2007 British Touring Car Championship season

BTCC season
Previous = 2006
Current = 2007
Next = 2008

The 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 50th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. It was won by Fabrizio Giovanardi with 10 race wins and 17 podiums. Going into the final race, Fabrizio Giovanardi was one point behind Jason Plato but a second place for Giovanardi and a fourth place for Plato resulted in Giovanardi taking the championship by 3 points. The BTCC Teams' Championship was won by Seat Sport UK, the Manufacturers' Championship was won by Vauxhall, the Independents' Trophy was won by Colin Turkington and the Independent Teams' Championship was won by Team RAC.

Changes for 2007

Drivers & Teams

* For 2007, the majority of teams from 2006 chose to stay in the championship. Vauxhall introduced their brand new Vauxhall Vectra, replacing the old Astra Sport Hatch. They also shortened their driver line up to 2 cars by dropping Gavin Smith because of the pressure of the development of the Vectra's. However they retained both Fabrizio Giovanardi & Tom Chilton. For the final round at Thruxton, former champion Alain Menu was run in the 3rd Vectra. The only manufacturer left to challenge Vauxhall were Seat, with Jason Plato returning for a 5th season &, after only racing half the 2006 races to accommodate James Thompson, Darren Turner received a full season in 07. Tom Coronel was entered for the final round. 2 more Leons were entered late on in the season for Gavin Smith & Rob Collard.Team Halfords were the biggest challenger to the two manufacturers, replacing the older Integra Type-R with a brand new Civic. The driver line-up remained the same, with 2 time champion Matt Neal & Gordon Shedden still at the wheel. Team RAC also entered a new car, with the old MG ZS being replaced by the car that had dominated the WTCC, the BMW 320i. Colin Turkington remained with the team & was joined by the 2006 Clio Cup Champion, Tom Onslow-Cole.There was many BMW's being entered in 2007. Seat Cupra champion Mat Jackson entered his own family-run team under the name Jacksons M-Sport. Rick Kerry entered the shorter wheelbase 1-Series, also being raced by diesel fuel. J-Team's Jim Pocklington also entered a 320i, as did Martyn Bell in the AllAboutPropety.com car.Motorbase Performance entered a duo of older spec Seat Toledos for British GT champion Matt Allison & Gareth Howell. Tom Ferrier also raced for 3 rounds & Paul O'Neill raced in the final round. However, these weren't the only Toledos on the grid as Team Air Cool entered a 3rd for Adam Jones.3 Alfa Romeo 156's were entered in 2007; 2 of them were run by A-Tech for David Pinkney & Richard Marsh & Quest Racing also entered 1 for Eoin Murray. BTC Racing entered a pair of Lexus IS200's for Chris Stockton & Nick Leason; however, Leason pulled out after Round 3.Jason Hughes returned in his Kartworld Racing MG ZS; as did Mike Jordan, John George & Simon Blanckley, all in Honda Integras.
* In October 2005 Alan Gow announced that the 2007 championship will be contested by cars complying with the FIA's Super 2000 specification regulations.
* Cars built and raced to BTC-specification were still permitted to compete, although were ineligible for outright championship honours.
* The series had live coverage on ITV's digital channels for the first half of the season, returning to ITV1 for the final five race weekends. Full day's coverage (including support races) moved from MotorsTV to Setanta Sports. [ [http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id=428 ITV1 continues live coverage of BTCC] ]

Entry List for 2007

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* * means 1 point for pole
* ' means 1 point for fastest lap
* ^ means 1 point for leading a full lap

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Note - * denotes engine change penalty

References