The Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship today unveils its official 2004 entry list. In total, 24 registrations have been received to date for the 30-round championship - the BTCC’s biggest opening round grid since the mid-Nineties.

Vauxhall, Honda, MG, Proton and newcomer SEAT top the 2004 entry list and they will battle it out for the BTCC’s Manufacturers Championship. Having claimed the title for the last three years, Vauxhall will be determined to maintain its dominance of the series. However, the Triple Eight-run team will face its toughest competition yet.

Although Honda and MG have yet to finalise their driver line-ups and remain in final negotiations with a number of potential signings, both were race-winners in 2003 and will be looking to build on their successes in the coming campaign. Proton has developed an exciting new version of its Impian challenger and will also be targeting the front-runners this year.

New to the series for 2004 is Spanish manufacturer SEAT and its arrival heralds the return of Jason Plato, the 2001 BTCC champion. Plato’s comeback means that for the first time since 1997 the BTCC will have its last three driving champions fighting one another, as both 2002 and 2003 title-winners, Vauxhall team-mates James Thompson and Yvan Muller, will also be on the grid.

The battle among the BTCC’s privateer competitors for the Harrier Zeuros Independents Trophy is set to be the closest in history. Rob Collard will defend his 2003 title in his team’s upgraded Vauxhall Astra Coupe. Arguably his biggest rival will be former Independent champion Matt Neal who has spent the last two seasons as a works driver for the official Vauxhall and Honda teams. This year Matt is back with his family’s Team Dynamics Computeach Racing squad with which he performed giant-killing acts in the Nineties and made national headlines as the ‘People’s Champion’.

For the first time, an LPG-powered car - Mardi Gras Motorsport’s Honda Civic Type-R - will race in the BTCC, meaning the championship is now, uniquely, open to manufacturers’ petrol, diesel and gas-engined models.

It is also expected that more last-minute entries will be received before the opening round at Thruxton, Hampshire, on 11 April. Privateer outfits Team Varta and Team Halfords are set to reveal their plans shortly, while RJN Motorsport remains a potential newcomer, possibly later in the season, with its Nissan Primera.

With unpredictable race results due to the championship’s equalising success ballast and new-for-2004 reverse grids system, the Independents Trophy competitors have a strong chance of not only winning races in 2004 but also becoming the first privateer entry to win the drivers’ title outright in the modern era. Privateers will also have extra incentive to push to the limits with the first per-race cash prize fund - £75,000 in total - for five years, thanks to Independents Trophy title sponsor HarrierZeuros.

Adding to the BTCC’s appeal in 2004 will be ground-breaking terrestrial television coverage, with the championship’s 10 race meetings being screened nationwide either live or delayed on ITV1 - Britain’s biggest commercial TV network. Satellite channel Motors TV will also show each BTCC raceday live in its entirety, which includes action from each support race championship.

The BTCC has also secured billing on the British Formula One Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone in July for the first time since 1996, with a non-championship race scheduled straight after the Grand Prix.

Green Flag BTCC Series Director, Alan Gow, said: “Five manufacturers, the biggest grid for more than a decade, 14 hours of prime airtime on ITV1 including live broadcasts, increased pan-European live television coverage on Motors TV, the last three BTCC champions fighting it out, a return to racing at the British Grand Prix, exciting new cars and technology, new race formats, increased support from our partners Green Flag, Harrier Zeuros, Hilton Hotels and Dunlop and an excellent prize fund for our dedicated independent teams…all this makes for the strongest BTCC for many years.

“Motor sport generally is still suffering the effects of the economic downturn over the last few years so it’s particularly notable, and a real testament to the BTCC, that our 2004 entry is so strong.  I’m also aware that there are some additional entries to be announced shortly, and there could also be a real surprise entry as we get further into the season.

“I always look beyond the present and what we now have in place will enable the BTCC to continue to gather momentum and grow in size and stature throughout and beyond 2004. This is just the beginning, and I’m extremely confident of the very positive direction in which this great championship is heading.”

GREEN FLAG MSA BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP 2004 OFFICIAL ENTRY LIST

No  -  Driver  - Nat  -   Entrant - Car

1. Yvan Muller  FRA     VX Racing*      Vauxhall Astra Coupe 2. James Thompson       GB      VX Racing*      Vauxhall Astra Coupe 3. Matt Neal    GB      Team Dynamics  Computeach Racing       Honda Civic Type-R 4. Gareth Howell        GB      Team Dynamics  Computeach Racing       Honda Civic Type-R 5. TBA          Arena (Name TBA)*       Honda Civic Type-R 8. Colin Turkington     GB      WSR (Name TBA)* MG ZS 9. Tom Chilton  GB      Arena (Name TBA)*       Honda Civic Type-R 10. Robert Collard      GB      Collard Racing  Vauxhall Astra Coupe 11. Jason Plato GB      SEAT Sport UK*  SEAT Toledo Cupra 12. Robert Huff GB      SEAT Sport UK*  SEAT Toledo Cupra 14. Michael Bentwood    GB      VXR Junior Tech-  Speed Motorsport        Vauxhall Astra Coupe 15. Farique Hairuman    MAL     Team Petronas Syntium Proton* Proton Impian 16. James Kaye  GB      Synchro Motorsport      Honda Civic Type-R 17. John George GB      Mardi Gras Motorsport   Honda Civic Type-R 20. Shaun Watson-Smith  RSA     Team Petronas  Syntium Proton* Proton Impian 21. Paul Wallace        GB      Team Sureterm   Vauxhall Astra Coupe 22. Charlie Butler-Henderson    GB      Team Sureterm   Vauxhall Astra Coupe 23. Carl Breeze GB      Team Sureterm   Alfa Romeo 156 GTA 46. TBA         Edenbridge Racing       BMW 320 57. Luke Hines  GB      VX Racing*      Vauxhall Astra Coupe 59. TBA         Arena (Name TBA)*       Honda Civic Type-R 77. Jason Hughes        GB      Kartworld Racing        MG ZS ?? TBA          WSR (Name TBA)* MG ZS ?? TBA          WSR (Name TBA)* MG ZS

* Entered into the 2004 Green Flag MSA BTCC Manufacturers Championship

Click here for the Tom Chilton web site - designed and built by Racecar

Click here for the Michael Bentwood web site - designed and built by Racecar