British Touring Car Championship Ready for Turbo Debut

The British Touring Car Series begins on March 31 and April 1 for the debut of its new season. The series will now be made up entirely of cars using 2.0 liter turbocharged engines. The series will sport a 25 car field, of which 24 will compete in the first race at Brands Hatch. The series will now have entries from 14 teams with cars from Audi, BMW, Ford, MG, Honda, Proton, Toyota, Vauxhall and VW. 

The BTCC has mandated a new regulation that it calls New Generation Touring Car, and half of the grid will fully meet those qualifications. The other half are to last year's S2000 regulations, but with turbo engines that conform to the new regulations. Eventually all cars will meet the new rules. BTCC changed the rules partially to make the cars look more aggressive. 

The series is designed to have three races each race day that will take place at nine different circuits around the UK. 

Viewers in the UK can watch the BTCC live on ITV4 during all of the series' races.