and had helped to turn me into a competitive touring car driver, and I think I was at the right age to be seen as someone who could almost be the future of Team Dynamics. However, things can change quickly in motorsport and when that happened, the chance for me to stay in the same capacity just wasn’t there any longer.”

You can read the full feature with Dan in the March edition of the eMagazine – which is on sale here for £2.49.

With the grid for the 2021 campaign having now been set with all 28 drivers officially confirmed, focus has turned towards the cars they’ll be racing with launch season in full flow.

Alongside a raft of new cars that are being introduced for the year ahead, teams have also started to show off the new liveries that will adorn their machines.

West Surrey Racing was the first to officially show off a 2021 colour scheme – complete with sponsors – on the BMW 330i M Sports that will be driven this season by Colin Turkington, Tom Oliphant and Stephen Jelley.

In the latest issue of Inside BTCC, we caught up with Nick Moss – the man behind the livery – to discover more about what goes into creating the colourscheme on a race car.

“There are a lot of processes and things that you need to consider when you are trying to design a livery,” Moss explains.

“You need to think about things like the colours and the hierarchy of the sponsors involved, but at the same time, you also need to consider the preferred placement for each sponsor and then if there are any particular stipulations that are being made by a team sponsor or partner.”

You can read the full feature in the March edition of the eMagazine – which is on sale here for £2.49.

On the back of a 2016 season that exceeded all expectations, Aron Taylor-Smith headed into 2017 confident of fighting towards the front of the BTCC field.

Returning to the Triple Eight team that had given him his series debut, the Irish racer was seeking to impress at the wheel of the teams MG6 GT, with the target being to add to the four wins he had secured by that point in his career

What followed however was arguably one of the toughest seasons of his career – including the monster accident at Croft that involved almost half of the grid…

“Even now, I don’t remember what happened on the day and only know what people told me about it afterwards, so it didn’t really affect me,” he said. “It’s [wife] Lauren I feel sorry for, because she was the one who saw it happen and had to go through it all.

“The accident showed how safe a modern day BTCC car is, and it’s become a bit of a running joke with Lauren – which she hates – that I must be indestructible now having come through it.

“Getting back behind the wheel after what happened didn’t bother me, and it isn’t something that has crossed my mind since. If it did bother me, then it would be time to walk away.”

You can read the full feature with Taylor-Smith as he reflects on his career to date and his return to the grid this season with Team HARD in the February edition of Inside BTCC, which is on sale here for just £2.49

The announcement that Tom Ingram was to leave Speedworks was arguably one of the biggest surprises of what has proved to be a busy winter period for the BTCC paddock.

News of a split broke just before New Year, with the announcement being one that few would have seen coming – given the fact that it was a relationship that had been ongoing from the moment Ingram moved up into the series in 2014.

Driver and team had appeared to be the closest thing to being a family team without actually being a family team for a number of years, with the 27-year-old having helped Speedworks progress from being a solid midfield outfit to one more than capable of challenging for the championship title.

But having become part of the furniture with Speedworks, how does he now feel about moving on to pastures new?

“I’ve been with Speedworks for my whole career in the BTCC so far, so I have never known any different,” he reflects.

“The situation we found ourselves in was a bit like one Andrew Jordan faced in the past with his Pirtek backing, and I had to put my sponsors first.

“Any deal I did was one that had to work commercially for them, and unfortunately that just wasn’t possible with Speedworks for 2021.

“There were no hard feelings from anyone about it, and when it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to agree a deal, there were a lot of offers on the table.

“I’d say probably 90 per cent of the grid were interested in doing something but in the end, moving to EXCELR8 was an easy to decision to make.”

You can read the feature in full in the February edition of the eMagazine, which is on sale here for £2.49.

After a challenging 2019 campaign, the 2020 season provided Motorbase Performance with a chance to return to form as it introduced the latest incarnation of the Ford Focus.

Even when the COVID-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works, it proved to be a successful year on track for the Wrotham-based squad.

At the end of it however came news that the team was being sold on, with Shaun Hollamby and Pete Osborne taking control from founder David Bartrum – who now heads off to take on new challenges elswhere…

“Mike Jordan warned me that it’ll be hard to let go and see someone else running ‘my’ team, and I suspect there are times that he’ll be right,” he admitted.

“However, I have no doubt that Shaun and Pete will make a success of it, and that they are right people to continue the Motorbase story.

“They have a car that is a real weapon, they have a good team of people in place to run it and in Jake Hill, have a driver who can win races and fight for that elusive title.”

The full chat with Bartum looking back over his time in charge can be found in the January edition of the eMagazine, which is on sale here for £2.49