2024 TCR UK BRANDS HATCH RACE WEEKEND

The British Racing & Sports Car Club’s home circuit of Brands Hatch in Kent is the chosen setting for the 2024 edition of the TCR UK Touring Car Championship to begin a brand new season, on the same Indy circuit at which the 2023 campaign and titles were both settled. Now with another competitive grid in store, we’re sure to see more superb touring car action as the championship starts all over again this weekend.

Alongside TCR UK, there’s a superb support timetable with four permanent championships joining them for the entire season, plus more exceptional pit-stop racing and sprint racing featuring a vast array of tin-top series. It’s sure to be a real blast from start to finish!

Off the back of their Media Day at Snetterton, the TCR UK Touring Car Championship prepares for what should be another entertaining season in store. 2023 champion Carl Boardley is back to defend the newly acquired #1 on his rear window, and he will know that defending it will be just as tough a task as trying to win it in the first place last year.

As well as some familiar faces back again for 2024 including Brad Hutchinson replacing his Audi with a CUPRA, Joe Marshall in the Rob Boston Racing Audi and Callun Newsham’s Hyundai, there’s also an influx of new drivers looking to challenger from the outset such as Will Beech in his VW Golf TCR, Will Powell in his Honda Civic FK7 TCR and Ryan Bensley in one of two brand new Lynk & Co 03 TCRs making their UK debut. It should be an all-action start to the new TCR UK season.

As expected, the support package for TCR UK this year is looking solid too. The Milltek Sport Civic Cup has another healthy entry with approx. over 30 cars signed up for the year, and that line-up includes returning champion Max Edmundson.

He will have plenty of strong competition against him this year, with full-time campaigns from TCR champions Josh Files and Lewis Kent in the mix, as well as former Civic Cup title winner Alistair Camp now running the newer shape FN2 Civic. Others to watch will certainly be Sam Kirkpatrick, Will Redford, Alex Kite, Liam McGill and former Fiesta ST240 racer Spencer Stevenson amongst several others.

Speaking of Fiesta ST240s, the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship is ready for its first full season of supporting TCR UK after joining the package full time for 2024. Last year’s champion Albert Webster has moved on to pastures new, but the pack he leaves behind are certainly going to be chomping at the bit to try and inherit his title.

Initial favourite has to be former Fiesta champion Alastair Kellett, who will be desperate to win a second title after finishing runner-up the last three seasons in a row. Some of his closest competition will undoubtedly come from championship veterans John Cooper and Simon Horrobin, while others who will be in the mix to win the Pro title include Joseph Knight and last year’s Club class winner Morgan Kidd who makes the step up for this season.

Their younger counterparts in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship (most of them, anyway) already have a race weekend under their belts in 2024 courtesy of the non-points scoring races at Silverstone a few weeks ago (those results counting towards the “Champion of Silverstone” contest instead). Now at Brands Hatch on their first TCR weekend of the year, the entry is set to be bumper with drivers who sat out Silverstone now on the grid to kick start their seasons.

Jacob Hodgkiss looks as though he’ll be one of the initial favourites to score big points this weekend, as will Alfie Garford, Jenson Mason, Tommy Harfield, Finn Leslie and Jenson O’Neill-Going. Others who will want to be in the mix will be Joshua Watts, Thomas Merritt and the Fiesta Junior Scholarship winner Daniella Sutton, with the likes of George Foxlow, Ben Doughty, Billy Blockley and co all wishing to put their 2023 experience to good use starting this weekend.

If there’s one grid that’s had everyone talking and hyped up ahead of 2024 in British club racing, by far and away it’s been the Audi TT Cup Racing Championship. After a solid first year as a series, the levels of interest and support have positively broken the scale, as some 39 cars are entered for the season opener this weekend. Not only that, but the grid is beyond stacked with top talent as they too support TCR UK this year full season.

Just running through this list of names tells you just how competitive it really is expected to be. First, returning from 2023 are Carl Swift, Andrew Dyer, Richard Forber, Ross Makar, Harry Yardley-Rose, Luke Handley, Adam Blair, Morgan Wroot, Ryan Edgecumbe and David Buky, just to name a few. Now let’s add in some of the newcomers – Will Stacey, Sam Meagher, Paul Luti, Charlie and David Budd, 2023 Mazda MX-5 champion Steve Foden, Jason Pelosi, Mark Grice, Matt Luff, Bradley Burns and Danny Hobson. Just the above names means that we’ve got some incredible racing in store, and there’s plenty that cannot wait to watch this grid blast off for the first time in 2024.

There’s also more Fiesta action in store at Brands Hatch courtesy of the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge, starting their year with a rare visit to the Kent circuit to begin the season. Last year’s champion Sam Beckett doesn’t appear to be on the grid to defend his title at the time of writing, which clears the way for many others to try and take the championship in his place.

Watch for 2023 front runners such as vice champion Dan Robinson, former champion Michael Blackburn, impressive rookie Dillon Davis who ran well at the Silverstone finale last year, Sam Watkins, Matt Pimlott, Paul Dobson, Thomas Ikin and Jade Goodwin to name a few. Also keep an eye on a few of this year’s newcomers, including Stephanie Sore, Tudor Nechita, Graham Malam and Neil Marsh.

But the front wheel drive action still doesn’t end there. This weekend also marks the start of a new season for the Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup, raring to go for its second season with the BRSCC after a successful debut year with the Club in 2023.

The title also appears to be up for grabs for someone other than last year’s champion Rhys Claydon who is not present on the registration list at the time of writing, and that will mean others have their shot at inheriting it in his place. Top candidates from the outset appear to be Mike Williams, former champion Mark Eales, Robbie Kenning who will now pilot Claydon’s title winning car in his absence, Matthew Simpson and Jon Moore, amongst other names who will want to make their mark on the championship this year.

Adding a little endurance element to the meeting too will be the SW Motorsports ClubSport Trophy, which once again features a sold-out grid ready to line up on the Indy circuit. The ever-popular 45 minute pit-stop race series continues to inspire many cars and drivers to compete, regularly selling out its grids and proving to be no less in demand on this occasion.

You’ll find quite a few ClubSport regulars out in force once more here at Brands Hatch, such as David May’s Nissan 370Z, Phiroze Bilimoria’s VW Scirocco, James Alford who pilots a Honda Civic this time, Liam Crilly in his BMW Z4, and Silverstone class winner Stephen Harrison in his Renault Clio to name but a few. As usual, the grid features a wide variety of machines up and down the entry list, including a Honda S2000, a Morgan Plus Four and Daniel Cogswell’s Nissan Almera among some of the more unique entries.

Written by Scott Woodwiss