Top 10 BTCC drivers of 2016 – Autocar's picks
The cars of 2016
The 2016 season was another classic, with lots of action, drama and an unpredictable finale. We look back at some of this year’s standout drivers
It’s been nearly three months since the dust settled on the 30 door-handle-to-door-handle rounds of the Dunlop MSA British touring Car Championship. So before the cars rumble back into life for 2017, we take a last chance to reflect on a stunning season.
The title was decided by just two points in the very final race of the season at Brands Hatch.
Gordon Shedden took the victory for the second year in a row and the third time in his career to stand shoulder to shoulder with the championship’s greats.
Here, we pick out our top 10 drivers of the 2016 campaign.
1 Gordon Shedden
Team: Team Dynamics
Car: Honda Civic Type-R
Championship position: 1st
Average qualifying position: 6.70 Poles: 2
Laps led: 73 Wins: 4 Podiums: 10 Fastest laps: 3
The reigning champion must have thought keeping hold of the silverware was a long way away when he slipped 52 points behind the top of the table at the halfway point. He rescued his season within 15 races with an average finishing position of fourth place. He sealed the crown by passing rival Sam Tordoff in the final race at Brands Hatch for third place.
2 Colin Turkington
Team: Team BMR
Car: Subaru Levorg GT
Championship position: 4th
Average qualifying position: 6.50 Poles: 3
Laps led: 74 Wins: 5 Podiums: 10 Fastest laps: 3
The Subaru programme was ambitious and it went through a difficult birth, including missing a round at Thruxton with a fuel rail problem. Once a new inlet manifold came on stream in June, Turkington flew. He took the car’s first pole and win at Oulton, and then went on to four more wins to thrust himself up to fourth in the points. He’s a superb, classy racer who worked hard to unlock the secrets of the car.
3 Sam Tordoff
Team: WSR
Car: BMW 125i M Sport
Championship position: 2nd
Average qualifying position: 11.10 Poles: 0
Laps led: 54 Wins: 2 Podiums: 9 Fastest laps: 2
In only his fourth season at this level, Tordoff stepped up to the plate in 2016. The team developed the engine over the winter and added direct injection and variable valve timing to the powerplant. Tordoff was the model of consistency over the opening part of the year. Others started to close over the run-in and Tordoff narrowly lost out on a maiden crown. He handled himself with dignity in the face of defeat.
4 Rob Collard
Team: WSR
Car: BMW 125i M Sport
Championship position: 5th
Average qualifying position: 16.50 Poles: 0
Laps led: 23 Wins: 2 Podiums: 6 Fastest laps: 4
The most stunning statistic for Collard is that his average qualifying position is worse than 16th. That meant he had to put in some stellar drivers with plenty of overtaking – indeed, he won the Dunlop Forever Forward award for the man who passed the most cars during the season. He put that struggle down to difficulties with set-up, but it didn’t take away from his stunning Sunday showings.
Team: Motorbase Performance
Car: Ford Focus ST
Championship position: 3rd
Average qualifying position: 12.20 Poles: 0
Laps led: 103 Wins: 5 Podiums: 9 Fastest laps: 1
Jackson was the dominant force over the latter part of 2015, but rule makers pegged the car back and it was more of a struggle this season. There were occasions where the points when begging – such as a puncture at Thruxton and an ECU failure at Snetterton – which could have made all the difference. The car got faster over the latter half of the season, but it was too late for a title charge.
6 Andrew Jordan
Team: Motorbase Performance
Car: Ford Focus ST
Championship position: 8th
Average qualifying position: 11.56 Poles: 0
Laps led: 20 Wins: 2 Podiums: 5 Fastest laps: 2
Jordan switched to his third different car in three years and took his tight engineering team with him. They conducted a lot of pre-season testing to refine the car, but suffered some real misfortune over parts of the season. When things did click together, like at Silverstone at the end of the year, Jordan was the highest scoring driver over the three rounds. He managed to claim the Independents Trophy.
7 Jason Plato
Team: Team BMR
Car: Subaru Levorg GT
Championship position: 7th
Average qualifying position: 10.70 Poles: 1
Laps led: 55 Wins: 1 Podiums: 10 Fastest laps: 1
Plato was one of the major players behind getting Subaru into the championship in the first place, and was delighted with the boxer-engined Levorg GT. After the initial teething troubles had been ironed out, he was fast and scored as many podiums as anyone else during the year. The highlight came at Knockhill, when the old master won his 500th race in the series. With a year’s learning in the car, he will only be faster in 2017.
8 Matt Neal
Team: Team Dynamics
Car: Honda Civic Type-R
Championship position: 6th
Average qualifying position: 8.20 Poles: 0
Laps led: 25 Wins: 3 Podiums: 7 Fastest laps: 1
Neal used his guile over the opening half of the season when, because he was fully laden with success ballast, he mapped his weekends out to work towards success in the final race of the meetings. That worked perfectly up until the halfway point of the year, when others hit their stride. He ended the season in the medical centre after a race two shunt at Brands Hatch, which was a cruel blow.
9 Ash Sutton
Team: Triple Eight Racing
Car: MG 6
Championship position: 13th
Average qualifying position: 6.40 Poles: 2
Laps led: 17 Wins: 1 Podiums: 2 Fastest laps: 2
In his first season in the category, Sutton was stunning. His superb car control and aggressive racecraft are perfectly suited to the BTCC. He took a pole position in his second meeting and won his first race by the fifth meeting in the MG6, which is hardly the newest of designs on the grid. He went on to dominate the Jack Sears Trophy for rookie drivers and has marked himself out as a star of the future.
10 Tom Ingram
Team: Speedworks Motorsport
Car: Toyota Avensis
Championship position: 10th
Average qualifying position: 6.90 Poles: 2
Laps led: 42 Wins: 2 Podiums: 6 Fastest laps: 0
Ingram made a breakthrough in 2015 when he took two podiums and kicked on immediately with a victory in the opening race of the year at Brands Hatch, which he took under real pressure from Shedden. He had difficulty stringing three solid results together across the weekend, but ironed out that blip as the year went on. He took two poles, too, to underline his pace, and he should push on to be a title contender in the 2017 season.
More BTCC news:
Senna Proctor signs BTCC deal to drive Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall
Vauxhall Astra to compete in British Touring Car Championship in 2017
2017 BTCC teams entry list confirmed
Autocar renews media partnership with British Touring Car Championship
Source: Car
