2013 British Touring Car Championship: Nine Rounds, NGTC Cars and a Silverstone Finale

The 2013 British Touring Car Championship ran nine rounds and 27 races, mixing professional teams with privately funded drivers in heavily modified family cars. It was the third season for NGTC-specification cars, and the title was still open when the field reached the final meeting at Silverstone.

What was the 2013 BTCC season?

The 2013 season was the 56th run of the British Touring Car Championship, a multi-event series in which modified family cars raced in support of a large programme. Its cars were highly modified versions of road-going family models, and the programme included a wide range of support categories around the main championship. Rounds were staged in England and Scotland.

This was the third year that Next Generation Touring Car cars could compete, and the first season after the phased move away from Super 2000 cars. Equalisation had been used during that transition, but in 2013 NGTC cars held a clear advantage because they could run higher turbo boost pressures.

All entrants ran the NGTC engine, a 2.0-litre turbocharged unit. The remaining Super 2000 cars competed for the Jack Sears Trophy, named after Jack Sears, the 1958 British Saloon Car Championship winner, who presented it to the top Super 2000 finisher at the final round.

A season of NGTC speed, tyre rules and a Silverstone finale that kept the title open until the last race.

How did the season open at Brands Hatch?

Andrew Jordan took the first pole of the season at Brands Hatch, in sunny but cold conditions, where a snow shower stopped drivers from improving their times. Jason Plato won the opening race from Jordan, and Rob Austin completed the podium after a fast start.

Plato also won race two, with Jordan second again and Jeff Smith third. Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden both pitted unscheduled in race one and finished out of the points. Shedden's race-two podium was taken away after scrutineers found his car below the minimum ride height.

The third race began with a heavy crash for Austin, which followed a spin from Dave Newsham, and a safety car period came out. Neal took the lead and won, while Shedden, who had started at the back, raced through to finish second for Honda.

Liam Griffin took two Jack Sears Trophy wins in the opening meeting, and James Kaye took the other.

Who dominated the Donington Park and Thruxton rounds?

Shedden took pole at Donington Park, his first since Oulton Park in 2011, and won the opening race of the round from Jordan and Matt Neal. The second race marked two landmarks, as Plato made his 400th BTCC start and Neal his 500th, and it was won by Jordan.

Colin Turkington won the reverse-grid third race from the front row. It was his first victory since 2009 and the first for the eBay Motors BMW 125i. Shedden and Neal took the other podium places, while Plato struggled on the softer tyre and finished eighth.

Thruxton produced another Honda front row. Jordan took his second pole of the year, with Shedden and Neal filling the next two spots for Honda. In race seven Jordan led until a front-left puncture half a lap from the end sent him limping to eleventh, which gave Neal his second win of the season.

Neal won again in race eight. Shedden took the final race after Plato punctured with two laps to go. Neal left Thruxton as championship leader, with Jordan and Plato second and third and defending champion Shedden fourth.

How did the Oulton Park and Croft rounds change the title race?

At Oulton Park, MG KX Momentum Racing locked out the front row, with Plato on pole from rookie Sam Tordoff. Plato won the first race from Tordoff, then won the second race again ahead of Shedden and Turkington. Both of Plato's wins were lights-to-flag runs from pole.

The final race was more dramatic. Plato retired with an engine fire on lap four, and Shedden lost his chance of a strong result to a puncture. Jeff Smith lost the lead by spinning at Knickerbrook, and Andrew Jordan won from Turkington.

Croft brought a fresh lineup for Addison Lee Racing, with Jake Hill replacing Liam Griffin and Michael Caine joining in a new NGTC Ford Focus. Turkington took his first pole there since 2009 and the first for the BMW 125i M Sport, narrowly ahead of Plato, who had a red flag to contend with.

Turkington won the first two races at Croft, the second in changing conditions ahead of Shedden. In the final race Matt Neal took the lead from Nick Foster and held on by 0.6 seconds over Turkington after running wide at two corners on the last lap.

What happened at Snetterton, Knockhill and Rockingham?

Sam Tordoff took his first pole at Snetterton, with Jason Plato alongside to give MG KX Momentum Racing a front-row lockout. Tordoff turned it into his first win, ahead of his teammate, while Matt Neal finished second in race two behind Andrew Jordan.

