Reviewing My 2020 BTCC Predictions

Before I drop my 2021 British Touring Car Championship predictions ahead of the first round at Thruxton on May 9, here’s a review of my 2020 predictions.

My 2020 predictions turned out to be my last post here until now. So, let’s see how far off I was in my look ahead to the season this time last year;

Drivers’ Champion - Prediction- Tom Ingram/Actual- Ash Sutton

Off to a bad start, and it doesn’t get any better…

To be honest, I really didn’t see Sutton challenging as I didn’t believe the Infiniti Q50 to be the beast it was. Sutton outscored my man Ingram by 24 points in what was still a close title race, Ingram’s 326 points scoring him fourth in what turned out to be his final year with Speedworks.

Manufacturers’ Champion- Prediction- Honda/Actual- BMW

BMW did claim their fifth manufacturers’ title in a row, beating out second-placed Honda by 37 points. Only two points separated BMW’s Colin Turkington from Honda’s Dan Cammish in second and third respectively. However, a solid performance from Tom Oliphant saw him finish well ahead of Matt Neal to help BMW secure the title. The front-wheel drive advantage I spoke about didn’t quite come to fruition.

Teams’ Champion- Prediction BTC Racing/Actual- Team BMW (WSR)

A combination of rotten luck for Josh Cook and Tom Chilton not being quite as on it as I expected saw BTC Racing finish fifth, 179 points behind champions BMW, as my favouritism got the better of me. Turkington almost claimed his fifth title and Oliphant was much improved, finishing sixth, while Cook and Chilton managed ninth and tenth respectively.

Independent Team Champion- Prediction- BTC Racing/Actual- Laser Tools Racing

Winning the overall title would’ve seen BTC to the Independents award as well. However, Ash Sutton’s drivers’ title win helped Laser Tools to glory, with BTC in third and 79 points back.

Independent Drivers’ Champion- Prediction- Josh Cook/Actual- Ash Sutton

Sutton’s overall victory helped him double up with end of season awards. Cook finished sixth, 166 points back and two places behind team-mate Chilton. Mechanical issues and bad luck early in the year certainly took him out of this race.

Jack Sears’ Trophy Champion- Prediction- Bobby Thompson/Actual- Michael Crees

On the one where I don’t predict a BTC Racing driver to take the trophy, it goes and happens. A solid year for the loveable Crees, he saw off Carl Boardley to win the Jack Sears’ Trophy. Bobby Thompson’s season was cut short after a spectacular off at Croft, finishing 63 points behind Crees after missing the final six races.

So, zero from six for 2020, but for 2021 I’m going one step further and attempting to predict the whole final standings, so more opportunity to mess things up! I’ll be dropping that list next week in the run up to the first lights out at Thruxton.