With six races down in the 2026 British Touring Car Championship season, we are now a fifth of the way through the campaign. Round two of the season gave us plenty of talking points as we start to get clarification of where each team stands in the pecking order. So let’s debrief some of the main stories from races 4, 5 and 6 at Brands Hatch.
Sutton reigns supreme at the top of the standings
Ash Sutton has been the dominant force of the 2026 season so far. Sutton has failed to finish outside the top two in any race so far this season. His consistency has been remarkable, even in brand new machinery. The four time champion has had arguably the best start to a season in his career and all signs point to him getting even stronger as Sutton and Alliance Racing understand more about their Ford Focus Titanium Saloon.
The 32 year old has a 57 point buffer over long time rival Tom Ingram and is already looking like a favourite to take a record breaking fifth drivers title. Sutton also claimed his 50th BTCC victory at the weekend. Putting him just four wins away from surpassing Gordon Shedden and breaking into the top five most wins in the BTCC. A figure you would image that at this rate he would well surpass.
Team Vertu struggling to find consistent results
Whilst Team Vertu may have two of their drivers in the top four of the championship standings, it hasn’t been the best start to the year for the team that looked so dominant in 2025. Tom Ingram may have leaped from seventh in the standings to second this weekend but the gap he will need to close to Sutton is huge. Ingram hasn’t had the rub of the green so far this year. Overboosting in Donington cost him a victory and the two time champion has been in the wrong place at the wrong time on a couple of occasions which has cost him places and points. On the contrary, Ricky Collard has had a brilliant start to his season.
A late addition to the Team Vertu squad but he has delivered some brilliant results so far. Two podiums for the British GT champion propelled him to second in the standings before race three where he retired with mechanical problems. However, Collard revealed he is currently not able to do the whole season. So Team Vertu could lose what looks to be a valuable asset in the closing rounds of the season if Collard cannot get a budget together.
Tom Chilton has also struggled at the start of the season. This time last year, Chilton already had an overall victory to his name but the same cannot be said for this season. The experienced Chilton hasn’t been able to stay out of trouble so far this year and currently sits 14th in the standings. There has been flashes of speed with a fifth place result in race two at Brands Hatch. Expect some better results in the coming race weekends as Chilton will have plenty of boost to play with.
Nicholas Hamilton’s weekend was very successful as he secured his second best BTCC result to date in race three with 11th place. Hamilton has made a huge step up in 2026 to the Team Vertu camp and will be getting used to the package as the year goes on. Strong early signs for Nic.
The battle of the independents
The Independents battle is one that all BTCC fans should be keeping their eyes on throughout this season. The additions of the Power Maxed Racing Audi’s. West Surrey Racing BMW’s and Laser Tools Racing Toyota’s have taken the Independent championship up to another level this year. The fight for the top spot is already incredibly close with Mikey Doble atop the standings on 90 points.
His LKQ Euro Car Parts Power Maxed Racing teammate Aiden Moffat sits in second trailing by just five points. Reigning Jack Sears Trophy winner Daryl DeLeon is third with 74 points with race two winner Aron Taylor-Smith fourth.
His teammate Gordon Shedden fifth just four points away from DeLeon. Charles Rainford was second in the overall championship and right at the front of the independents coming into this weekend. But he has slipped down to sixth place in the standings, 20 points off Doble. Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley and James Dorlin have shown promising pace so far this year, they sit seventh and eighth in the standings with Dexter Patterson in ninth.
Snetterton Bound
The last time the BTCC went to Snetterton, Ash Sutton took victory in races one and two with a third place in race three. With an all new car, there is no guarantee that the new NAPA Racing Ford Focus Saloon will be able to achieve the same results. However, the new streamlined nature of their Focus could definitely be valuable down the long straights of Snetterton. But Ingram also has great results previously at the circuit in his Hyundai. Will he be able to close the gap to Sutton? We will find out in just under two weeks time.
The top 10 in the championship after Round 2:
1. Ash Sutton, 129 points
2. Tom Ingram, 82 points
3. Mikey Doble, 68 points
4. Ricky Collard, 67 points
5. Dan Cammish, 61 points
6. Aiden Moffat, 57 points
7. Aron Taylor-Smith, 55 points
8. Charles Rainford, 54 points
9. Daryl DeLeon 51 points
10. Gordon Shedden 48 points