Jordan's race-two win came after contact with Colin Turkington, who had been leading. Aron Smith reached the podium for Airwaves Racing, its first of the year, and Plato, who had led early, retired with fuel pump problems. In race three Gordon Shedden won after tapping Turkington into a spin, and Plato barrel-rolled his MG in a separate incident.

At Knockhill, Rob Austin took his first pole, ahead of Turkington. Turkington passed Austin on the opening lap of race one and won, with Shedden second and Austin third. He won race two as well, with Austin second and Shedden third.

Race three was less kind to Turkington, who was later excluded for exceeding the maximum boost allowance. Jordan won from pole, with Matt Neal second, after Shedden's car caught fire following an engine failure while he was running fifth.

At Rockingham, Plato led an MG 1-2 in qualifying, with Austin third, but Jordan made a strong start from fourth and won race one. In race two Austin jumped clear at the start and led every lap for his first BTCC win, while Neal's race ended in a collision at the first hairpin. Jordan won race three from pole.

Who were the main drivers and teams?

Colin Turkington returned to eBay Motors in one of its three new BMW 125i cars, which gave the team a strong new line-up. He had raced in Scandinavia the previous year and made sporadic World Touring Car Championship appearances, and he was the 2009 BTCC champion.

Tom Onslow-Cole left eBay Motors for Team HARD., driving its Volkswagen CC until a switch to an Airwaves Racing Ford Focus at Rockingham. Jack Goff and James Cole graduated to the championship after signing for Team HARD. to drive two NGTC Vauxhall Insignias.

Newcomers and returnees added variety. Aiden Moffat became the youngest starter in the championship's history at the age of 16 years, 10 months and 28 days, beating a record set by Tom Chilton in 2002. Joe Girling returned with Tech-Speed Motorsport in an S2000 Chevrolet Cruze, and James Kaye came back for the Jack Sears Trophy.

Some teams fell away. Tony Hughes left after a second year with Speedworks Motorsport, Andy Neate left MG KX Momentum Racing to run his own IP Tech Race Engineering team, and BTC Racing never appeared despite a planned return with a Chevrolet Cruze.

What were the 2013 rule changes?

The most important change ended performance parity between the two chassis types. S2000 and NGTC cars were no longer balanced, and turbo boost adjustments would be applied to individual drivers or teams rather than to each car type, with the frequency still to be settled.

Tyres also changed. Outside Thruxton, drivers had to use a new softer Dunlop compound in one of the three races held each day, and they had to name that race before qualifying. Those tyres carried distinctive markings so that rivals and spectators could see who was using them. Cars also had to run a matching set of tyres, so wet and slick mixes were no longer allowed.

Discipline became harder. From 2013, a driver who received a third warning, verbal or otherwise, would be relegated six places on the grid. The points system remained the one introduced in 2012, under which the top 15 cars scored points and the race one pole-sitter received one point.

How did the title race reach Silverstone?

The final round at Silverstone was the decider. Plato was on pole again, and he won the first race ahead of Sam Tordoff after an early safety car. Andrew Jordan, who was leading the championship, finished second in the second race from sixth on the grid.

Plato claimed his 80th BTCC victory in that second race, which was also interrupted by a safety car. Jordan held the lead for a spell before Plato regained it, and Aron Smith closed in to finish third.

The third race was the one that counted for the title. Colin Turkington started second and was leading when his rear suspension broke after a spin at Copse, and Gordon Shedden won to stay in contention. Matt Neal, who had started from pole, was passed early.

Lea Wood had already secured the Jack Sears Trophy at Rockingham, and he won all three races at Silverstone, with Liam Griffin unable to start the last one.

What did the 2013 season show?

The season showed how much the NGTC cars could gain from higher boost. Plato took pole at Oulton Park, Rockingham and Silverstone, and the boost calculation rested on a rolling two-event average, which tied each car's power to its recent results. The adjustments were set for individual drivers or teams, not for each chassis type.

The season also ended with a single race deciding the title picture. Shedden's Silverstone win kept his title hopes alive, and a single retirement or puncture could change the order in a round as quickly as it had at Thruxton and Oulton Park.