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The big BTCC showdown - Brands Hatch this weekend!

By MJP Media | 8 October 2014

The 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads to Brands Hatch in Kent this weekend for the final meeting of the year with Colin Turkington and Jason Plato fighting for the title.

Colin Turkington and Jason Plato battle for the championship

Once again the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship proves why it is one of the world's greatest motorsport series with the fight for the 2014 crown going down to the wire this weekend in a straight fight between eBay Motors' Colin Turkington in his BMW 125i M Sport and veteran Jason Plato in the MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG6.

The 2014 season has been one of ups and downs for both drivers and it is Colin Turkington who is clearly in the box seat with a 50 point lead over Jason Plato, however with Plato taking two wins at Silverstone last time out, the title has been kept alive, although Plato will still need a miracle if he is to succeed. The season started back in March with what was expected to be a 4-way fight for honours between these two and the two Honda teams, but the Honda challenge has failed to materialise.

Jason Plato ahead of championship leader Colin Turkington

In the second half of the season, the BMW of Turkington and the MG of Plato slowly started to pull away from the field, finally dropping their last challenger, Honda Yuasa Racing's Gordon Shedden, at Silverstone. Turkington said "As we all thought, it's going to go down to the wire! I managed to get three strong finishes at Silverstone which is exactly what we needed to do. While races one and two were clean, it was a real battle in race three from start to finish. I had the pace to get past Giovanardi but he drove a good defensive race and where I was strong he made sure there was no way through. Then it all started kicking off into Becketts - I was trying to give everyone a wide berth but there was still some contact. I was so pleased to get the eBay BMW across the line, especially ahead of Jason! We've put ourselves in the best possible position going into Brands, we just need another weekend like this one where things go our way."

Colin Turkington leads the championship by 50 points

Jason Plato was also philosophical saying "I was in a fighting mood at Silverstone and it was great to take those two wins. It got a bit saucy in race three but it was a really great battle! I had to look after the soft tyres to begin with but when I saw it getting feisty up ahead I decided it was time to go for it. As it all kicked off into Maggots and Becketts I got a good run on Colin but I just couldn't get enough of an overlap to pass him. Looking ahead our focus now is to win the Manufacturers' title for MG and that means that both myself and Sam have to finish all three races at Brands Hatch. I'm going to go out there and try, but realistically the gap in the Drivers' standings is too big."

In reality, for Jason Plato to win the BTCC title he is reliant on Colin Turkington not scoring any meaningful points from the final three races with Plato finishing 1st or 2nd in every race. The likelihood of this happening however is remote as Turkington has been so strong recently that you would be a brave person to back against him. Indeed, Turkington needs to score only 17 points out of the maximum 67 available from the three races at Brands Hatch to secure the 2014 Drivers' Championship. Turkington certainly holds all the aces, bit stranger things have happened in motorsport and Sunday will be a special day, whoever wins the title!

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