A brilliant British Touring Car title decider and McLaren’s rise to take on Red Bull in Formula 1 feature in this week’s Autosport magazine, out today (10 October).
In the past, the BTCC had built a reputation for overly aggressive driving and shunts, but the championship-deciding battle between Jake Hill and Tom Ingram at Brands Hatch last weekend was a great example for the rest of motorsport.
Just three years after we had a F1 championship contest in which the main two protagonists couldn’t go side-by-side through a corner without one or both ending up off the road, Hill and Ingram put on brilliant displays in races two and three – the racing was
tough but fair. Either one would have been a worthy champion, but Hill’s hard-won success means that all of the Big Four from the past few years now has a BTCC title to their name.
Of the other two members of that club, Colin Turkington put in one of the great supporting roles to help Hill, and Ash Sutton underlined why he is still a strong contender to become the first driver to win five BTCC titles with a dominant display in the wet finale. Marcus Simmons was there to witness one of the great BTCC showdowns and speak to the contenders.
Will we get an F1 title fight this year? The fact that we’re asking the question at all is largely thanks to the incredible progress made by McLaren over the past 18 months. Jake Boxall-Legge explains how the team has done it and what could come next in this week’s special feature.
Alex Kalinauckas analyses James Vowles’ claim that Williams will have the best F1 driver line-up in 2025, Phil Branagan looks ahead to this weekend’s Bathurst 1000 and Gary Watkins hopes for the return of the World Endurance Championship to the UK following the announcement that the European Le Mans Series will visit in 2025.
Stefan Mackley also hears why Zane Maloney has given up on a shot at the F2 crown to make a switch to Formula E, while Tom Howard outlines a new competition aimed at finding and helping the next female World Rally stars – and speaks to the three winners.
Legendary engineering firm RML is 40 this year. Ahead of a special celebration in next week’s issue (17 October), we look back at RML’s success during the Super Touring era of the BTCC.
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