After such a long wait, it’s finally race week for the opening round of the 2026 British Touring Car Championship season! We have seen the 2026 challangers on track for testing over the past few weeks but this weekend we will see all 21 entries battling it out at the UK’s top venues. Plenty has changed since the final race of the 2025 season at Brands Hatch, so this article will get you up to speed with the driver transfers over the winter, new race formats and more!
Revised qualifying format for 2026
Saturdays are going to look completely different in 2026 for the British Touring Car Championship. In November last year, TOCA announced they would be introducing a 15 minute qualifying race which will headline Saturday’s action. Saturday’s revised timetable will have one 40 minute practice session taking place at 10:35. At 14:00, straight after the lunch break, qualifying for the qualifying race will get underway. The qualifying session consists of two groups each with 15 minutes to set their fastest laptimes. The driver with the overall fastest time will start the qualifying race from pole position and the other drivers in their group will ocupy the odd numbered grid positions.
Don’t turn off after that qualifying session finishes though as the qualifying race gets underway just half an hour after later. The qualifying race is scheduled to get underway at 15:05 will run for 15 minutes. In this case, 13 laps of the Donington Park National Circuit. At the end of the 13 laps, the winner will secure pole position for race one on Sunday and also 10 championship points. Half points are allocated to the top 15 drivers in the qualifying race as follows, 10,9,8,7,6,5,5,4,4,3,3,2,2,1,1.
These points go solely to the drivers tallies and not to the teams, manufactuers, independant drivers and teams or Jack Sears Trophy standings.
Who is driving where in 2026:
After the BTCC season lauch last week, the driver lineup was officially confirmed. Plenty of drivers return to the teams they raced with last year but as always, BTCC silly season was in full swing!
Team Vertu
Defending drivers champion Tom Ingram remained with the team as he signed a deal that committed him to the team until 2027. Tom Chilton also remained with Team Vertu over the offseason. Adam Morgan and Senna Proctor both departed the team in place for Nicholas Hamilton and Ricky Collard.
NAPA Racing UK
NAPA Racing UK also managed to keep their star driver Ash Sutton assigned to their programme. Dan Cammish also remains with the team in their new era with the Ford Focus Saloons. Sam Osbourne stays with NAPA in 2026 after a much improved 2025 season. Dan Rowbottom was the only outgoing for the team but he was replaced by BTCC rookie Lewis Selby.
Speedworks Corolla Racing
The Speedworks squad are technically down to a two car entry this year from four in 2025. Josh Cook stays with the team after he subbed in for Ronan Pearson late on in 2025. He will be looking to lead a Toyota team with plenty of momentum behind them heading into the 2026 season opener. Max Buxton will be hoping to make a Jack Sears Trophy charge in his Toyota.
Cataclean Plato Racing
The new team on the block for the 2026 season run by the legendary Jason Plato himself. Running in their two Mercedes A35 Saloons will be Dan Rowbottom and Adam Morgan as they hope to take the fight to the established manufactuers.
West Surrey Racing
The BTCC’s most succesful team will be running with two BMW 330i’s this season in the independant championships. Reigning Jack Sears Trophy winner Daryl DeLeon returns to the team in 2026 along with his rival for the title last season Charles Rainford. This exciting and young duo will be hoping to take more race wins an trouble the top teams in 2026.
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport
Big changes for the Laser Tools outfit over the winter. They lost their superstar driver Jake Hill but have now expanded to two Toyota Corolla’s for this season. Aron Taylor-Smith and Gordon Shedden will be driving the striking blue machines with hopes of independant championship glory.
Restart Racing
Reigning independant teams champions Restart Racing continue their partnership with Hyundai and will run two of the i30N’s. Chris Smiley returns to the team and has plenty of pedigree in the independants championships. The team lost independant drivers champion Dan Lloyd and have signed James Dorlin to replace him. Expect Dorlin to get quicker in that Hyundai as the year goes on.
Power Maxed Racing with LKQ Euro Car Parts
Power Maxed Racing have bounced back brilliantly from their disasterous 2025 to enter three cars in this years championship. Not just three cars, three brand new Audi S3 Saloons. The support from Aiden Moffat and the LKQ Euro Car Parts crew is a huge help to the team. He will be joined by the returning Mikey Doble who had a brilliant 2025 campaign. Dexter Patterson will be driving with the entry sponsored by Steel Seal and he showed brilliant pace on the season launch day. All three could be huge players in the battle for independant honours.
Sunday’s Schedule
Sunday’s schedule stays the same in 2026 with three 18 lap races scheduled for 11:30, 14:40 and the reverse grid race gets underway at 17:30. The day of racing will be supported by the Legends, Mini Challange, British F4 and the Porsche Sprint and Carrera Cup Championships.
The season opener promises to be a thriller as always. New formats will certainly throw the cat amongst the pidgeons but you can expect to see some classic door to door BTCC action at Donington Park. Tune into our social media channels and our website for updates and articles throughout the day!
Main Image Credit: Michael Jolley
